Porter Richard Bailey was born on June 8, 1889 in Oakland, Fayette County, Tennessee. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at Covington, Tennessee on June 26, 1918. Porter joined Company G, 2nd infantry replacement regiment at Camp Gordon, Georgia until August 18, 1918. He served in Company C of the 161st infantry until October 5, 1918. He was in Company F, 140th infantry until he was discharged. Porter’s duty overseas was from August 1918 until April 1919. He was honorably discharged as a private on May 13, 1919.

The son of John Pomfret Bailey and Anna R. Stafford Bailey, Porter attended school, worked at the Covington Cotton Mills and farmed in Tipton county. He married Flora Catherine Broughton.

He died at the home of his brother, Walter Thomas Bailey on January 22, 1956.