When James Craig Lodor was born on July 7, 1886, in North Carolina, his father, James, was 32 and his mother, Martha, was 27. He had three brothers and one sister. James Lodor graduated from the officers' training camp at Fort Oglethorpe and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He was among those who volunteered for immediate service abroad and was with the first Chattanoogans to go across after the training camp which he attended. Prior to entering the service, he was a manager of the manufacturing department of the Frictionless Metal company. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Second Lieutenant in Company G, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action on July 7, 1918 (at the age of 32) by a machine gun fire in France and is now buried in Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, USA.