James Allred - Early Life

Early Life

Christened James Burr V Allred, Allred was born in Bowie in Montague County in northeastern Texas. Burr and V were the names of his uncles. He was known as "Vee" until he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1918. The Navy clerks had no intention of typing his full name on forms, so he was listed as "Allred, James V," the Roman numeral "V" being mistaken for the letter "V." Allred had no problem with the change, and used the altered form of his name the rest of his life.

Allred had enrolled in Rice Institute in 1917 but left school soon thereafter because of financial problems. He served in the U.S. Immigration Service for a short while before enlisting in the Navy World War I.

After the war he clerked in a law office in Wichita Falls, Texas, obtained a law degree in 1921 from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and began a private law practice in Wichita Falls.

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