Early Life
Jabara was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, of Greek Orthodox Lebanese American descent; his father, John, and mother came from Marjayoun, an old Byzantine Christian town in South Lebanon, near Galilee.
Jabara joined the Boy Scouts, eventually becoming an Eagle Scout. At an early age, he was set on becoming a pilot, "I used to read articles about Rickenbacker and all these novels you read about air combat, and I guess from the sixth grade it was my ambition to be a fighter pilot." He worked at his parents' grocery store and graduated from Wichita North High School in Wichita, Kansas in May 1942. Standing five feet, five inches (165 cm) tall, Jabara was short for a potential fighter pilot (and was reportedly required to wear corrective eyewear), but this did not prevent him from immediately enlisting as an aviation cadet of the United States Army Air Corps at Fort Riley, Kansas. In an attempt to improve his eyesight for flying, he ate 20 carrots a day in the mistaken belief that this would improve his vision. After attending four flying schools in Texas, he received his pilot's wings and a commission as Second Lieutenant at Moore Field, Texas in October 1943. Jabara with his wife, Nina, had four children: James William (b. 1949), Carol Ann (b. 1950), Cathy (b. 1952), and Jeanne (b. 1957).
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