Background and Early Life
Winant attended St. Paul's School in Concord as well as Princeton University. He was appointed an instructor in history at St. Paul's in 1913, remaining there until 1917, and elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1916. In 1917 he joined the United States Army Air Service, trained as a pilot, and commanded the 8th Aero Squadron (Observation) in France, with the rank of captain.
He was married to Constance Rivington Russell, who took his surname. They had a daughter, Constance Winant in 1921, and two sons, John Jr. and Rivington. His daughter married Carlos Valando, a Peruvian scientist, in 1941. John Winant Jr. served as a bomber pilot in World War II and was taken prisoner by the Germans. John Jr. was a prisoner of the infamous Colditz and taken in April 1945 as one of the "Prominente" to be used as a bargaining chip as the end of the war approached by Himmler and the SS. He was eventually released. Rivington Winant also served in World War II and went on to be the treasurer of the United Nations.
Read more about this topic: John Gilbert Winant
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