James E. Files was born in a small country farmhouse just outside Oakman, Alabama, on January 24, 1942. His older sister, Mary Pearl Files, was born at the same farmhouse in 1936. Files states that he used the name "Sutton" until 1963. The Sutton/Files family moved to Melrose Park, Illinois, in the late 1940s, where he grew up in a tough Italian neighborhood. He was labeled as a "juvenile delinquent" by the local police chief, bought his first car at age 14, rode motorcycles and raced stock cars when he was in his early to mid-20s. Files states that he joined the U.S. Army in 1959, entered the 82nd Airborne Division and was sent to Laos as part of "Operation White Star." Files did intelligence work and was among the first U.S. covert combat troops sent into Laos in 1959.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Files