Born in Plant City as John Horting Land, he attended the University of Florida until World War II, when he signed up for the U.S. Army. He fought under legendary U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton in Europe. But the former mayor, who was deeply religious, once remarked that he really owed his life to the late President Harry S. Truman because he would have been sent to fight the Japanese in the Pacific if Truman hadn't mustered courage to drop the atomic bomb.