James Norris, also Jim Norris, was born in Omaho, Nebraska, in 1945, and grew up in the small towns of Randolph and later Wisner, Nebraska. His parents jointly owned the weekly newspapers that served those two communities. Norris became a "printer's devel" at an early age. He attended South Dakota State University in Brookings in 1964. There he trained in the ROTC program. He graduated in June 1968 and received his commission as a second lieutenant. He married Loy Lauster from Big Stone city, South Dakota, durig his senior year. He went to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for Signal Corps training, then transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington, until his deployment to Vietnam on October 21, 1969. While in Vietnam, he served first with the Sixth Psychological Operations Battalion, U.S. Army Pacific located in the city of Bien Hoa. His job was to run the plant that produced the printed pieces for dissemination. He left Vietnam in October 1970. After his discharge, worked for a commercial printing company in Albuquerque New Mexico. His other jobs included working in the production department of the Wall Street Journal, then for a commercial printing company in Spokane, Washington, then as a production director at The Detroit News. His last professional position was as Vice President of Operations at Newsday, the daily newspaper on Long Island, New York.
From the description of Norris, James, 1945 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 12138950
