Born July 11, 1923, to Olander Jackson Barrett Sr. and Ruth Thompson Barrett, Jack Barrett followed  in the footsteps of his father and uncle as an excellent marksman. His uncle, James Barrett,  was the state champion of trapshooting for three years. Jack, according to his father, began learning to shoot when he was old enough to hold a rifle. In an article about him in the Augusta Chronicle when he was twelve, the writer said that not only did he get good grades in school, but he was an amazing young shooter, able to shoot golf balls out of the air. At Richmond Academy, he used his marksmanship skills as a member of the ARC Rifle Team.

He was also involved with Army JROTC at the academy, serving in 1940 as a platoon sergeant. He received the General Leonard Wood Medal for the Cadet with the Highest Year’s Average in rifle Marksmanship. When he graduated in 1942, he was Cadet 2nd Lieutenant.

He attended the University of Georgia until joining the US Army in 1943, serving in the 80^th Infantry Division. He turned down the opportunity to become a weapons instructor in the US, choosing to serve in the European Theater of Operation. After being wounded in 1944, he returned to combat after recovering from his wounds. At that time, he received a Purple Heart.

His Purple Heart would add four oak leaf clusters by the time he returned home again. In January 1945, he was wounded for the fifth time; he was in combat in Luxembourg. In April 1945, he received a Bronze Star for gallantry in action. According to the citation, he “conducted himself in the face of the enemy so as to merit the praise of all his comrades.” He had led his squad in France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Rhineland. He was hospitalized and underwent multiple surgeries in France before being sent home. Back in Augusta, he spent 18 months in the Oliver General Hospital until he received his honorable discharge in 1947.

Throughout his life, he continued to undergo surgery related to his wartime wounds, including the amputation of his left leg in 2008.  After the war, he continued his competitive shooting, by 1948 serving as the Secretary of the Augusta Rifle and Pistol Club and for a number of years as the executive officer. Under his leadership, the club sponsored many NRA-sanctioned tournaments for the Georgia/Carolina region. He won many National Rifle Association matches, earning the NRA’s Master Classification in outdoor rifle rating. In 1950, he shot 99 of 100 at 600 yards, winning a match against the famed Marine Paris Island Rifle Team. He was at times a guest at the ARC Rifle Team Awards program, sometimes presenting trophies.

Barrett never took disability income in spite of over forty surgeries. When he retired from the contracting business, he became a craftsman, fashioning custom-made knives. By the mid-1970s, his creations were in fifteen states, desired not only by hunters and fishermen, but by collectors.  He also continued to be written about and known throughout the community as an “expert outdoorsman” and a “master woodsman.”