John was born in Westville to Scottish immigrants George and Agnes (Anderson) McKinney.
After years spent working in the coal mines and time spent training with the Civilian Conservation Corp, he registered for the army on October 16, 1940, though he wasn't called to active duty for a little over two years.
On October 27, 1942, he began serving as a US Army Medic which he did for almost a full year.
He was later recalled for a short twenty two days of active duty on September 1, 1944 where he served as a ward attendant at General Hospital in Fort Lewis Washington outside of Lakewood. This hospital was constructed during the height of World War II as a semi-permanent emergency hospital. The all brick, 1.5 mile long multi-corridor hospital saw more than 7,000 patients and also cared for repatriated Americans from Japanese prison camps after the war was won. For the remainder of World War II, General Hospital served as a debarkation hospital for the ports of Tacoma, Portland, and Seattle, and an evacuation hospital for combat wounded from the front lines.
He later married Rose Roberts in Montana and moved back to the area to raise their three children in Pennsylvania.
