James S. Sutton graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point on June 12, 1930, and saw duty in the Philippines from 1931 to 1934, and Newfoundland in 1941.

Sutton, now serving in the Air Corps branch of the U.S. Army, was next in command of the operational training unit of the 3rd Air Force, then stationed at Sarasota Air Base in Florida. On March 27, 1942, he became the first Commander of the 92nd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force.

In Early August, the 92nd Bomb Group arrived in England. It became the first heavy bombardment group to make a successful non-stop flight from Newfoundland to Scotland. Once in England, the group trained with B-17's and performed anti-submarine duty. He remained their commander until May 1, 1943.

Col Sutton became Air Inspector of the 8th Air Force, and then the Commanding Officer of the Air Depo of the 8th Air Force in 1944. He then became the combat commander of the veteran 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy) stationed at Thurleigh, England from September 23, 1944, until April 16, 1945.

On December 17, 1944, Col Sutton approved the demotion of Medal of Honor recipient Maynard “Snuffy” Smith to private due to Smith’s attitude called “insufferable; showing no responsibility to his duties, or to his officers and fellow NCOs.”Often, he wasn’t available when needed and repeated warnings and reprimands were necessary to get any work from him.”

After the war, Col Sutton became the commanding officer at numerous Air Force bases in the U.S. In 1950, he retired from his position as Commanding Officer of Hill Air Force Base, in Ogden, Utah and moved to Novato, California to become a real estate broker.