George Wendell Tandy was born on November 27, 1893, in Franklin, Illinois. Tandy served two years with the Illinois national guard but was exempted from the draft during World War I on account of his recent marriage. In late 1919, he joined the North Carolina National Guard, and as part of the Durham Machine Gun Company, he (who held the rank of sergeant) helped put down a lynch mob in Alamance County in July 1920. He died in Springfield, Illinois on May 11, 1969.