Thomas Bouldin McCargo, Jr. was born on December 28, 1888, in Reidsville, North Carolina. McCargo voluntarily joined the North Carolina National Guard in May 1917, about one month following the country's war declaration on Germany. He was relinquished from the service by a surgeon's certificate of disability in July. The young man found another way to serve his country and state in their time of need, however, and in August 1918, he secured a position in the office of Gov. Thomas W. Bickett as the coordinator for the state's draft efforts. McCargo remained at the governor's side until all of the office's draft responsibilities were wrapped up, about May 1919. He died in Mount Airy on January 9, 1948.