John was born in 2511 and lived with his mother and father in Elysium city on the colony world of Eridanus II. He attended the Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119.
As a child, John had brown hair, freckles, and a small gap between his front teeth. In a dream during cryo-sleep aboard the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, John recalled that his
mother "kind of smelled like soap," and that she had "large eyes, a straight nose and full lips."
The would-be UNSC Marine Lieutenant Parisa was a childhood friend of John's who John once saved from drowning at Lake Gusev; John thereafter promised to marry and protect her. Parisa's father shot a photo of the two soon after that Parisa kept as a memento long after she thought John had died.[12] John was also friends with Ellie Bloom and Katrina during his childhood. Some nights, John would lay in grass fields with the girls and the three of them would look up at the stars together.
Dr. Catherine Halsey identified John as an ideal physical and mental candidate for the 150-strong preliminary pool of the SPARTAN-II Program when he was six: he stood a head taller
than the majority of his schoolmates, had greater physical proportions, and possessed greater strength, superior reflexes, and an aggressive drive for success. When Dr. Halsey and
Lieutenant Jacob Keyes visited Eridanus II in 2517 to study him, they were impressed with his intellect and luck. In a final test of his viability as a candidate, he was asked to
determine which side an old coin would land on. He watched the coin as it flew in the air and caught it before it could land, correctly stating which side was face-up and which was
the side of the eagle. John was the first candidate Dr. Halsey and Lieutenant Keyes studied. Later that same year, John and 74 other six-year-old children were "conscripted": they
were covertly kidnapped from their homes and replaced with flash clones, all of which would later die of neurological problems stemming from the imperfect cloning process, covering
up the kidnappings. John, along with the other candidates, was taken to the planet of Reach. Dr. Halsey informed them of the SPARTAN-II Program and how they would be "the protectors
of Earth and all her colonies." The next morning John discovered his service tag, stitched into his training uniform, and his new name: John-117.
John began a new life. He trained with other Spartans under Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez. For eight years he learned history, military strategy, weapons and received physical fitness training. Early on, he bonded with Kelly and Sam, who would become two of the few close friends that he would ever have.
“He is neither the smartest, nor the fastest, nor the strongest of the Spartans. But he is the bravest, and quite possibly the luckiest. And in my opinion, he is the best.” — Dr. Catherine Halsey to Cortana
John quickly proved himself to be one of the program's top candidates during his training. Both Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez identified him as one of four emerging leaders within the Spartan-II group, along with Kurt-051, Jerome-092, and Frederic-104. Dr. Halsey most strongly expressed her belief in John by stating that he had the skills and natural ability to lead the entire Spartan-II group. However, Mendez disagreed and instead believed that Kurt would fulfill that role.
In 2525 John was given his first mission against insurrectionists in the asteroid belt of his home Eridanus system. He was shot in the side without heavy injury while leading his
squad to capture United Rebel Front leader Colonel Robert Watts. The mission casualty list was 11 dead rebel soldiers and an unknown number of rebel civilians. John received a Purple
Heart.
Three months thereafter, John and his Spartans were briefed on the massacre that had taken place on Harvest shortly after first contact with the Covenant. The UNSC Commonwealth, under the command of Captain Wallace, soon brought the Spartans and Dr. Halsey to the Damascus Testing Facility at Chi Ceti, where they received the Mjolnir Mark IV Powered Assault Armor. When a Covenant vessel, the Unrelenting, attacked the Commonwealth, John and the Spartan-IIs engaged in their first battle with the Covenant. The Spartans used thrusters to launch from a Pelican dropship. Each Spartan carried a HAVOK Nuke[17] to destroy the Covenant ship. Only John, Sam, and Kelly reached the ship.
They entered it through a hull breach from a MAC round from the Commonwealth and succeeded in completing the mission and destroyed the Covenant ship, but a breach in Sam's armor from Covenant retaliation fire from Covenant forces prevented him from leaving the enemy vessel; he made the most of his misfortune by ensuring that the ship exploded. Sam's death profoundly affected John: it proved to him that the Covenant could be defeated, but only at the cost of many lives.
John and the remaining Spartans fully employed their Mjolnir armor to fight the Covenant Empire for the next 27 years.
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