John Myers was the great-grandson of Revolutionary War hero General John Twiggs, and the son of Abraham Myers who had graduated from West Point who had served in the Seminole and Mexican Wars before becoming Quartermaster General of the Confederate Army in the Civil War. He was born in Germany to which his father had moved following the Civil War. After the family returned in 1876, John Myers was appointed to from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating with the Class of 1892. He served in the Navy until he was appointed a Marine Corps Second Lieutenant in 1895. In 1928 he served as Assistant to the Commandant at Headquarters Marine Corps and then, as a Major General, he served as Commanding General, Department of the Pacific and Western Recruiting Area. He was promoted to Lieutenant General and placed on the retired list at the mandatory retirement age of 64 years.