Claude M. Bolton, Jr. was born in 1945 in Sioux City, Iowa. He was educated at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, receiving a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1969. While in college, he served in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and after college, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force in June 1969. After spending a year in undergraduate pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, he served as a fighter pilot posted at McConnell Air Force Base for the second half of 1970, at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in early 1971, and at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base 1971-72. In total, during the course of the Vietnam War, Bolton logged over 2,700 hours in over 30 different aircraft; this involved 232 combat missions, 40 of which were over North Vi