Editing Jean Shepherd (section)

==Early life==
Shepherd was born in 1921, to Jean Parker Shepherd and Anna, on the [[South Side, Chicago#South Side|South Side of Chicago]]. He briefly lived in [[East Chicago, Indiana]], but was raised in [[Hammond, Indiana]], where he graduated from [[Hammond High School (Indiana)|Hammond High School]], in 1939.<ref name="Hammond">{{cite web|title=Famous Hammond Personalities: Jean Shepherd |publisher=HammondIndiana.com |url=http://www.hammondindiana.com/personalities.htm |access-date=2006-11-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205045059/http://hammondindiana.com/personalities.htm |archive-date=December 5, 2006}}</ref>

''[[A Christmas Story]]'' is loosely based on his days growing up in Hammond's southeast neighborhood of [[Hessville, Indiana|Hessville]]. As a youth, he worked briefly as a mail carrier in a steel mill and earned his [[amateur radio]] license (W9QWN) at age 16, sometimes claiming he was even younger. He sporadically attended [[Indiana University Bloomington]], but never graduated. During [[World War II]], he served stateside in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[United States Army Signal Corps|Signal Corps]].<ref name="Hammond"/> Shepherd then had an extensive career in a variety of media.