Johnny Lears was born on December 24, 1931 in Mandalay second capital city of Burma, currently Myanmar. His father was Mr. James Lears and mother was Daw Tin Pu. Mr. James Lears was a foreigner who was working at district council's office in ShweBo in Mandalay Division, and mother was a Burmese national, a typical housewife. The father was a Roman Catholic, and the mother converted from Buddhist to Catholic after their marriage.John James Lears was called Johnny since he was young. Johnny was an only male in the children, and had 3 older sisters and 2 younger sisters. They all were raised as Catholics. Nobody really knew about his father's origin: Johnny's closest cousin in Australia mentioned that Mr. Lears came from India with his parents who were white Caucasians. Mr. Lears died in a car accident in 1939 while on a trip with his cousin. Mr. Lears' cousin felt responsible for Mr. Lears' dead, and took Johnny's family to Mandaly to live with him.
Johnny went to high school at St. Peters in Mandalay and finished his high school there. He was known as Wynn Saing when he was in his middle and high school, and he changed his name to Kyaw Zwar Myint.
