Garand was born in St. Rémi, Quebec, and moved as a child to rural Connecticut. He attended school until he was twelve years old, and then became employed in a textile mill, where he was later promoted to machinist. After gaining the necessary experience, he was hired at a tool factory in Providence, Rhode Island.
His fondness for machinery and target shooting blended naturally into a hobby of designing guns, which however took a more vocational turn in 1917. That year the United States Army took bids on designs for a light machine gun, and Garand's design was eventually selected by the War Department. Garand was appointed to a position with the United States Bureau of Standards with the task of perfecting the weapon. The first model was not built until 1919, too late for use in World War I, but the government kept Garand on in a position as consulting engineer with the Springfield Armory.
In this position he was tasked with designing a semiautomatic infantry rifle. After several preliminary designs, and quite a bit of detail work, stretching over fifteen years, to perfect the model to Army specifications, the resulting M-1 Garand was patented by Garand in 1934 and began mass production in 1936.
For his work with the Springfield Armory, Garand was awarded the Medal for Meritorious Service in 1941, and the Medal for Merit in 1944. A bill was introduced in Congress to award him $100,000 in appreciation, but did not pass. Garand remained in his consulting position until his retirement in 1953, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts.