Pvt. Francis D. Jordan (September 15, 1918 – February 14, 1945)
274th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division
by Sarah Ryschkewitsch, Karen Kelly, and Elizabeth Klements
Early Life
Francis Daniel Jordan was born at Indian Lake, New York, on September 15, 1918, to John and Deliah Jordan.1 John was born in England and immigrated to New York, where he met and married Deliah. He often moved his family around northeastern US, likely in search of better employment. Between 1918 and 1920, they moved from New York to Cheltenham, PA, where John worked as a farm laborer.2 Then, by the 1930 census, they moved again to Willet, NY, where John worked on a dairy farm.3 By 1940, the family was living in Caldwell, NY, and John was working as a gardener for a summer home.4 The Jordans had six children: David (1911), Ellen (1913), Francis (1918), Samuel (1924), Golda (1927), and Ruth Uldine (1930).5
While his parents remained in New York, Francis moved to the Palm Beach area in Florida around 1937, at the age of nineteen. He eventually found a job as a printing-press operator at the Pahokee Daily News, which was owned by his future father-in-law, Charles Barfield.6 Francis married Elise Barfield on July 22, 1940.7 She was an elementary school teacher and had attended Florida Southern College.8 Between 1940 and 1944, Francis moved his new family to Flint, MI. According to his obituary, he moved there to participate in “war work.”9 This may have meant work in a factory, as Flint produced machine guns, aircraft engines, Sherman Tanks, and more during World War II.10 Francis’s 1944 enlistment record stated that his occupation was in the field of “policemen and detectives, public service,” so he may also have had some sort of peace-keeping role in the city.11 During this period, Francis and Elise had two sons, James “Jimmy” Daniel (1942), and John “Johnny” Barfeild (1943).12
Military Service
Francis registered for the draft in 1940, but the military did not call him into service until 1944. He arrived at Camp Blanding, FL, for training on July 11, 1944, after which he became a private in the 2nd Battalion of 274th Infantry Regiment of the 70th Infantry Division.13 The Army activated this division on June 15, 1943, intending that it help replace the men already lost in combat in Europe. The division trained for about a year and a half before arriving at Marseille, France, in early December 1944. Allied forces began the liberation of France earlier that year, first with the D-day landing at the beaches of Normandy in June, and then with a second major landing on France’s southern coast in August. From these two angles, the Allied forces slowly pushed German troops back toward Germany throughout the summer and fall of 1944. By December, they had almost succeeded, and the fiercest fighting took place in northeastern France, on the borders of Belgium and Germany.14
While Jordan’s division was stationed in Marseilles, German forces attacked the American positions in the Ardennes Forest on the French-Belgium border, and the Alsace area on the French-German border. Over the next few days, the situation deteriorated, and American forces risked losing all the progress they had made. Almost overnight, the US Army went from an offensive position to a defensive one. On December 20, Jordan and the 274th Regiment packed their equipment and left Marseilles for the Front. They took a train through the Rhone River Valley, passing burnt-out tanks, trucks, and other equipment, mostly German. On Christmas Eve, 1944, they arrived at Brumath, France. They walked the rest of the way, carrying all their equipment through the cold, to the town of Bischwiller. Over the next few weeks, the 274th moved north toward the village of Wingen-sur-Moder, right on the French-German border.15
The regiment’s first military engagement took place on January 5 – 7, 1945, when they recaptured Wingen-sur-Moder, which had fallen back into German hands. Jordan’s battalion later received a Presidential Unit Citation for their conduct during this battle, as “in two days, the 2nd Battalion, 274th Infantry, operating under almost insurmountable supply, communication, and evacuation problems, in bitter cold, without food or rest, and with the loss of 130 casualties, destroyed two German SS. Battalions, liberating over 250 Americans held prisoner by the German forces, recaptured 32 American vehicles, three anti-tank guns, and hundreds of small arms.”16 From Wingen-sur-Moder, the 274th moved northeast into Germany, on a terrain that made combat especially challenging. There, on February 14, 1945, enemy forces wounded and killed Francis. He was twenty-six years old.17
Legacy
Pvt. Francis Jordan posthumously received a Purple Heart for his sacrifice. The US Army later moved him from a temporary cemetery and buried him at the Epinal American Cemetery in France.18 Francis left behind his wife Elise, and his two sons, James and John. Elise remarried twice, to Edwin H. Whitehouse in 1955, and later to Carlton E. Hays in 1976. She taught in Palm Beach County for thirty-eight years, and died in Tallahassee in 1985.19 Possibly inspired by his father, the older son James joined the Navy from 1959 to 1963. He passed away in 2003, and is buried at the South Florida National Cemetery.20 His younger brother John died a few years later, in 2007.21
1 “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Francis Jordan; “1920 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Francis Jordan. A member tree on Ancestry.com states that Deliah’s maiden name was Cleveland.
2 “1920 U.S. Census.”
3 “1930 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Francis Jordan.
4 “1940 U.S. Census,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for John Jordan.
5 “1930 U.S. Census;” “1940 U.S. Census.”
6 “Weddings and Engagements: Jordan – Barfield,” The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach , Florida), August 18, 1940.
7 “Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1823-1982,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Francis Daniel Jordan and Elise Barfield, Polk County.
8 “Weddings and Engagements.”
9 “Ex-Pahokee Man Killed In Action,” The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida), March 3, 1945.
10 “World War II,” Michigan History, http://michiganhistory.leadr.msu.edu/world-war-ii/: accessed May 21, 2021.
11 “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Francis D. Jordan.
12 “Ex-Pahokee Man Killed In Action.”
13 “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records;” “Jordan, Francis D.,” Fields Of Honor – Database, https://www.fieldsofhonor-database.com/index.php/en/american-war-cemetery-epinal-j/69572-jordan-francis-d-epi-a-36-37: accessed May 24, 2021.
14 “70th Infantry Division – Trailblazer,” US Army Divisions, https://www.armydivs.com/70th-infantry-division: accessed May 21, 2021.
15 Staley Lester Smith, Journal of Stanley Lester Smith November 30, 1944 – March 4, 1945 (70th Infantry Division Association), http://www.trailblazersww2.org/Docs/274_F_smith.pdf.
16 “Presidential Unit Citation, 19 July, 1945,” 70th Infantry Division Association, http://www.trailblazersww2.org/history_puc.htm: accessed May 21, 2021.
17 “U.S., Headstone and Internment Records,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Francis D. Jordan; “70th Infantry Division – Trailblazer.”
18 Ibid.
19 “Florida, U.S., Marriage Indexes, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Elise Jordan and Edwin H. Whitehouse; “U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-1999,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for Elise Jordan and Edwin H. Whitehouse; “Elise Whitehouse Hays, 71, a former teacher in county,” The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida), April 4, 1985.
20 “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for James D. Jordan.
21 “U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed May 24, 2021), entry for John Barfield Jordan.