These days most people consider a three-war veteran as having served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. It could also be those that served in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East. But rarely do we see a local veteran with the campaign ribbons of Lt. Charles B. Jordan Sr. of Milton! He was born on February 20, 1898, the son of George Washington Jordan and Jeffie Lee Thompson (1876-1950). George supported his family of six as a laborer in the sawmills of Bagdad and Pinewood in Santa Rosa County. In 1916, his son Charles enlisted in the US Army and took part in the Mexican Campaign against the notorious Pancho Villa. The expedition was launched after the outlaw's attack on Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916 that killed ten civilians and eight soldiers. However, Blackjack Pershing failed in his mission to capture or kill Pancho. As to Charles, history records that he received what the paper called a "White Star Citation" which is actually the "Citation Star," the forerunner of the "Silver Star." This citation is for bravery in action during any military campaign from the Indian Wars through WWI, but sadly Charles never related which conflict it was related to.
Soon came WWI and the horrors that followed. In response, Charles sailed for Europe with the 1st Expeditionary Force soon to be known as the 1st Infantry Division. The force began its embarkation at Hoboken, NJ in June 1917, arriving at St. Nazaire, France. On October 23, 1917, they fired the first American shell of the war and the fight was on. Charles survived the horrendous fighting on the entrenched war front and returned home. The year 1920 would find Charles at Louisville, Kentucky's Camp Zachary Taylor, a former training camp of the 84th Training Division. On May 17, 1922, Charles returned home to marry Vashti M. McCombs (1903-1941) from the Pinewood community of Santa Rosa County. By 1930, the couple was stationed in Baltimore, Maryland at Ft. Holabird where Charles was a machine gun instructor. By 1940, Vashti and her three sons were back home in Milton while Charles was stationed elsewhere with the Army. But in April 1941, Vashti passed away at home after suffering a lingering illness and was buried in the Milton Cemetery.
Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. By this time, it appears that Lt. Charles B. Jordan was now attached to the 512th Bomb Squadron of the 376th Bomb Group. For the most part, his squadron was flying B-24 Liberators and began their combat operations from the North African bases in Eygpt, Libya, and Tunsia. From their base in Libya, the 512th took part in the famous Ploiesti raid of August 1, 1943 of which Charles received a Presidential Citation. The mission was to destroy the oil refineries of Ploiesti, Romania to cripple Germany's fuel supply. But when the smoke cleared, 54 bombers were lost and 30% of the crewman never made it home that day. Of the original 1,765 airmen, 532 were either dead, prisoners or missing. Afterward, the squadron transferred their base to San Pancrazio, Italy on November 19, 1943. Charles would pass away in a Montgomery hospital on August 8, 1967 and was returned home and buried next to Vashti with full military honors. Ironically, his life reminds me of Robert Duvall's character in the movie "Second Hand Lions" with Michael Caine. To have experienced a military life transgressing from horseback in the Mexican desert to the B-24 bombers of WWII would have made a wonderful novel!
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