James Jordan was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in February 1927. He went to a military academy at 15. He had no brothers or sisters but lived over his grandfather's bar. He grew up there and was tending bar at nine years old. He had a wonderful mother and father. His dad did some work for the WPA [Annotator's Note: Works Progress Administration]. They did not realize they were poor. They had everything they needed. Scranton is still a pretty depressed [Annotator's Note: economically depressed] area. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Jordan when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] He and his father were listening to a football game. Jordan delivered newspapers and his delivery chief came by and told them to switch their radio channel. That is when he learned of Pearl Harbor. Jordan attended Staunton Military Academy [Annotator's Note: in Staunton, Virginia]. He wanted to go to West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy in West Point, New York]. In those days, everybody was patriotic. People would not believe what they did to the new students in their first year. There was a lot of hazing. He thought about going home sometimes. Jordan just wanted to fight the Germans or the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. All of his buddies were going into the service. After Pearl Harbor and before Staunton, he did anything for the war effort. Everybody was in it. You could not believe how united the country was. Jordan had never seen a body of water in his life, so the Navy held no appeal. To get a commission in the Marine Corps, you had to go to the Naval Academy [Annotator's Note: United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland]. Jordan enlisted when he graduated in 1944. He was only 17. He signed up for the Army, was assigned to the University of Pennsylvania [Annotator's Note: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], and studied Chemical Engineering. This was part of the ASTPR program [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program, Reserve]. There were Navy V-12 [Annotator's Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946], V-5 [Annotator's Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943] and ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program] people there. Most of the ASTP guys were studying a foreign language. When he took electrical engineering classes, he could not go in the Moore building [Annotator's Note: Moore School Building, University of Pennsylvania] that was the electrical engineering building. It was under 24 hour, armed guard. After the war, he learned that is where the first computer, called UNIVAC [Annotator's Note: ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer] was being built. It was interesting being in the military at college. He went from there to basic training.

James Jordan took his basic training at Fort Lee, Virginia. It was night and day from his college military experience. Nobody was there to listen to his gripes. He went from there to OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school]. He was sent to Schuylkill Arsenal in Philly [Annotator's Note: slang for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. His 201 folder [Annotator's Note: his military personnel file] was stamped "Fort Belvoir, Virginia." There was an old sergeant who had been in World War 1 there. Jordan told the sergeant he was supposed to go to the "Benning School for Boys" [Annotator's Note: Fort Benning, Georgia] to be in the infantry. The sergeant told him that was in engineering now and to get on the train to Belvoir. That is the way a lot of things were done in those days. Jordan was on maneuvers at Camp Hill, Virginia [Annotator's Note: now Fort A.P. Hill in Bowling Green, Virginia] where he learned the war in Europe had ended. Dysentery [Annotator's Note: an infection of the intestines] moved through the camp. He had mixed emotions. He wanted to win a lot of medals and all, but he had lost a number of older friends and had seen married guys never coming back. For all mankind, it was great it was over, but for a young kid spoiling [Annotator's Note: for a fight] it was disappointing. He did not hear much about the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. They all felt that whatever they could do to win the war, they should do. If the other side had had it, they surely would have used it. They did not dwell on it. They were mainly interested in what was going to be done with them now. They got commissioned and got assignments. Jordan was assigned to go to Germany for the occupation. He was delighted because he did not want to be in the South Pacific.

James Jordan deployed overseas right after OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] at the end of 1945 or first part of 1946. He was not assigned but knew he was going to an engineer outfit. He debarked at Bremerhaven, Germany. He was assigned to the 333rd Engineers in a Headquarters Company [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment] based in Fulda, Germany. He was the junior officer and got every assignment that nobody else wanted. He got sent everywhere. He got experiences that he never would have normally had. The guys that had 85 points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] had long since departed and gone home. The senior guys were accruing points. It was wonderful for a young kid and he enjoyed it. He went to Kassel [Annotator's Note: Kassel, Germany] which had been obliterated. They had to bulldoze streets open and had to deal with the Russians there. He went to Trier [Annotator's Note: Trier, Germany] and blew up a bunch of pillboxes [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns] in the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s]. He met some great guys and some not so hot guys. The 333rd was a Special Service Regiment. There were no semi-permanent bridges across the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River, Germany]. The regiment was built specifically to be a bridge building unit. It was a conglomerate of a lot of units. He thinks it was the only one in Europe. Jordan was called a Unit Combat Leader. He directed the people in their work. He got the old Red Ball Express [Annotator's Note: Allied forces truck convoy system] and had to get them to get supplies out of France. He went where he was needed. There were some fascinating guys. A guy named Postlewaite [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling' unable to identify] knew more about driving piles [Annotator's Note: support structures for bridges] than anybody else in the world. They had to keep him sober. There were a lot of characters.

James Jordan and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment] were building displaced persons [Annotator's Note: also called DP] camps. He was assigned to run some camps to ensure they had enough food and clothing. They built between 11 and 13 DP camps. Most of them were in old German barracks or cleaned out concentration camps and prisoner of war camps. He had no idea about this problem before he got there. He was told to go to a camp that was having problems. There were no riots, but there were so many packed into rooms. Sometimes there were 60 people in one room. They were feeding them C rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food] and sometimes there was not enough. Before the assignment, he did not know what a displaced person was. He could not believe what the Germans had done to them. The Germans did not have anything to eat either and here was this whole mass of people to take care of. Still today, he does not like to hear either CNN [Annotator's Note: Cable News Network] or FOX [Annotator's Note: FOX News] and hear this drumbeat of news here. You tell a lie often enough and long enough. The Germans bought it. Fulda [Annotator's Note: Fulda, Germany] was not hit bad at all. In Kassel, [Annotator's Note: Kassel, Germany] there was only one building standing. They were also supposed to look for Nazis, but all Germans were "nicht Nazi" [Annotator's Note: "not Nazi"]. They were not going to find a Nazi. They had picked out the Jews as the cause of all the German problems after World War 1. It was tragic. It was a tragedy beyond belief. Most of the big cities were in ruins. Frankfurt [Annotator's Note: Frankfurt, Germany], Kassel, Dresden [Annotator's Note: Dresden, Germany], made him wonder how they would ever have a life again. The occupation troops were living high on the hog [Annotator's Note: slang for having a lot of money to spend]. They would leave their garbage out and the Germans would pick through it.

James Jordan will never forget something that impressed him. Two bridges from Mainz [Annotator's Note: Mainz, Germany] to Kassel [Annotator's Note: Kassel, Germany] were being staged from Russelsheim, Germany [Annotator's Note: Rüsselsheim, Germany] where an old Opel plant [Annotator's Note: Opel Automobile GmbH; German automaker] was. There were a lot of PWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war], they were not called POWs. When they were not working, they would go the plant that had been bombed and pick out the good bricks. Jordan told a friend [Annotator's Note: in Headquarters Company, 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment] to "look at the crazy bastards" who think they are going to rebuild the place. Now it is a big plant again. It shows that Germans have tremendous tenacity. They are smart people, good fighters. He wonders how wars start with good people and what would have happened if we [Annotator's Note: the United States] had not been there and taken the lead. Who else could do the Marshall Plan [Annotator's Note: American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe]? Jordan thinks George Marshall [Annotator's Note: US Chief of Staff and General of the Army George C. Marshall] is one of the greatest guys to emerge in World War 2. He knew you could not have a country flat on its back. We [Annotator's Note: the United States] were not vindictive and helped as much as we could. It is being repeated in some places unfortunately. Jordan was torn. He had no respect for what they allowed Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] to do to them, and for what they did to the Jews, the Russians, and others. Yet, he had to do something to help them. Most of the guys, with very few exceptions, were sympathetic to the suffering. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if the off-camera person is present and then discusses some problems with the recording of the interview time and they stop and start over from 0:31:11.000 to 0:31:56.000.] Jordan had mixed feelings about rebuilding Germany but saw no alternative. The winter was freezing. The German men were nearly wiped out and were not around. He saw mainly women and children and the people in the DP [Annotator's Note: displaced persons] camps who could not take care of themselves. He had no sympathy for the Germans of the prewar and war years. He is glad there were leaders like Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] and Marshall who did know what to do. America was the only country left standing with any resources. They are all now our competitors. He does not like the fact that they are not paying their share of supporting our troops now [Annotator's Note: as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO].

While stationed in Germany [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment], James Jordan [Annotator's Note: a telephone rings in the background] and others fraternized against orders. The German did not have much money. Jordan was not a big drinker but some of the older, career guys were. His buddy Posty [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] would trade anything for their liquor rations. They did stupid things. They stole a Christmas tree in Trier [Annotator's Note: Trier, Germany]. They did attend Christmas Mass in Fulda, Germany. He did not realize how beautiful it was [Annotator's Note: Fulda] until he went back later. They would hunt. They turned over an ambulance they had taken to go hunting. It was the only vehicle with a heater. The driver lost control and hit an arch. They hunted deer with .30 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun]. It was stupid, kid stuff. They worked close by the Russian Zone [Annotator's Note: Russian Zone of Occupation] at Kassel [Annotator's Note: Kassel, Germany] but had no interactions with the Russians. The Russians were stealing everything they could to take back to Russia. Jordan and his group were there to keep them out of the American Zone [Annotator's Note: American Zone of Occupation]. They had orders that if the Russians decided to come through, they were to leave and put mines out as they left. That never happened. There were some career officers who felt we would never get along with the Russians. Fulda had the Fulda Gap where some invasions came through. By the time Jordan was there, it was not a buddy-buddy thing like it was right after the war [Annotator's Note: Jordan is referring to the relationship with the Soviet Army].

James Jordan returned to the United States in December 1946. They took a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] out of Bremerhaven [Annotator's Note: Bremerhaven, Germany] that blew a boiler outside of Dover [Annotator's Note: Dover, England]. They only went about eight miles an hour anyway. He had told his girlfriend he would be home, so she left the Christmas tree up. He did not dock until February 1947. He was "seasick as hell" most of the time. Going over, he was on a troopship that was faster. Going back, he was aboard the Emory T. Victory [Annotator's Note: the MS Emory Victory]. They got into terrible storms in the North Atlantic in January [Annotator's Note: January 1947] and that confirmed his choosing not to go in the Navy. He signed up for the Reserve [Annotator's Note: Army Reserve] and helped restart the National Guard in Scranton [Annotator's Note: Pennsylvania Army National Guard; Scranton, Pennsylvania]. He got married and started back up at Penn [Annotator's Note: University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. He served with the 103rd Combat Engineers [Annotator's Note: 103rd Engineer Battalion] in Philly [Annotator's Note: slang for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. He was recalled to active duty to Aberdeen [Annotator's Note: Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland]. At the eye exam he was asked how he had gotten in the Army in the first place. He told them that he had lied once but he was not going to lie twice. That was in 1950 and he was discharged. He was lucky he got the G.I. Bill, or he never would have gotten an education. He also got a cheap G.I. loan for a house. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Jordan how important the G.I. Bill was to postwar America.] It was tremendous. He never could have afforded an Ivy League school [Annotator's Note: eight private research, elite colleges in the Northeastern United States] like the University of Pennsylvania. They had paper drapes and most of them were living from day to day. He got his Master's and PhD [Annotator's Note: college degrees] at Wharton [Annotator's Note: Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, also called Wharton Business School, and Wharton School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] and ended up teaching. Before the war, his older buddies were joining the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps]. That taught them trades and they learned to build bridges and roads. The CCC today could do so much. They did it 75 years ago and we [Annotator's Note: the United States] seem to have forgotten how to do it. The fact that people will not wear a mask because it takes away their freedom disturbs him [Annotator's Note: for the COVID-19 pandemic; also called the coronavirus pandemic, global pandemic of coronavirus disease, starting in December 2019]. Transitioning to civilian life was not hard. He started work until he got approved for the G.I. Bill and they all belonged to the 52-20 Club [Annotator's Note: a government-funded program that paid unemployed veterans 20 dollars per week for 52 weeks]. Some guys wanted to work but the rest went to school. Jordan was never in combat but he did lose a couple of friends. The Army made him grow up. He was 19 and he had more responsibility than he had later on in life. He was fortunate to be the junior officer in the regiment. He got to do what nobody else wanted to do.

James Jordan was lucky. He married a wonderful girl from Scranton [Annotator's Note: Scranton, Pennsylvania]. She worked while he went to school. They had a lot of fun. They all loved school. Nobody had to be told to study. He graduated in a little over three years and got a job right away. He never had a problem getting a job. They were rebuilding the world after World War 2. There was no competition and there were plenty of jobs. It was an amazing time to be alive. He had so many memorable experiences. A big achievement was going through OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] and getting commissioned. That was a big deal. As young kid, given all that responsibility, he is a lucky guy. The guys in the Pacific had it a lot rougher. Jordan was in the SS [Annotator's Note: Special Services, as part of the Headquarters Company, 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment,] and they had great equipment. The sergeants really knew what was going on. If you were smart, you listened to them. Jordan is a delegator. That is basic to everything. Jimmy Carter [Annotator's Note: James Earl Carter, Jr., 39th President of the United States] could not do anything because he wanted to do everything. A guy like Trump [Annotator's Note: Donald John Trump, 45th President of the United States] does not do anything but wants all the credit. Ronald Reagan [Annotator's Note: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States] was no genius, but he knew to get good people and knew he would be loyal to them. That made Reagan a good President because he knew what the job was and gave credit. It is so basic to anything.

James Jordan is a contributing member to the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and he is proud of that. It is a fabulous institution, and he has been three times. He tells people to take two days to see it properly. [Annotator's Note: Jordan and the interviewer discuss Museum operations during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.] Jordan first saw a PT Boat [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat] at the Nimitz Museum [Annotator's Note: Admiral Nimitz Museum, National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas]. Jordan served in the war because of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. That made it easy. He grew up in the service. He is a lucky one who benefited greatly by his service. His service means a lot to him. He is proud he enlisted at 17 and did not have to be drafted. He is proud of what the military has done. He was against the volunteer Army, but thinks it is the greatest fighting force ever. He thinks everybody should serve. There should be a draft for at least community service. Every great empire has been lost from within. If you do not serve your country, how can your country serve you? "Father, Soldier, Son" [Annotator's Note: American documentary film] is on Netflix [Annotator's Note: Netflix, Incorporated; American entertainment company] about a single man raising a family and it shows the sacrifice the military kids are going through. Serving two, three, four, five deployments is awful. We are asking an awful lot of those kids. World War 2 is relevant in that it was the key pivotal point in the lives of those that served. The lessons of civilians dealing with diplomacy and preventing war are still there. So are the lessons it taught about sacrifice. There are lessons about how not to blunder into these wars. What we have spent on foreign wars from the Iraq War [Annotator's Note: Iraq War, 2003 to 2011] until now is ten trillion dollars. There ought to be monuments to George Marshall [Annotator's Note: US Chief of Staff and General of the Army George C. Marshall] in every town. What Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] did to keep the country going; he is a great leader. Marshall was the genius. Not understood or appreciated today at all. Jordan thinks the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum] is very necessary. There is so much to learn. As difficult as it is, those lessons could be applied today to help people if they want to be helped.