292nd Engineer Combat Battalion (New Member)

[buk2112]

In my thoughts today is one PFC Harold M. Jordan who was killed in action on this day in 1945. He was a member of Company C, 414th Infantry Regiment, 104th (Timberwolf) Infantry Division. PFC Jordan had just turned 19 years old three weeks before his death, 19 years old, that is the same age my daughter is now. My grandfather must have been friends with this soldier or at least known him. How they became associated, I do not have an answer for that. This a picture of my grandfather taken at PFC Jordan's grave, it is the largest (8X10) of his wartime photographs. When I first saw it I could tell it was a special photo. It has been suggested to me that this is the type of picture that would have been sent back home to the parents or next of kin. I believe this is probably correct.

Here is what is written on the backside.

In the final analysis with all things considered, I would say this photo was taken in June or July 1945. Of course I wanted to know how my grandfather knew this soldier and where the picture was taken. Their paths don't seem to have crossed anywhere during their service that I can tell. Which leads me to believe that they may have known each other before the war. I have asked the family if anyone knew how they met and nobody can recall. PFC Jordan had lived with his parents in Montgomery County, Illinois before the war, not far from St. Louis. My guess is that PFC Jordan or maybe his dad worked with my grandfather at the same manufacturing plant in St. Louis.

The only way to find out where the photo was taken would be to request the IDPF of the fallen soldier. After eleven months of waiting, the file finally arrived and I had the story of PFC Jordan and the answer to my query. He died a few miles south of Paderborn Germany from shrapnel wounds to the neck on 6 April 1945. Six days later his body was buried in Military Cemetery #1 at Ittenbach Germany. This was the location of the photograpgh I was looking for. The file gives grid coordinates for the cemetery location, I plugged those into Google Earth to get a aerial view of the area today. The yellow push pin in the following image points to the area where the former cemetery was located. As you can see it is an empty field.

 

This cemetery was only temporary, they did not want American war dead to be left in enemy soil. PFC Jordan's remains were removed from this cemetery in September 1945 and reburied at Plot YY, Row 2, Grave 32 in the Margraten Cemetery in Holland. The repatriation of the American war dead began in 1947. PFC Jordan's parents, Mack and Audrey Jordan of Taylor Springs Illinois, had elected to have their son brought home to be close to them.  His journey home began in September 1948 with his disinterment from Margraten and ended with his final burial in the Sunnyside Cemetery in Sorento Illinois in January 1949.

Thank you PFC Jordan for your service and sacrifice