H.R. No. 1824
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Family and friends continue to treasure their
memories of Willie V Jordan of Newport, who endured enormous
hardship in the service of this nation during World War II; and
WHEREAS, Bill Jordan was born into a family of sharecroppers
near Newport on February 10, 1922; at age 16, he went to work with
the Civilian Conservation Corps, and in 1940, when his parents
refused him permission to join the U.S. Navy, he enlisted in the
Texas National Guard instead; his unit was mobilized in the months
before Pearl Harbor, and Mr. Jordan shipped out in November 1941
with the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, of
the U.S. Army; and
WHEREAS, Originally destined for the Philippines, the unit
was rerouted to Australia and then to Java, where its mission was to
help defend the island against invasion; soon after, however, the
Japanese launched an overwhelming assault, and the Allied troops on
Java were forced to surrender on March 8, 1942; Mr. Jordan and his
comrades then began a 42-month ordeal, during which they were
forced by their captors to build what came to be known as the Death
Railway in the jungles of Burma; and
WHEREAS, Enduring the ravages of starvation, torture, and
disease, Mr. Jordan and the other prisoners cleared jungle and
carried baskets of rocks weighing as much as 100 pounds in
torrential rain and withering heat; despite receiving injuries and
suffering from malaria, beriberi, and dysentery, this tough young
Texan continued to work, helping his fellow prisoners when he
could; because he himself was able to work barefoot, he gave his
shoes to another prisoner, who credited them with saving his life;
and
WHEREAS, No word of the men's plight reached the outside
world until September 1944, so that the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field
Artillery, came to be known as the "Lost Battalion," and it was only
after the end of the war in the Pacific, in August 1945, that loved
ones learned the fate of individual members of the unit; according
to one account, of the 668 men from the battalion who went into the
jungle, 163 died in POW camps, 133 of them while working on the
railroad; when Mr. Jordan returned to the States, he carried less
than 90 pounds on his six-foot frame; and
WHEREAS, Bill Jordan continued to serve in the military, at
bases from Maine to Alaska, for the next 15 years; he retired from
the U.S. Air Force in 1960 and subsequently worked as a construction
engineer for the City of Fort Worth until his retirement from that
post in 1985; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Jordan was joined in matrimony to Florence
Kistler, also of Newport, following his return from the war, and the
couple raised three children; he died on October 16, 1992, and was
laid to rest in Newport Cemetery; and
WHEREAS, Rarely speaking of his ordeal and harboring no ill
will toward his captors, Bill Jordan credited his survival to his
faith in God, in his country, and in his comrades; he remained proud
of his service throughout his life, as he devoted himself to making
a better life for his family and to instilling in his children a
deep respect for the same values that made him a true American hero;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Willie V Jordan and
extend gratitude to the members of his family for preserving the
memory of his courage, patriotism, and sacrifice.
Springer
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 1824 was unanimously adopted by a
rising vote of the House on May 12, 2017.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House