Lt. Edward C. Jordan - The War Years
Pilot, 603rd Squadron
Lt. Edward Jordan's Missions
Ed Jordan brought home a typed 5"x8" card showing his 398th missions. These are listed below and mission locations are as written on the card. In some cases I have added place names in parenthesis that are the official 398th mission target for that day. In these cases, Ed's listing may be a more specific area than the official 398th target or in some cases a secondary target that the 603rd or Ed's aircraft targeted.
- May 9, 1944: St. Dizier, France
- May 11, 1944: Bettembourg, Luxembourg (Sarreguemines)
- May 19, 1944: Berlin, Germany
- May 23, 1944: Woippy, France (Saarbrucken)
- May 25, 1944: Nancy, France
- May 28, 1944: Ruhland, Germany
- June 3, 1944: Manihen, France
- June 5, 1944: Trouville, France
- June 12, 1944: Lille, France
- June 15, 1944: Bordeaux, France
- June 21, 1944: Berlin
- June 24, 1944: Crepy, France (Belloy-sur-Somme)
- June 25, 1944: Toulouse, France
- July 6, 1944: Cauchie D'Ecques, France
- July 7, 1944: Leipzig
- July 8, 1944: Fresnoy, France
- August 1, 1944: Melun/Villaroche, France
- August 3, 1944: Saarbruken, Germany
- August 4, 1944: Peenemunde
- August 6, 1944: Brandenburg, Germany
- August 8, 1944: Bretteville LeRabet, France (Cauvicourt)
- August 11, 1944: Brest, France
- August 16, 1944: Delitzsch, Germany
- August 24, 1944: Kolleda, Germany
- August 25, 1944: Neubrandenburg, Germany
- August 26, 1944: Gelsenkirchen, Germany
- August 30, 1944: Kiel, Germany
- Sept 3, 1944: Ludwigshafen, Germany
Typed on the back of the Ed's 5"x8" card referred to above was the following sentence:
"As of 20 June 1944, additional number of Sorties credited is TWO as determined by TWX 1st Bombardment Division, U-997-E dated 20 June 1944."
When Ed Jordan started, the crews needed to fly 25 missions. But in June the number of missions was upped to 30 for lead crews and 35 for others, but a pro rata occurred for those original crewmembers at 28 for lead crews and 32 for the others. The policy was also set that original crewmembers of an original lead pilot would be the same as the original lead pilot, even though those crewmembers went on to other crews or in cases of co-pilots went on to have their own crews. Thus since Ed started with Bob Hopkins, Ed's number of missions was set at 28.
This whole area is confusing and different 398th'ers recall different explanations of how the missions were pro-rated. The explanation above is one such explanation.
Personal History Information
- Veteran: Edward C. Jordan
- Position: Co-Pilot/Pilot
- Squadron: 603rd
- Date of Personal History: February 2003, updated October 2008
- Author: Dave Jordan
- Submitted to 398th Web Pages by: Dave Jordan