Jordan Receives High School Diploma from Gary District
Left for Army in March 1942

Edgar JordanEdgar Jordan left the Gary Independent School District to join the U.S. Army in the spring of 1942 just a few months before he was to graduate from high school.

On Friday night, Jordan became the first World War II veteran from GHS to receive his Honorary Diploma since the Texas legislature passed the provision making it possible to give the Honorary Diplomas to certain veterans.

An eligible applicant is one who: is or was an honorable discharged member of the armed forces of the United States; was scheduled to graduate from high school after 1940 and before 1951; and left high school before graduation to serve in World War II.

Jordan, left, receiving diploma from Supt. Evans, Gary ISDJordan received several awards and decorations for his service in the army. He earned the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Ribbon with five bronze stars for the following campaigns; New Guinea, Bismarck-Archipelago, Maudated Islands, Philippines, and Northern Solomons. He also earned two Overseas Service Chevrons for over twelve months spent there.

Superintendent of schools, Dean Evans, stated, "It was a really wonderful ceremony, and we are appreciative that he would drive all the way from Tyler to participate in it."

 


For Edgar Dennis Jordan

A young boy called.
Gone before having a chance
to drag race along a country dirt road
or skinny dip in a moonlit farm pond.

Gone before even graduating from high school,
a country needs his services to protect
freedoms his youth has not yet begun to experience.

So he went. Lungs expand to take in the adventure...
metered paces along dusty drilling grounds.
New soil that absorbs the sweat and dreams of glory
swelling the young men's hearts. Nary a thought given
for what he would miss.

Sixty years later, a tardy gratitude bestows his
honorary high school diploma.
Against awards and decorations received in the army,
this association is a solemn one for his personal recognition
of what he had relinquished to say "yes!"
to the call of country.

By Bernie Bruster
Carthage, Texas
February 2002

 

Hats Off! to Mrs. Frances Frasier, sister of Edgar Jordan, Panola College instructor Bernie Bruster, and The Panola Watchman for this information (2002).

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03/21/05