GMC News
A Message from President Caldwell on National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
December 7, 1941 was a Sunday morning that began like any other. The citizens of Milledgeville were preparing for Christmas. Georgia State College for Women, and Georgia Military College were preparing for their Christmas Breaks. However, by that afternoon the news from Pearl Harbor had shattered the lives of many across our great nation, and Milledgeville was no exception. Nearly 100 young men with ties to Milledgeville would give their “last full measure of devotion” in the defeat of tyranny. Sixty-three of those young men would be GMC alumni or teachers. Over 2,000 of our graduates would serve in the armed forces during World War II.
Pearl Harbor certainly impacted our small community. Ten hours after that surprise attack, on December 8, 1941, the horror of war came to the Philippines when the Japanese Navy and Army attacked Luzon and Clark Field. Often forgotten, the attack on the Philippines would prove to have a prolonged impact on the people of Milledgeville, Georgia Military College, and three families in particular. Thirteen residents of Milledgeville were in, or near, the Philippines including three commissioned US Army officers who were graduates of Georgia Military College Prep School.
Major E.V. Jordan, Class of 1928, was a newly promoted major, assigned to the 82nd Infantry, 81st Division, the Cebu Brigade when U.S. and Filipino forces were overwhelmed and ultimately surrendered on April 9, 1942. Jordan would survive the Bataan Death March and imprisonment in the Davao Penal Colony. One of 750, mostly American, P.O.W.’s placed upon the “hell ship” Shinyo Maru bound for the main island of Japan in September, 1944, MAJ Jordan was killed when the ship was torpedoed by the submarine USS Paddle off the coast of Manila. MAJ Ernest Virgil Jordan, Jr. is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, Memory Hill Cemetery, and on our HERO, GMC’s tribute to all her war dead. Among his awards include the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
First Lieutenant James E. Smith, Jr., Class of 1937, was stationed in Cebu in December 1941, and, like Jordan, survived the fighting and the subsequent Bataan Death March. Unfortunately, he did not survive imprisonment and died on November 3, 1942. As an indicator of how slow the flow of information was at the time, his parents were not informed until July 16, 1943. 1LT Smith is also memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, Memory Hill Cemetery, and on our HERO.
Second Lieutenant Winbon D. Youngblood, Class of 1938, found himself a member of the 12th Infantry Regiment, 11th Philippine Division on December 8, 1941, and began the fight against Japan, south of the Ligayen Gulf. Part of the American and Filipino forces that were evacuated to the Bataan Peninsula. Youngblood, like all Allied forces, suffered from a lack of food and supplies and became a Japanese Prisoner of War on April 9, 1942. He survived the Bataan Death March and imprisonment but like MAJ Jordan was loaded on a ‘hell ship”, the Brazil Maru.The Brazil Maru was bound for Moji, Japan when it was attacked. 2LT Youngblood was shot and killed while trying to escape the Brazil and became 1 of 440 American and Filipino soldiers who died on the voyage. 2LT Winbon D. Youngblood is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in Manila, and on our HERO. Among his awards are the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
From her birth in 1879 and first classes in 1880, GMC has not only taught but exemplified character and devotion to duty, honor and love of country. These three gentlemen are shining examples of the values of Georgia Military College and the valor that is displayed by her graduates when they find themselves in dire circumstances. Though not written in the annals of history Jordan, Smith, and Youngblood are American heroes who voluntarily placed themselves in harm’s way to start the journey to bring an end to tyranny.
Every day we who are privileged to work and attend classes on this campus see and hear the words, ‘duty, honor, and love of country”. I feel they are more than mere words, they are the very core of what we teach and try to exemplify on a daily basis. We are developing leaders who will become the next generation of men and women who will make sacrifices to ensure the safety of their families, friends and fellow citizens.Though not at Pearl Harbor, today we honor men who were thrust into the conflagration of World War II because of what took place there.
