Exeter History Tellers: Harvey Jordan and Memorial Day

Memorial Day 2026 is coming up next month. This holiday, begun after the Civil War to mourn those lost in military service to the nation, is the most somber of all federally recognized days. It was first called Decoration Day, as families decorated the graves of the fallen with flowers. May was chosen because it is a month of blooming flowers.

This year, the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Though that date predates Exeter by more than a century, the City of Exeter has joined in this national commemoration through the formation of the E250 Committee. The committee is made up of local citizens representing various organizations, the city, and the schools.

Since the dedication of the Memorial Plaza at the Veterans Memorial Building on November 11, the group has organized patriotic displays and activities each month. These have included patriotic-themed Christmas ornaments created by schoolchildren and displayed throughout town in December; the planting of 250 trees across the community; the Kiwanis Club’s restoration work on the historic kiddie pool in City Park; the creation of a one-mile historic walking loop from City Park through downtown and back; the patriotic painting of fire hydrants; and more.

One of the upcoming events will be a special Echoes of Exeter production on Memorial Day, May 25, 2026. This production is a collaborative effort between the Exeter American Legion Post 94, the Exeter Public Cemetery District (EPCD), and the Center for Art, Culture and History-Exeter (CACHE).

Each Memorial Day, the American Legion decorates the entire cemetery with flags. Volunteers place approximately 1,700 flags on the graves of veterans over the weekend. Special crosses mark the graves of those who died during their military service. A ceremony begins at 8:00 a.m., honoring those buried in Exeter who gave their lives in service to the nation.

This year, five actors will portray veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice. Each will deliver a short monologue sharing the story of their life—and, in this case, the story of their death. One of those featured will be Private Harvey Jordan, the fifth Exeter boy killed in action during the Great War.

Harvey Jordan was born in November 1900, the fourth child in a pioneer family that would eventually include eight sons and four daughters in Yokohl Valley. His father, James Buchanan Jordan, was the youngest of twelve children born to John Jordan, whose name lives on in local landmarks such as Jordan Flat, the Jordan Trail over the Sierras, and the Jordan Hills on the south side of Yokohl Valley.

Harvey grew up on a ranch just west of the Gill family along Yokohl Road and attended Yokohl School with the younger Gill boys, Emmet and Adolph. Like them, he was raised working on a cattle ranch. He entered Exeter Union High School in September 1915.

As the war in Europe intensified, Harvey followed its progress through weekly newspaper reports. During his sophomore year, he left school. In April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and instituted the draft the following month. That same spring, at just 16 years old, Harvey enlisted in Company D of the 2nd California Infantry of the National Guard.

He was sent to San Francisco’s Mare Island base for Camp Kearny near San Diego (now part of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar) for training. His unit later spent time integrating with other federalized units, likely including time in Idaho, before being shipped to France in June 1918.

After a month-long voyage, Harvey arrived in France, where his unit—like many from the 40th Division—was used as a replacement force. Within weeks, he was assigned to a front-line unit preparing for the St. Mihiel offensive.

In September 1918, approximately 216,000 American and 48,000 French troops were assembled for the attack. With 1,481 aircraft involved, it was the largest aerial operation of the war to that point. Although German forces were retreating, they had established artillery and machine-gun positions to slow the Allied advance.

On the morning of September 12, in foggy and muddy conditions, Harvey—just two months shy of his eighteenth birthday—advanced with his unit. During that advance, he was killed by machine-gun fire. Seven thousand other Allied troops were killed in that five-day battle

He was buried near the battlefield in a temporary American military cemetery. After the war, families were given the choice of leaving their loved ones in France or bringing them home. The Jordan family chose to have him returned.

On September 19, 1918, The Exeter Sun’s front page listed all one hundred fifty-five names of the local boys serving in the military. At that time, they only knew of one, Edward Borgman, who had died in battle the previous November. Also on the front page was the story of Exeter Union High School’s opening in the coming week. While he was laid to rest in a muddy French field, Harvey’s classmates from EUHS 1919 were set to begin their senior year. 

In August 1921, more than three years after his death, Harvey’s body arrived by train in Exeter. Members of American Legion Post 94 placed his casket in the Legion Hall on the second floor of the Daugherty Building—now located above Stafford’s Chocolates at 123 North E Street. Legion members stood guard around the clock in four-hour shifts from Thursday through Sunday.

He was then carried two blocks to the Methodist Church at Palm and D Streets before his burial at Exeter Cemetery. A large crowd, that included the Jordan family, other veterans of the war and many of his classmates gathered at the cemetery to hear the twenty-one-gun salute ring out, and the sound of taps drifting through the hot afternoon air.

As a seven-year-old in 1908, Harvey had stood in a Yokohl School program and recited a poem titled “The Best Day.” Ten years later, that same boy—who likely expected to spend his life as a cattleman—found himself in eastern France, advancing toward enemy lines.

That day would be his last—not his best. This Memorial Day, an actor portraying Harvey will be telling of that day in dramatic fashion.