DOB/DOD: June 22, 1985 (St. Petersburg, FL) – August 25, 2006; 21 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Dunbar Road; Milford
ENLISTMENT: July 2003
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 0311; Rifleman
UNIT: C Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment (Regional Combat Team-5), 4th Marine Division; Plainville, Connecticut
FAMILY: Born to Eric C. (1960-) and Beverley A. True Pierson (1956-). One brother, Ethan (1995-).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Purple Heart Medal with device (two-time recipient), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with combat distinguishing device, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and the Combat Action Ribbon.
CIRCUMSTANCES: Killed in action while on foot patrol in Fallujah, Iraq.
OTHER: Jordan delayed academics at the University of Connecticut when he was activated. He was killed while on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. He was interested in the profession of arms and read many books on counter-insurgency tactics. He studied German, and while in Iraq, he developed a proficiency in Arabic. On a lighter note, his parents said that he took French in high school because that’s the class all the girls were in. He was also a member of the Complete Chaos Brotherhood Motorcycle Club.
Joseph A. Foran High School, Class of 2003
Citation of the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal awarded posthumously with combat distinguishing device.
TO
Corporal Jordan C. Pierson
United States Marine Corps Reserve
FOR
Heroic Achievement in the superior performance of his duties while serving as 2nd Team Leader, 4rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) from March to August 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Corporal Pierson participated in more than 100 combat patrols, 50 intelligence-driven raids and developed a technique to defeat a significant sniper threat within his company’s area of operation. While under direct enemy small arms fire on 12 April, he ran across a roof to engage the enemy and suppress the insurgent’s assault on his squad. On 24 May, though wounded in the arm and leg during an enemy grenade attack, he joined his squad leader in an assault on the enemy. Corporal Pierson was mortally wounded by an insurgent sniper during a platoon combat patrol in the Andalus District of Fallujah. Throughout the deployment, his leadership never wavered, and he ensured that his team was always prepared for the rigors of combat. Corporal Pierson’s initiative, perseverance, and total dedication to duty reflected credit upon him and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
Signed on September 2, 2006, by Richard Zilmer, Major General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding General Multi-National Force – West. [citation provided by Jordan’s father, Eric; used with permission]
From The Hartford Courant on August 27, 2006
By Hilda Muñoz and Tina A. Brown | Courant Staff Writers
MARINE FROM STATE FATALLY SHOT IN IRAQ
A U.S. Marine corporal from Milford died from hostile gunfire Friday while on foot patrol in Fallujah, the U.S. Defense Department said Saturday. Corporal Jordan C. Pierson, 21, was shot once through the shoulder and died at 12:12 p.m. Iraqi time, according to Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Larghe, commander of the U.S. Marine Center in Plainville, where Pierson’s company — Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines — is based. He became the third Marine with ties to the company to be killed in action since the unit was deployed in March. Pierson joined the U.S. Marine Corps in December 2003. He was wounded in the arms and legs by shrapnel from an insurgent grenade in May. He was treated at Camp Fallujah and awarded the Purple Heart. A full-time student at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Pierson postponed his studies to go to Iraq, military Marine officials said. The unit is scheduled to return to Connecticut in October. Milford Mayor James Richetelli Jr. visited Pierson’s family Saturday. “I expressed the condolences from the city of Milford,” he said. “Once the time comes, this city will remember him in a big way. We are known as a small city with a big heart.” For now, Richetelli said, the family asks for privacy. “The family is in shock and is trying to process this,” he said. Pierson’s profile on MySpace.com mentioned the Marine Corps more than once. He said he thought of his staff sergeant as a “hero,” and he also wrote “Marines 4 Life” at the top of his page. Pierson, a 2003 graduate of Joseph A. Foran High School in Milford, was also a fan of Elton John, Britney Spears, and Hilary Duff, according to the profile. He had an obvious sense of humor and a personality. “I think I’m cooler than you,” Pierson wrote. “I’d like to meet cute girls.” Flags were lowered to half-staff in Milford and at the state Capitol in Pierson’s honor. A tree in front of Milford City Hall that was lit to honor men and women in service the day the Iraq war started in March 2003 will be darkened until after Pierson’s funeral, Richetelli said. Pierson is the only U.S. serviceman from Milford killed in the war, he said. He is survived by his father, Eric C. Pierson; his mother, Beverley A. Pierson; and his 11-year-old brother, Ethan. Marine Captain Brian S. Letendre, who lived in New Britain while serving as the Charlie Company’s inspector-instructor in Plainville, died in combat in Iraq in May. Earlier this month, Lance Corporal Kurt E. Dechen of Springfield, Vermont, was shot and killed while on foot patrol. He died on his 24th birthday.
From The Day (New London, CT) on August 29, 2006
By Kyn Tolson | Day Staff Writer
PARENTS OF MARINE KILLED IN IRAQ PROUD THAT SON ‘GAVE OF HIMSELF’
MILFORD — Corporal Jordan Pierson had already ordered the Purple Heart Medal he had earned and planned to wear for the Marine Corps formal ball in November. He’d also told his parents he was going to go skydiving when he got back home. And he’d started thinking about the courses he’d take when he returned to the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut to get his degree in business. But all these plans and dreams came to an end Friday when the 21-year-old Marine reservist was fatally shot while on foot patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. Governor M. Jodi Rell asked over the weekend that flags in Connecticut be flown at half-staff in honor of Pierson, who was one of about 200 men serving with Plainville-based Charlie Company in Fallujah. Living in a heavily fortified compound in the city’s downtown, the Marines, along with others in their infantry battalion, have been in Iraq since March and expect to be back in the United States by late October. Charlie Company is part of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, which has its headquarters in Massachusetts. On Monday afternoon, Pierson’s mother, Beverley, said her son’s death was his ultimate selfless gift, one that should stir others to ponder how they might give of themselves. Pierson joined the Marine Reserves in late 2003 after graduating from Foran High School in Milford, where he lived with his parents and 11-year-old brother. Serving in Iraq meant deferring his studies at UConn, said his father, Eric, but he already had decided on a major and was thinking about a minor in psychology. The Piersons spoke from the back porch of their home in Milford to a gathering of about a dozen media members. “Jordan had a tenacity for life,” Beverley Pierson said, following comments from her husband at the pre-arranged press conference. “He lived it with such excitement and put his whole being into it. What makes a great man is when he decides not to listen to the limits of others but to believe in the possibilities of life. … “If you learn anything from Jordan’s example, you will have learned that he gave of himself. How will you give of yourself? … How will you leave here today and make your mark? Will you volunteer for a soup kitchen? Will you make a plan to do something for somebody other than yourself?” Pierson’s body has not yet arrived in the United States. Memorial and funeral services are not yet scheduled, but he will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A service of remembrance will be held at the Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Trumbull. Pierson had been awarded two Purple Hearts — medals awarded for wounds received in enemy combat. The latest incident occurred in late May when he was wounded while on patrol by shrapnel from a grenade that went into both arms and a leg. He was treated by American military medical personnel in Fallujah and soon returned to duty with Charlie Company. The infantrymen have a grueling routine of patrols in Fallujah, which they do either on foot or in Humvees. Their missions vary; sometimes, they patrol to survey the city, and sometimes, they are headed out to capture suspected insurgents. They also go out with the Iraqi army and often have humanitarian patrols when the goal might be to deliver medical goods or toys and candy to children. In summer temperatures that can hit 130 degrees or higher, they might patrol two or three times in a 12-hour period, always armed at least with M-16 rifles and wearing helmets, flak jackets, and other protective gear. With no days off in their schedule, they also stand guard duty around their compound. Now more than two-thirds through a seven-month assignment, Charlie Company has lost three of its men by sniper fire. One of those Marines was serving elsewhere at the time. Four others in the 1/25th have been killed in Fallujah. Pierson’s parents described their son as an adventurous spirit and “risk-taker” who showed an interest in the military, world affairs, and history by the age of 10. His father said, “We also acknowledge the United States Marine Corps, which Jordan loved, honored, and gave his life serving.” After both parents read brief statements, they answered questions from the press but were forewarned that they would not comment about the war or politics. Eric Pierson said his son was able to call home about once a week, and only during the last conversation had he started to talk about plans he was making for his return. During most of his earlier telephone conversations from Fallujah, Beverley Pierson said, her son focused on the duty at hand. But with only 60 days left in Iraq, she added, he was turning toward the future. “It was a very serious mission” in Fallujah, she said. “A very draining mission … dangerous. … And he was putting his all into it.” Facing three television cameras, reporters, and photographers who gathered on the lawn of their backyard, the Piersons stood on their porch, accompanied by the mayor of Milford, a Marine lieutenant colonel, pastors from the Trumbull Calvary Church, and others. Their gray-shingled, single-story home sits on a hill, close to others in a neighborhood of modest houses and with a view of Long Island Sound less than four blocks away. Eric Pierson’s brother, Michael, read from a message written by Charlie Company’s top non-commissioned officer, First Sergeant Ben Grainger: “We have lost a great Marine to the rigors of combat in Iraq, Corporal Jordan Pierson. Corporal Pierson had been a bright spot in his platoon. … Even when the gloom of combat reached deep in a man’s soul, Corporal Pierson could bring the Marine back to a sense of purpose, a sense of why we were here and that we were making a difference. “Corporal Pierson was destined not to only be a Marine, but a leader among Marines. … (They) are saddened and angered as they deal with the loss that they know has not only hurt them but his family back home. Marines are here to protect the American family, and Corporal Pierson was one who strongly believed in that. … He fostered such a positive spirit that it was contagious to all, even to an old first sergeant. … “We miss you, Jordan. Semper Fi.”
From Patch.com
By Denise Buffa | Patch Staff
REMEMBER THOSE WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
It’s been four years since Corporal Jordan Pierson, a 21-year-old Milford resident, gave his life for his country in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
But the U.S. Marine who made the ultimate sacrifice still lives on in his family’s home — in the photographs, the quilts, the military medals, and the minds of his father, his mother, and younger brother.
“We walk down the street and say, ‘Wow, it’s Veterans Day,’ ” Jordan’s father, Eric Pierson, 50, said. “That day has been paid for with people’s lives and people’s blood. It’s something we all need to take pause on.”
Jordan’s brother, Ethan Pierson, 16, said he’ll be going about his regular business on Veterans Day but filled with pride.
“It’s always like, that day is for my brother…” the teen said. “I’m sure my brother wouldn’t want us crying…”
At every turn in the Pierson’s Woodmont home, the war hero is present. A large photograph of Jordan in his Marine Dress Blues hangs high on a wall in the living room as if he’s watching over the whole family. There are three comfort quilts- gifts after Pierson’s tragic death in 2006- displayed in the living room and the late Marine’s old bedroom. Jordan’s photo is on the refrigerator, held there by a magnet that reads, “Jordan.”
His mother, Beverly Pierson, 54, insists it is not a shrine- and her son was no angel. Frankly, she says, Jordan was a difficult child who other grownups refused to babysit. He got so hard to handle that his parents had to convert the garage into separate quarters for him.
“He was insane,” Beverly Pierson said.
“If you’re going to survive as a soldier in battle, that’s what you need to be,” Jordan’s father said.
But Jordan was also brilliant — and determined. The Piersons recall their son studying military moves as a 10-year-old boy playing Half-Life, a first-person shooter video game. It was then that he took up Tae Kwon Do.
And Jordan grew into a leader, keeping his friends on the straight and narrow. He offered to be the designated driver when he and his friends went out. He encouraged two aimless buddies to join the military.
“My son was the glue,” Beverly Pierson said.
And Jordan was determined.
After the World Trade Center Attack, he was intent on joining the military at age 17. However, that would’ve required at least one parent’s signature because he was underage.
His parents weren’t signing on. It wasn’t because they didn’t support Jordan’s dream. It was because they didn’t want his blood on their hands, as his mother put it, if anything happened to him.
“Could you imagine how I’d feel today if I signed that paper?” said Beverly Pierson, who wears a dog-tag necklace with an etching of her son’s face on one side and an inscription on the other that reads: “My hero, Jordan, 8/25/2006, Iraq, Yo Momma.”
At his 18th birthday party, the Marines showed up with a cup — to take Jordan’s urine sample, his parents recall with smiles.
The Foran High School graduate passed the drug test, and before his parents knew it, their son had learned Spanish, German, and Arabic — and gone off to Iraq.
Jordan used his knowledge of the language to befriend the Iraqis, even trying to dissuade children from joining the insurgency.
“He was always thinking of new ways to defeat the enemy,” Beverly Pierson said.
Jordan had a brush with death in May 2006, when a grenade sent shrapnel through his body. He survived — and kept up the fight.
But three months later, he wasn’t as fortunate. Jordan was struck in the shoulder by small arms fire while on foot patrol in the Al Anbar province. It claimed his life.
“Everybody has a day to die,” Beverly Pierson said. “God has a day he’s going to call you home.”
Ethan Pierson — who’s suffered grand mal seizures since his brother’s death, including one at Arlington National Cemetery, where Jordan is buries — has poured his grief into poetry.
“Beloved bro, amongst the K.I.A.
But to me, you’re still alive and well
Our relationship tightly wound, always
The love we had anybody could tell,” one poem begins.
Beverly and Eric Pierson smile comfortably when they talk about Jordan, who was awarded two Purple Hearts and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
After his death, they learned about the type of man Jordan had become.
He allowed his fellow Marines to relax at night while he prepared their equipment for the next day. He stayed up to comfort an older, injured Marine who cried out for him at night. And he led his troops into raids with a blue light on the back of his helmet so they could follow him in the dark — even though it put him at risk.
In a letter to the family after Jordan’s death, Lance Corporal Jason Cooling wrote, “Your son was a leader to me right from the start.”
And the two became fast friends. On post in Fallujah, Jordan tried to convince Cooling to get another street bike when he returned home to the United States. But Cooling said he wouldn’t because they were way too dangerous.
“Now, here we were, 2 kids, who two years ago were in high school, sitting on post in one of the most dangerous cities in the world, talking about how when we get home our toys were going to be too dangerous,” Cooling wrote.
“We had to laugh at the irony.”
In the end, Jordan’s parents realize all their words of wisdom didn’t go unnoticed by their defiant boy.
“He did everything we said, you know,” Beverly Pierson said. “He just did all his good works in secret.”
Jordan completed more than 100 missions and 50 intelligence-driven raids. The family finds comfort in knowing he died doing what he lived for.
“It was something that he loved, something that he had a passion for. He found a home in the Marines,” Eric Pierson said.
“God took him out in glory,” Beverly Pierson said. “Jordan wanted to be remembered in a big way.”
From The Milford Mirror on November 8, 2015
By Jill Dion | Milford Mirror Editor
Veterans honored and a fallen hero remembered in Milford
Milford paid tribute to veterans during the annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown Milford Sunday, after which there was a special ceremony to remember Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson, who was killed in combat in 2006 in Iraq. He was 21 years old. Pierson’s name was added to the memorial flagpole on the Milford Green, which previously had 96 names etched in its base. Now, there are 97 names. Thomas Flowers, chairman of Milford’s Veterans, Ceremony, and Parade Commission, explained to a gathering of residents and officials Sunday afternoon that the memorial flagpole is dedicated to “the brave men who paid the ultimate sacrifice” serving in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Since 1990, the United States has been involved in a number of conflicts, now collectively called the Global War on Terrorism, he explained. In May, the words “Global War on Terrorism” were added to the base of the flagpole, and next to those words, the name of Milford’s Jordan Pierson. “And it’s about time,” Flowers said. Corporal Jordan Christopher Pierson, son of Eric and Beverley True Pierson, was born on June 22, 1985, in St. Petersburg, Florida, Greg Smith, a past commander of the VFW Post in Milford, told the crowd. Pierson attended Live Oaks School and then Foran High School, graduating in 2003. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserves that July. Upon graduating from Infantry Training Battalion in 2004, Pierson was named a rifleman. “In 2006, while a full-time student at the University of Connecticut, he was called to deploy to Iraq with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division out of Plainville,” Smith said. Pierson was wounded in May of 2006, and he received a Purple Heart for that injury. In July, he was promoted to corporal. He was killed in combat on Friday, August 25, 2006, in Fallujah, Al Anbar Province, Iraq. The young Milford man was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. His other awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Combat Action Ribbon, and Purple Heart with Gold Star. Smith carried in his pocket a piece of paper that held the words a Marine wrote shortly after Pierson was killed. “Corporal Jordan Pierson had been a bright spot in his platoon, in a place that can take the softest of hearts into a void of darkness,” reads the message from First Sergeant Grainger. “Even when the gloom of combat reached deep in a man’s soul, Cpl. Pierson could bring the Marine back to a sense of purpose, a sense of why we were here, and that we were making a difference.” Jordan’s father, Eric, explained that his son had a chance to go home before that fateful day, but he gave that spot to someone else. So, on that day, instead of being safe at home, Jordan volunteered to lead a walking public relations patrol. “The last thing he did was turn around to see that the rest of the team was where they were supposed to be,” Eric said. “Jordan Pierson was a man,” his father said, indicating that all the names on the base of the flagpole are men who gave their lives for others. Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Graves attended Sunday’s service and spoke about Pierson, a man he said proved early on that he was a leader. “On the day he was fallen,” Graves said to Eric and Beverley Pierson during Sunday’s ceremony, “he was leading from the front — so you should be very proud of your son.” Pierson was honored Sunday following the city’s annual Veterans Day Parade, which included high school bands, Milford civic groups, veterans, politicians, and more. Grand Marshal and keynote speaker Harold G. Murray Jr., a U.S. Naval Veteran who served from 1943 to 1946 — and a two-time commander for Post 196 in Milford — read a poem about the dash, that line between a person’s birthdate and death date on their tombstone. “For it matters not how much we own, the cars…the house…the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash,” goes the poem by Linda Ellis.
Testimonial about Jordan Pierson
To the people who knew Jordan Pierson best, I can only offer my sympathy for your loss. I knew him for only a short time, while he was a student living in Colt Hall. He was quiet and humble, unassuming about people, and genuinely kind. Jordan is the friend that everybody has that is never fully appreciated for being the person they are. His qualities are rare. He never sought to stand out; he just quietly conducted his business and lived his life as he wanted. Jordan wanted to be a United States Marine but was never defined as a Marine. He preferred to be a good guy, a student, the same as anybody else who walks around this campus with the best of intent. Reflecting back on conversations with him about the Corps, he didn’t believe in the John Wayne Hollywood image of a Marine or pressure himself to uphold it. He saw something important to him and made it happen. He was a good man who embodied what, as a society, we want our military to stand for.
He passionately but quietly exuberated the meaning of honor, courage, and commitment. He did not talk about what that meant to him or should mean, he just lived as best he could. He treated people with respect and asked for nothing in return. He should not be remembered for the way he sacrificed his life but for showing the rest of us how to live ours. When he found out that his semester would be cut short and he would deploy to Iraq, he never openly complained. He would mention that he would miss leaving school and that he wished he didn’t have to go away from UConn, but never did I hear him mention Iraq positively or negatively. To him, it was a job, and he would do his duty and complete his studies later. The news certainly affected him, and he became less and less Jordan from down the hall and more Corporal Pierson, USMC. His priorities went away from classes and to his brothers-in-arms.
Everybody has fear, but I can’t imagine Jordan ever praying for a reprieve from serving, just for God to grant him the strength to not allow fear to prevent him from doing his job. From all accounts, it never did. The Marines he served with have since sung his praises as an exemplary Marine. It is this willingness to act despite the fear that makes him what he ever wanted to be known as somebody truly heroic. After being wounded, he maintained a sense of humor stronger than his anxiety that benefited those who cared for him probably more than himself. It certainly benefited the Marines serving with him who have written the positive influence Jordan had on them.
To Jordan’s close friends and family, again, I can’t express my condolences strong enough for your loss. In the few months I knew him, he had a tremendously positive influence on me, and I am confident in saying also on others who had the privilege to know him as well. The loss of Jordan Pierson can never be fully appreciated. We have lost more than a Marine, a student, a friend, but the potential of a great man. To those who didn’t get to meet Jordan Pierson, it is my belief that the best way to honor him is to honor how he lived his life by acting with quiet professionalism, an unassuming and genuine belief in the people we meet, and faith in the goodness of humanity. Jordan exemplified strength in character. It is with fond memory I say, Semper Fir Marine. May we not define you as a Marine but define the Marines as having the strength of character that you possessed. Jordan, you will be missed and remembered.
— Greg Woods.
Memorialized on the Milford Green, 84 South Broad Street, Milford, Connecticut.
Memorialized with a park at 37 Davenport Avenue, Milford, Connecticut. The park is at the end of the street he grew up on.
Memorial flagpole at Foran High School, 80 Foran Road, Milford, Connecticut.
Corporal Pierson is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Virginia; Section 60, Site 8241.
