Wallace Jordan was born on October 22, 1916, in San Francisco, California. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Corps on April 23, 1941, and was commissioned a 2d Lt and awarded his pilot wings at Mather Field, California, on December 12, 1941. Lt Jordan next served as a P-39 Airacobra pilot with the 54th Fighter Group in Alaska from January 1942 to February 1943, followed by P-38 Lightning transition training from February to March 1943. He then served as a P-38 and P-47 Thunderbolt pilot with the 9th Fighter Squadron of the 49th Fighter Group in New Guinea, Biak, and in the Philippines from April 1943 to January 1945, during which time he served as squadron executive officer and squadron commander, was credited with the destruction of 6 enemy aircraft in aerial combat plus 1 probable. Lt Col Jordan next attended the Air Staff Course at Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from January to March 1945, followed by service as Operations Officer, Deputy Commander, and then Commander of the 49th Fighter Group in the Philippines, on Okinawa, and then on occupation duty in Japan, and as Operations Officer and Executive Officer of 5th Fighter Command in Japan from May 1945 to March 1946. He then served as Officer in Charge of Base Flight and as a Troop Commander with the 401st Army Air Force Base Unit, and as Executive to the Director of Operations, Assistant Director of Operations and Training, and then as Director of Operations and Training with Headquarters Western Air Defense Force at Hamilton AFB, California, from June 1946 to February 1953. His next assignment was as Deputy for Operations, Deputy Commander, and then Commander of the 64th Air Division at Pepperrell AFB, Newfoundland, Canada, from March 1953 to April 1955, followed by service as Chief of the Air Operations Division, Chief of the Test Operations Division, as Deputy Director of Operations, as Chief of the Special Projects Division and Director of Research Development and Engineering with Headquarters Air Research and Development Command at Andrews AFB, Maryland, from April 1955 to June 1960. Col Jordan served as Director of Operations for the 313th Air Division at Kadena AB, Okinawa, from June 1960 to July 1963, and then as Chief of Plans and Operations and as Chief of the Comptroller Office with Headquarters Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, from July 1963 until his retirement from the Air Force on July 1, 1964.