Bill Jordan

Ganderite

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I saw this on another forum.


PennieRector
September 21, 2011, 08:10 PM
Hello I am here to tell you that the story of Bill Jordan accidentally shooting a fellow Border Patrol officer is true. That man was my father, John A. Rector.

I was 13 years old and in the 8th grade, and that has been some 55 years ago, but my memory is very clear. According to the Coroner's inquest, this is the way it happened: Bill Jordan was showing a pistol, a 357 Magnum, to another man. They were in Bill's office at the headquarters of the San Diego Sector in San Ysidro, CA. The gun was unloaded initially, and Bill was demonstrating how he drew and fired. He then reloaded the gun and put it into a desk drawer.

The conversation continued, and forgetting he had loaded the gun he took it out of the drawer, aimed it at the wall and fired. My father was sitting at his desk on the other side of that wall. The bullet went through the wall and hit him in the head. He died about 3 hours later. There was no wrongful death suit, or anything like that. Bill was so upset that he had to be taken home under sedation and the next day I remember he and his wife coming to our house, and he sobbed as he told us how sorry he was. He and my Dad were friends.

I have often given my story as an example of how ANYONE can have an accident with a gun, no matter how expert you are with them.

My Dad did not see me complete my education, he was not there to walk me down the aisle when I married, nor did he see me graduate from college. He never knew that I had a successful career. I don't hate Bill Jordan, nor bear him any ill will. I expect he is gone from this earth now too.

I just wanted to set the record straight for those of you in this forum and elsewhere who think this might have been a false story.
 
And here you are, on a pro gun website.
BIG RESPECT to you SIR .
We need more people with common sense like this .
most people blame the gun .
Thank you for your encouraging post and for promoting safety.
 
"http://www.sdmemorial.org/index.php?/memorial/comments/76/
​Patrol Agent John A. Rector
End of Watch: October 16, 1956
United States Border Patrol

"Agent Rector was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow agent who was discussing gun limitations with a third agent at the Chula Vista Sector Headquarters in California. The two agents had unloaded the .357 caliber handgun while examining it, reloaded it, and placed it in a drawer as they began to discuss a different weapon. The discussion returned to the .357 and one of the agents removed it from the drawer, not realizing it had been reloaded. When he pulled the trigger the gun discharged and round passed through the wall and struck Agent Rector in the head as he sat at his desk. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to the wound several hours later."


I myself was once pulling the trigger of a revolver indoors, when I saw my reflection in the window, and noticed the bullets in the front of the cylinder. I thought I was a careful guy.
 
This reminds me of a story a retired RCMP fellow told me. He was a well know rifle shooter and told this story to us at the bar in our club house at Bisley.

He had a target hanging on the back of his office door. He would dry fire at it from time to time. One day the gun was not quite dry….

He was the Detachment Commander, so nothing came of it.

It is a sobering story and I tried to learn from his experience. For one thing, when I dry fire indoors I always make note of where the gun is pointed.
 
William Henry Jordan
Nickname Bill Jordan
Born (1911-05-20)May 20, 1911
Louisiana
Died February 23, 1997(1997-02-23) (aged 85)
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service 1941-1971
Rank Colonel
Battles/wars World War II, Korean War
Other work US Border Patrol

William Henry "Bill" Jordan (1911–1997) was an American lawman, United States Marine and author.

Born in 1911 in Louisiana, he served for over 30 years with the U.S. Border Patrol, while also serving as a US Marine during World War II and the Korean War. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Colonel.

Jordan is credited with developing the 'Jordan' or 'Border Patrol' style of holster. The Jordan rig is rigid and unmoving, always holding the gunbutt in precisely the same relationship to the gun hand. The revolver’s trigger guard is completely exposed, and the gun is held away from the back portion of the holster by a plug of leather, allowing the trigger finger to enter the guard as the draw is commenced. He also collaborated with Walter Roper in the design of wooden grips intended for heavy-calibre double action revolvers, which are now made by Herrett's Stocks as the "Jordan Trooper". Jordan always favored a double action revolver for law enforcement duties. He was largely responsible for convincing Smith & Wesson to adapt its medium K-frame series revolver to accommodate the .357 Magnum cartridge, resulting in the (S&W Model 19 and S&W Model 66) "Combat Magnum".[1]

After retiring from the Border Patrol, Jordan served as a Southwestern Field Representative for the National Rifle Association. He was a contemporary of Charles Askins, Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton and to a lesser degree, Jack O'Connor. He wrote numerous articles on all aspects of firearms, as well as books such as No Second Place Winner, Mostly Huntin' and Tales of the Rio Grande. Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.[1]

Using a double action revolver, Bill Jordan was recorded drawing, firing and hitting his target in .27 of a second. He appeared on such television programs as To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, You Asked for It, and Wide Wide World.[1]
 
You're kidding, right? Google "No Second Place Winner", a book authored by Jordan, designer of the grips and holster that bear his name.

Next you'll be asking who Jeff Cooper was ....

 
I had an article written by Skeeter Skelton I kept for years about 'fox paws' he made with loaded guns.

One was about a newly acquired 1911 with a light trigger. In retrieving it from the glove box of his pick up truck to pot a jack rabbit, he thumbed off the safety as he was swinging it towards the window and put his finger on the trigger prematurely - "Bang!" Put the bullet through the firewall and hit the rad.

It's kind of like airplane landings - anyone you walk away from where no one gets hurt is a good one.

I know what the next question will be - "WTF was Skeeter Skelton?"
 
Ganderite said:
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PennieRector
September 21, 2011, 08:10 PM
Hello I am here to tell you that the story of Bill Jordan accidentally shooting a fellow Border Patrol officer is true. That man was my father, John A. Rector.

...
My Dad did not see me complete my education, he was not there to walk me down the aisle when I married, ....
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black sunshine said:
And here you are, on a pro gun website.
BIG RESPECT to you SIR .
We need more people with common sense like this .
most people blame the gun .
Thank you for your encouraging post and for promoting safety.
Click to expand...

It's nice of you to say, black sunshine, but I think the person you are trying to compliment is female.
 
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A retired firefighter I know told me a story about when they used to share the station house with a small police office. Their quarters were split, with the firefighters living and kitchen area on one side of the wall and the police on the other. One night between calls, they were sitting around eating and watching TV when a shot rang out, plaster fell onto the TV set and a bullet lodged in the ceiling above the couch. They ended up having a few words with the cops and the cheif sent one of them out for a pail of drywall mud and some paint. There wound up being an investigation but none of the firefighters had seen anything at all and there was no evidence of gunfire in the building. The cop never had a negligent discharge again, or took his gun out of the holster to screw around.
 
Thanks for posting the story, so sad.

I was friends with Ed Hopewell a Border Patrol officer out of Havre Montana. Ed spoke so highly of Bill and told me many stories of when they worked together in New Mexico IIRC. Ed said they would be in a bar and steal the shot glasses and on the way back to camp would stop and they would throw them in the air and Bill would draw and hit them.

Ed was the most intelligent LEO I have ever known. Couple of mounties I knew in Depot in Regina said he had the most amazing photographic memory.

Good men those BP officers.

PS, my parents were good friends with a mountie (instructor) in Depot who shot his mirror in his living room when he was in the process of cleaning his revolver. I met George a couple of times, good guy.
 
The relevance being that Riel and the Metis were among the first to be the victims of government perfidy, deception and lack of good faith. Sort of like what gun owners are dealing with today.


GearaDoga said:
Out here in Manitoba, at least, it's 87,000 things about Louis Riel that have absolutely zero practical applications, ever...
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