James enlisted as PVT on 28 Jul 1919 and was commissioned as a 1LT on 11 Aug 1919. He was promoted to CPT (reserve rank) on 16 Dec 1920 and federally recognized effective 30 Mar 1927. He was the commander of the Machine Gun Company/D Company 116th Infantry Regiment when he organized and recruited the 116th Regiment Band in Roanoke in 1922. After clerking James went to work the Norfolk and Western Rail Road as a claims investigator. In 1925 he was able to purchase a home at 1611 Moorman Avenue in Roanoke, Virginia. The house was valued at $4000 in 1930. However, the family moved to 1401 Loudon Avenue and was living there in 1931.
On the morning of Wednesday, 21 Oct 1931, CPT Jordan went to his National Guard office in the City Auditorium which was across the street from the Norfolk and Western passenger station. At about 10:30 AM CPT Jordan fired a single shot from a Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol and the bullet passed just to the left of his heart, through the left lung exiting under the shoulder blade. He called CPT Fred W. Thomas who was in his basement office in the same building and CPT Thomas called an ambulance which took CPT Jordan to the hospital where he died at about 3:00 PM that afternoon.
CPT Jordan was buried in the Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia.
James Oren Jordan is the uncle of SSG James Pershing Jordan.