GORDON, NATHAN G.
15 February 1944
Bismarck Sea
|
|
Rank and
organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy,
commander of Catalina patrol plane. Place and date: Bismarck
Sea, 15
February 1944. Entered service at: Arkansas. Born: 4 September 1916,
Morrilton, Ark. Citation: For
extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty as commander of a
Catalina patrol plane in rescuing personnel of the U.S. Army 5th Air
Force shot down in combat over Kavieng Harbor in the
Bismarck Sea, 15 February 1944. On air
alert in the vicinity of Vitu Islands, Lt. (then
Lt. jg.) Gordon
unhesitatingly responded to a report of the crash and flew boldly into the
harbor, defying close-range fire from enemy shore guns to make 3 separate
landings in full view of the Japanese and pick up 9 men, several of them
injured. With his cumbersome flying boat
dangerously overloaded, he made a brilliant takeoff despite heavy swells and
almost total absence of wind and set a course for base, only to receive the
report of another group stranded in a rubber liferaft
600 yards from the enemy shore. Promptly
turning back, he again risked his life to set his plane down under direct fire
of the heaviest defenses of Kavieng and take aboard 6
more survivors, coolly making his fourth dexterous takeoff with 15 rescued
officers and men. By his exceptional
daring, personal valor, and incomparable airmanship under most perilous
conditions, Lt. Gordon prevented certain death or capture of our airmen by the
Japanese.