Byron Carrol Gordon

Corporal Byron Carrol Gordon, U.S. Marine Corps, was born on 21 August 1919 in Conway, Missouri. In 1920 his family moved to Minco, OK. By age four Gordon was an orphan. He was raised on his maternal grandparent’s Lacy family farm and finished the 8th grade. During the depression of the 1930s, Gordon worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps on Arizona’s Grand Canyon trails. There, he learned about repairing and operating heavy equipment and, most importantly, about leadership and responsibility.

In 1940 Gordon enlisted in the Marine Corps. After military training, Gordon was sent to Shanghai, China, with the 4th Marines, known as the “China Marines,” and later to the Philippines at the Cavite Naval Yard near Manila, serving with 3d Battalion, 4th Marines. On 11 December 1941, the Japanese began their invasion of the Philippines, and on 23-26 January 1942, Gordon’s out-numbered battery, now on Bataan, stopped an enemy surprise attack near their headquarters at Mariveles.

On 9 April 1942 Bataan fell and the Allied Forces were ordered to surrender. Gordon refused, and dove into shark-infested waters. After swimming one mile, miraculously, a dolphin accompanied him and towed him for the remaining 2.5 miles across the bay to Corregidor Island! On 6 May the troops on Corregidor surrendered, after which Gordon endured three years as Japan’s prisoner of war in deplorable conditions in Philippine prisons, including Bilibid Prison and Cabanatuan, and eventually in Japan as a slave miner until he was released in September 1945. Gordon’s awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, 2-Army and 2-Navy Presidential Unit Citations, Prisoner of War Medal, and the 2017 Congressional Gold Medal for Filipino Veterans of WWII.

Following discharge in 1946, Gordon worked at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, and later as a Deputy Sheriff in Colorado. Gordon passed on 9 July 2017 at age 97 and rests in Evergreen Cemetery in Minco, Oklahoma.