The Greatest Generation is Dissapearing
Another sad day that will get little mention in the MSM. As the one generation who showed what self sacrifice and true patriotism is. We mark the passing with the loss of another true American Hero. Self sacrifice and determination is the only way to describe the life of Lee "Shorty" Gordon.
FROM NEWSMAX:
http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/11/15/224851.shtml?s=us
Lee "Shorty" Gordon, believed to be the first American prisoner of war to escape from a German camp during World War II, has died. He was 84.
Gordon, who made two failed escape attempts from Stalag VIIA - including one on a bicycle while yelling the only German he knew, "Heil, Hitler" - succeeded on Oct. 13, 1943, according to historian Robert C. Doyle.
"Shorty was a committed natural escaper," Doyle said. "There was nothing that was going to keep that man in that camp."
The Southern California native was serving as a ball turret gunner with the Army Air Corps' 305th Bomb Group when his B-17 was shot down over Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on Feb. 26, 1943. He survived the parachute landing, but was quickly captured by German troops.
After two failed escape attempts, Gordon tried again, trading identification tags with an Australian POW to gain access to the outdoor work area of the Moosburg camp where he bribed guards with coffee and cigarettes and hid in a bathroom stall until dark. He then hopped a fence when a guard's back was turned and walked out of the camp, Doyle said.
Gordon rode freight trains to France, where he made contact with a Resistance group that helped him reunite with the Allied forces.
He told the story of walking into a French cafe in "Escape From a Living Hell," a 2000 History Channel documentary: "The waitress walked up to me. I looked at her and I said, 'I'm an American.'"
More than a year later, on Feb. 27, 1944, Gordon arrived safely in England and became the first American prisoner to successfully escape, according to Doyle, who met Gordon in the late 1990s and wrote about him and other escapees in his book, "A Prisoner's Duty." Doyle now teaches history at Franciscan University in Ohio.
Gordon, a short, but cocky and brash man, appreciated the risks French civilians took to help him, even more than 50 years later when he told the story to Terrence Russell, who met Gordon at a POW reunion in 1997.
Russell recalled Gordon describing a French woman giving him the last piece of bread and jam in her cupboard.
"She had a young child. It was very clear in Shorty's mind that he was taking the last morsel of food out of that child's mouth," Russell said. "He grabbed his chest and became very emotional and cried, years after the fact."
When Gordon returned to the U.S., he became a minor celebrity, awarded the Silver Star medal and sent around the country on a lecture circuit to boost morale and sell war bonds.
LEE "SHORTY" GORDON, YOU WILL BE MISSED.
FROM NEWSMAX:
http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/11/15/224851.shtml?s=us
Lee "Shorty" Gordon, believed to be the first American prisoner of war to escape from a German camp during World War II, has died. He was 84.
Gordon, who made two failed escape attempts from Stalag VIIA - including one on a bicycle while yelling the only German he knew, "Heil, Hitler" - succeeded on Oct. 13, 1943, according to historian Robert C. Doyle.
"Shorty was a committed natural escaper," Doyle said. "There was nothing that was going to keep that man in that camp."
The Southern California native was serving as a ball turret gunner with the Army Air Corps' 305th Bomb Group when his B-17 was shot down over Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on Feb. 26, 1943. He survived the parachute landing, but was quickly captured by German troops.
After two failed escape attempts, Gordon tried again, trading identification tags with an Australian POW to gain access to the outdoor work area of the Moosburg camp where he bribed guards with coffee and cigarettes and hid in a bathroom stall until dark. He then hopped a fence when a guard's back was turned and walked out of the camp, Doyle said.
Gordon rode freight trains to France, where he made contact with a Resistance group that helped him reunite with the Allied forces.
He told the story of walking into a French cafe in "Escape From a Living Hell," a 2000 History Channel documentary: "The waitress walked up to me. I looked at her and I said, 'I'm an American.'"
More than a year later, on Feb. 27, 1944, Gordon arrived safely in England and became the first American prisoner to successfully escape, according to Doyle, who met Gordon in the late 1990s and wrote about him and other escapees in his book, "A Prisoner's Duty." Doyle now teaches history at Franciscan University in Ohio.
Gordon, a short, but cocky and brash man, appreciated the risks French civilians took to help him, even more than 50 years later when he told the story to Terrence Russell, who met Gordon at a POW reunion in 1997.
Russell recalled Gordon describing a French woman giving him the last piece of bread and jam in her cupboard.
"She had a young child. It was very clear in Shorty's mind that he was taking the last morsel of food out of that child's mouth," Russell said. "He grabbed his chest and became very emotional and cried, years after the fact."
When Gordon returned to the U.S., he became a minor celebrity, awarded the Silver Star medal and sent around the country on a lecture circuit to boost morale and sell war bonds.
LEE "SHORTY" GORDON, YOU WILL BE MISSED.
Lee will be missed in Australia too.
I remember the day in 1969 he walked into the Bank where I worked to open an account. He often spent summers in Pagosa Springs Colorado where he had property and he introduced us to the beauty of the area. Our son now lives there.
Posted by
bandlmcn |
4:02 AM