12Jun1920 – 15Oct1942
Edison Days
Gordon attended Edison in 1937. It appears that he withdrew from school without graduating.
At 16 years old, he participated in the city wide Pushmobile races. He and his partner finished 3rd in the senior division.
Military Service
Rank: Seaman 1st Class
Branch: United States Navy
Ship: USS Vireo (AT-144)
Gordon joined the Navy on 15Apr1942. He attended basic training in San Diego, California.
On 24Jun1942 he arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for his assignment aboard the USS Vireo.
In late August 1942 the Vireo left Pearl Harbor and sailed to New Caledonia in the South Pacific.
On 1OCt1942 Gordon was promoted to Seaman 1st Class. It is also the day that the Vireo left port at Noumea, New Caledonia bound for “Dangerous Waters”.
The “Dangerous Waters” involved sailing to Espiritu Santo to pick up supplies for delivery to Guadalcanal where the US Army and Marines were in a desperate fight against the Japanese for control of Henderson Airfield.
On15Oct1942, while towing barges loaded with gasoline and bombs to Guadalcanal in company with the destroyer USS Meredith and several other ships, the group were spotted by Japanese aircraft. After repelling an initial air attack, they received warnings of nearby Japanese surface forces.
Due to Vireo’s age, slow speed, and vulnerability, Meredith’s captain ordered Gordon and the rest of Vireo’s crew to abandon ship and come aboard Meredith for safety.
At around 1215, Meredith fired torpedoes to scuttle Vireo deliberately to prevent it from falling into enemy hands intact. However, the torpedoes missed or failed to sink her, and Vireo (along with the barges) drifted away untouched by further attacks.
Soon after, a large formation of about 38 Japanese aircraft attacked. Meredith’s gunners fought back fiercely, downing at least three planes, but the ship was overwhelmed by multiple bomb hits and torpedo strikes. She broke in three sections and sank bow-first in less than 10 minutes.
The sinking was catastrophic: Of Meredith’s crew of approximately 273, only about 63–81 survived the initial attack. Combined with Vireo’s transferred crew, total losses reached about 237.
Gordon was 1 of 50 men from the Vireo who died in the attack. Back home in Minnesota Gordon’s family was unaware of his fate. It would be months before he was reported as missing,
Gordon’s body was never recovered.
Per Navy regulation, 1 year and 1 day after he went missing, he was declared dead.
On 21Dec1943 a memorial mass was held for Gordon.
Gordon’s is one of 36,286 names on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Postscript
Gordon was the first Edison Hero to die in combat during World War 2. He was also the last name added to the World War 2 Memorial Plaque at Edison High School.
His name does not appear in any issues of the Edison Record newspaper published during the war. He was not included in the “In Memoriam” section of the 1946 Edison Wizard Yearbook either.
On 22Apr1949 the Edison Record newspaper published an article asking for students and their parents to review a list of the Edison Gold Star Boys (Edison Heroes) to make sure that every name was included on the Plaque that was going to be dedicated just 5 weeks later. Gordon’s name was not on that list.
When the plaque was dedicated on 27May1949, Gordon’s name was included. His is the last name on the plaque, and it is not in alphabetically order like the other 115 names!
Edison Heroes 