Medal of Honor: Nathan Green Gordon – U.S. Navy – World War II

Name: Nathan Green Gordon
Rank: Lieutenant (then Lieutenant, junior grade)
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit: Commander, Catalina Patrol Plane
Place: Bismarck Sea (near Kavieng Harbor)
Entered Service At: Arkansas
Born: 4 September 1916, Morrilton, Arkansas

Summary of Action

On 15 February 1944, while on air alert near the Vitu Islands, Lieutenant Nathan G. Gordon received word that U.S. Army Fifth Air Force aircraft had been shot down over Kavieng Harbor in the Bismarck Sea. Without hesitation, he turned his lumbering PBY Catalina flying boat toward one of the most heavily defended enemy harbors in the region.

Flying directly into range of Japanese shore batteries, Gordon landed in the harbor under intense and accurate enemy fire. In full view of the enemy, he taxied through heavy swells to rescue nine downed airmen—several of them wounded. With his aircraft dangerously overloaded and operating in nearly windless conditions, he executed a masterful takeoff from the hostile harbor.

En route to base, he received word that another group of survivors was adrift in a rubber raft only 600 yards from enemy-held shore. Without pause, Gordon turned his aircraft back toward the harbor—again exposing himself and his crew to the concentrated fire of Japanese defenses.

Landing a second time under direct fire, he rescued six additional survivors. With fifteen men now aboard, he completed a fourth daring takeoff and successfully returned all rescued personnel to safety.

His actions prevented certain death or capture for the stranded airmen and stand as one of the most courageous rescue missions of the Pacific War.

Medal of Honor Citation

GORDON, NATHAN GREEN

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. j.g.) 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 life raft 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.