Distinguished Service Cross

AWARDED FOR ACTIONS

DURING World War II

Service: Army

Rank: First Lieutenant

Battalion: 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion (Separate)

Division: Office of Strategic Services

GENERAL ORDERS:

Headquarters, U.S. Army-Mediterranean Theater of Operations, General Orders No. 70 (April 17, 1945)

CITATION:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant (Corps of Engineers) Thomas L. Gordon (ASN: 0-1106764), United States Army, for The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant (Corps of Engineers) Thomas L. Gordon (ASN: 0-1106764), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company A, 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion (Separate), Office of Strategic Services, in action against enemy forces in the vicinity of Barchetta, Corsica, on 25 September 1943. On the night of 24 September 1943, First Lieutenant Gordon led an American raiding party of nine enlisted men thru enemy lines and took positions the following morning behind enemy defensive posts where they destroyed a concentration of German vehicles loaded with enemy troops who were preparing to reinforce a besieged unit under attack by main Allied Forces. When an intense barrage of mortar and artillery fire from the enemy began raining upon his area, First Lieutenant Gordon, with rare devotion to duty and extraordinary heroism in the face of the enemy, stayed on in his position which afforded very little natural cover, to insure that no aid would reach the besieged enemy, who was controlling a strategic valley road between Barchetta and Bastia. Shortly after the barrage began he was killed by mortar fire. First Lieutenant Gordon's outstanding courage and zealous devotion to duty at the cost of his life, exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Thomas Gordon - DSC Recipient 1943.jpg

Thomas L Gordon