& Albany County Post - The Altamont Enterprise

The Altamont Enterprise – Thursday, December 20, 2012 13
...As a World War II navigator, John Gordon charted a course for life
(Continued from page 1)
the media and so on. We were like
a lot of young men, we wanted to
see the world, you know?”
Asked if he fought both the
Nazis and Japan during the war,
Gordon responded, “The Japs
and Germans both tried to drop
bombs on me, if that’s what you
mean.”
By 1941, the squadron was flying
bombing raids, supply runs,
and coastal patrols in the Middle
East. In 1942, the squadron was
sent to fight in southern Asia,
aiding allies in India, China,
and Burma against invading
Japanese forces that had cut off
supply lines.
On Dec. 8, 1941, the day after
Pearl Harbor, Gordon was flying
combat missions to support allies
fighting in the jungles along
the Burma Road, a mountainous
and weaving 700 mile trail that
was vital to supplying besieged
Chinese nationalists.
When the Japanese invaded
and cut off the road, Gordon and
the 203 rd squadron were sent on
an 11-month tour to help free the
route and deliver badly needed
supplies by air.
In a desperate relief effort
never before attempted by crews,
the C-47 bombers caught air
drafts to fly over the Himalayan
Mountains, often crossing remote
and unexplored regions, to get
supplies to China.
Many pilots had to penetrate
the persistent and blinding high
elevation clouds. Even after crossing
the mountains, the bombers
had to avoid Japanese fighter
squadrons, which were launched
from a remote high-altitude base
specifically built to stop the bold
Allied air shipments.
When getting lost
meant death
As a navigator it was Gordon’s
job to chart a path through the
terrain with limited amounts
of gas. He had to steer between
peaks reaching so high into the
sky that off-course planes sometime
crashed into them. In other
words, getting lost was death.
During the war, serviceman
referred to this trip as crossing
the “Hump.”
Before leaving the service in
1945 Gordon flew 375 hours of
combat duty.
Talking to listeners at the café
last week, Gordon said the war
was often a lot less organized
than portrayed by history, especially
early on in the conflict.
“It was not an organized thing;
you know what I mean? Everyone
just did the best they could,” he
said. “Most pilots then were not
trained as military pilots; they
were bush pilots taken in by the
Army. They were grizzled old
men. They’d flown single-engine
planes before the war.”
In Gunnery and Bombing School,
Gordon recalled a number of
trainers and even some peers,
who were older men with experience
flying civilian aircraft.
“Like I said, they were bush
pilots most of them. They were
40-, 50-year-old men, not like us,
we were all 19, 20 somethings,”
he said.
He also commented on how
technology had changed during
the war when he went from read-
The Enterprise — Tyler Murphy
War memories: As author and World War II navigator John Gordon talks about his experiences to
a gathering at the Home Front Café in Altamont his granddaughter, Sarah Gordon, holds up a copy
of his novel, Wings from Burma to the Himalayas. Gordon visited the café to celebrate a reprinting
of his book, which is based on his experiences as a bombardier, serving in the air forces of both Great
Britain and the United States.
“Most pilots then were not trained as military pilots;
they were bush pilots taken in by the Army.
They were grizzled old men.”
The Enterprise — Tyler Murphy
Fighting before America: World War II veteran John Gordon talks with Altamont resident Joseph
Matulewicz while visiting the Home Front Café to talk about his novel Wings from Burma to the
Himalayas. Gordon joined the Canadian military in 1940, a year before America entered the war. He
fought in Great Brittan’s Royal Air Force before being transferred to the United States Air Force in
1944 and continuing his service.
ing star charts and calculating
navigational numbers in his head
to simply reading digital gauges
that did the math.
“This was way before GPS. I
don’t think people understand it
anymore really,” he said.
Fighting fears
Gordon said he and many other
airmen worried about being shot
down behind enemy lines. Even
more than death, they feared
being captured by the Japanese,
he said.
In Gordon’s novel, the main
character, also a navigator, constantly
struggles with similar
fears of capture.
Another problem, especially
while flying over the Hump, was
the squadron was often over very
harsh terrain, such as jungles
and mountains, where even radio
broadcasts had a tough time getting
through, let alone rescuers.
“I had a friend who was taken
prisoner by the Japanese in the
Philippines. He grew up kind of
poor — had a harder life growing
up, and later, after the war,
he told me that it was one of
the reasons he survived,” said
Gordon. “I’m a little softer, you
know, from a middle-class family;
I didn’t think I would make it as
a Jap prisoner,” said Gordon.
When the Japanese were
driven out of Burma in early
1945, Gordon recalled knowledge
of their treatment of prisoners
was well known among servicemen,
and allied forces showed
little mercy when attacking the
invaders.
“The entire Jap army was
killed in Burma. They were just
killed. That was just the way it
was. They were Japs and would
kill themselves anyway, so…”
shrugged Gordon.
At the Home Front Café, a
handful of other servicemen met
with Gordon to talk about some
of their own experiences.
I’ll never forget
One elderly and frail vet
stepped forward with an old black
and white photo of his unit during
the war. The veteran and Gordon,
who is 91 years old himself,
peered at the picture together.
“When you remember those
guys, you don’t think of them as
old men, you remember them like
they were,” said Gordon motioning
to the old black-and-white
photo.
“You remember them when
they were like that,” he said.
After making a few remarks to
the two dozen people at the café
Gordon thanked everyone for
their interest and commented on
how hard it still is to talk about
the war and stay connected with
modern life.
“First off, I tell you one thing,
the Veteran Administration
keeps me alive. Thanks to all they
do, else I’d be dead,” he said.
“When you get home, a lot of
them [World War II veterans]
found it hard to talk about. Now
there’s not many of us left to talk
about it,” said Gordon, pausing
for a few moments.
“They say, ‘Don’t you ever
forget it.’ And you never forget
it,” he continued, grimacing his
face in an attempt to stop tears.
“That’s the way it was with me…
I’ll never forget it.”
HELDERBERG OIL
Quality Home Heating Oil
768-8300
Due to current market conditions, please call for price.
We accept HEAP
Cash, check or
Quantity Discounts
credit card on delivery