Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Grave: | Etaples Military Cemetery | XVII. D. 26. | |
| 2. Book: | The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 | Pg.123 | |
| 3. Memorial: | The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour | 27D GQS | |
Awards & Titles: | |||
Family :
Son of F. and M. Gordon, of 88, Pollen St., Thames, Auckland, New Zealand. Born at Auckland. Carpenter (1909).Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: 32nd Squadron, Royal Flying Corps |
| Action : Air Campaign |
Detail :
Died of Wounds received on 30 July 1917 in DH5 B336. (David Barnes)
On the evening of 30th July, 1917, one week after joining No. 32 Squadron on the Western Front, Gordon and two other pilots took off on a scouting sortie. The following month a report in the Evening Post, 23rd October, 1917, on Gordon’s last flight:
"The three friends went out shortly before 7 p.m., and at 6000 ft up, Capt. Coningham recognised, coming through a cloud-bank 1000 ft below, five German aeroplanes, commanded by Wolf, one of the ‘crack’ enemy airmen…. Diving down on the enemy, Capt. Coningham quickly accounted for one of the five, and he fell out of action. As luck would have it, Wells could do nothing because his gun jammed at 6000 ft, so he was completely out of the fight. While Coningham took on one of the enemy, the other four German machines began to mount, and got above him, and very soon Gordon was hit. He was at a disadvantage, inasmuch as he had not previously met a Hun in the air, and did not realise that it was a case then of two against five. There was no means of his receiving the information, as one machine cannot communicate with another. Instead, at the outset, of tackling an enemy machine, he followed Coningham, to join what he took for friends, and the consequence was he was surrounded, while enemy missiles were aimed at him."
Although Gordon managed to crash-land his crippled plane, the impact broke both his legs. Transferred to a hospital near Étaples, he seemed ‘full of spirit and very happy’ before dying suddenly on 12th August.
See also: Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph.
See also: New Zealand War Graves
See also: New Zealand History
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Corinthian No. 1655 E.C. | New Zealand (North Island) |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
8th June 1909 | 13th July 1909 | 10th August 1909 |
Source :
The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:
- The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- The (UK) National Archives
- Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
- ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry
Additional Source:
- Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
- Researcher : Bruce Littley