Excerpt from Honor Through Sacrifice — pages 95 and 96 — Almost two months after he was assigned to the 24th Infantry Regiment in early September, the full force of UN troops proceded to push the invaders back up north toward the 38th Parallel, where the Korean War began.
Seventy-one years ago, on October 29, 1950, Gordon was promoted to Able Company commanding officer (CO). Able Company was temporarily assigned the role of acting military governor over the city of Kunsan, which meant that Able effectively controlled the activities of the civilian population in that area. First Lieutenant Gordon Lippman was the Military Governor over the area, and First Lieutenant Lyle Rishell was recently promoted to company executive officer (XO) under Lt. Lippman.
In Rishell’s book With a Black Platoon in Combat, written more than a decade later, Rishell says of Gordon: “He was a fine officer, a strong leader, and we got along great right from the outset. I admired him tremendously, and the days I served under him were some of the best of my career. He was a hard, no-nonsense officer, but he was fair and an inspiration for all of us in that place.”
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