Hometown: Pueblo, CO
Branch: U.S. Army (Air Forces)
Unit: 1st Fighter Squadron, 10th Air Force
Military Honors: Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Army Commendation Medal, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: August 10, 1945 - KIA near Kalaikunda in West Bengal, India
Age: 26
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Matt Gordon was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado, and attended Pueblo Junior College in his hometown. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 21.

Gordon was trained as a pilot and flew with the American Volunteer Group (AVG), nicknamed the “Flying Tigers” in the early years of World War II (1939-1945). The Flying Tigers were sent to help defeat the Japanese in China and were famous for the distinctive shark face painted on the nose of their P-40 fighters.

According to the U.S. Air Force, “The great value of the American Volunteer Group was psychological and diplomatic: Americans and Chinese hailed them as heroes during the early period of World War II when Japan had the upper hand. The Flying Tigers raised public hopes for eventual victory while Allied forces, reeling from Pearl Harbor and other Japanese victories, organized for war.”

Gordon named his P-40 the “Nipponese Nemesis,” and would eventually become a WWII flying “ace,” with victories over five enemy aircraft in aerial combat.

On February 25, 1944, Gordon was injured in a crash. Piloting an L-5B Sentinel reconnaissance plane, often referred to as the “flying Jeep,” Gordon was searching for a downed pilot when his aircraft went down. He would survive the crash and return to active duty.

Gordon would earn the Distinguished Flying Cross while with the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23d Fighter Group, 14th Air Force and the Silver Star (posthumously) for his courage in the China-Burma-India theater of operations as a fighter pilot with the 1st Fighter Squadron, 2d Air Commando Group, 10th Air Force.

On August 10, 1945, Maj. Gordon was killed while piloting a P-51 Mustang near Kalaikunda in West Bengal, India—just a few weeks before Japan’s official surrender on September 2, 1945. He was 26 years old.

Maj. Matthew M. Gordon Jr. was laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Sources
Military Times, Hall of Valor Project: Matthew Michael Gordon
Together We Served: MAJ Matthew Michael Gordon, Jr.
The Flying Tigers, Full Documentary (Video)
National Museum of the United States Air Force: 14th Air Force in China: From Volunteers to Regulars
Stars and Stripe Magazine: US veterans who were Flying Tigers during WWII recall flying aid to China
Burial Site: Find a Grave