Shorty Gordon

As reported on George Brymer’s Vital Integrities blog, Shorty Gordon died this week.  Lee “Shorty” Gordon was the first American prisoner of war to escape from his captors.  Robert Doyle, who wrote “A Prisoner’s Duty”, called Gordon “a committed natural escaper.”  He tried twice to escape before he finally succeeded – once he tried riding a bike out yelling, ‘Heil Hitler’ as it was the only German he knew.

Shorty Gordon was a hero to subsequent prisoners of war and to people at home during the war.  He spent time back in America boosting morale and speaking around the country.  This hero status was nothing to him compared with the small heroic gestures he saw in France where he was protected after escaping.  In talking to Terrance Russell, he fondly remembered a woman giving him the last piece of bread in the house, despite her family being hungry.

Heroic actions come in a big and small varieties – always remember that.