Walter Gordon

Walter Scott Gordon Jr. (15 April 1920 – 19 April 1997) was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II.

Gordon was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Ben Caplan. He was featured in the 2010 book A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us.

Youth Walter Scott "Smokey" Gordon was born in Jackson, Mississippi. He enrolled at Millsaps College around 1940, attending there for 2 years.

Due to colorblindness and flat feet, the Marines and the Navy had rejected him, so he joined the Army. He faked his way through the eye test and successfully enlisted. Gordon and Paul Rogers loved composing poems to tease their comrades that had experienced some kind of mishap, and the victims would often explode in anger to their delight.

Gordon had served with Easy Company as a machine gunner. In the hospital, different groups of military upper brass visited the wounded soldiers and pinned Purple Hearts on the men's pillows. Gordon received his, but he unpinned and hid it, so when the next group came, they would give him another Purple Heart. After a while, Gordon had several medals. Gordon spent 8 weeks in the hospital and returned to Easy Company. Darrell "Shifty" Powers recalled one time Gordon gave his last cigarette to Talbert, but charged him a dime for a match. When Gordon found out that Talbert was disqualified from receiving a Purple Heart for a wound received when Tab was mistakenly bayoneted by another Easy Company trooper, he put together a makeshift ceremony with Paul Rogers and gave Talbert one of his extra Purple Hearts. On Christmas Eve, Gordon was shot by a German sniper, with the bullet penetrating one shoulder, traveling through his body and exiting the shoulder on the other side, which paralyzed him. He was evacuated from the front lines on 27 December when Patton's Third Army penetrated the German lines and marched into Bastogne. In the process of recovery, Gordon was hospitalized for six months.

Later years In spring 1945, Gordon was sent back to the States and to Lawson General Hospital. One day when he was recuperating, a doctor named Dr. Stadium turned to the nurse and said, "Keep an eye on this one, he's goldbricking." Gordon was infuriated, and only later he realized that the doctor was trying to rile him up to help reconnect nerves and keep a fighting spirit in him. He remained in touch with Dr. Stadium for years after the war. The Army decided not to release Gordon, although he was improving, possibly because they might have to pay Gordon for a full disability if they released him at that point. Gordon was discharged from the Army with a 90% disability after his father threatened to "drive him down to the US Capitol Building, march him down onto the Senate floor, strip him down to his skivvies and let someone besides the Army make a determination."

Gordon eventually fully regained all bodily movements but would suffer from severe back pain for the remainder of his life.

Gordon later moved to Lafayette, Louisiana, In 1951, he married Elizabeth Ball Ludeau and the couple had one son and 4 daughters.

Gordon died in Pass Christian, Mississippi after suffering a stroke in his sleep. He was survived by his five children including his eldest, Walter S. Gordon III, and his 5 grandchildren: Bonnie Gordon, Alison Gordon, Cherie Goff, Charles Goff and Shelby Gordon.