Presentation Date: May 26, 2019
Captain Gordon E. Evans. US Marine Corps (separated May 1974)
Gordon was born in Beverly Hills, CA in 1947 and adopted at birth by a warm and loving childless older couple (dad aged 55, mom aged 42). His father was a dry foods warehouse broker; his mother was a housewife. Raised in a privileged environment, he was taught very strict discipline (which was to serve him well later in life) in a conservative atmosphere of total respect for God and Country.
In addition to the usual childhood diseases, he contracted polio at age 8 and was partially paralyzed for more than a year. This condition and its after effects would most probably have disqualified him from serving in the military (let alone flying) had the Vietnam War not been ramping up the need for people.
Gordon graduated from Beverly Hills High School, entered Cornell University at Ithaca, NY majoring in Agricultural Economics, and joined the Marine Corps officer training program. After two summers in Platoon Leaders Class at Quantico, VA, upon graduation from Cornell in 1968 he was commissioned as a 2LT. Although on an aviation contract, he failed the vision test on his pre-commissioning physical exam and resigned himself to becoming a ground officer because he still wanted to serve.
A chance meeting with a Navy Chief Hospital Corpsman at a pool table in a beer joint provided him with another shot at an eye test and he was on his way to flight school! As the regular Navy pipeline was full at the time, a few Marines were selected to attend USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training.
After receiving Air Force wings, he went back to the Naval Training Command for instruction in carrier landings, gunnery and Air Combat maneuvering (aka dogfighting). During his introduction to jets while with the Air Force in 1969, he was discovered to be astigmatic. Had there not been a war on, he would have been washed out. They issued him glasses.
In July 1970, as a newly-minted Naval Aviator and 1LT, he got to choose and was assigned to fly A-4 Skyhawks. But it became clear that the air war (for Marines) was rapidly winding down, and the only two aircraft that were still requiring Marine pilots in Vietnam were the C-130 Hercules and OV-10 Broncos. Since the transition training for OV-10’s at Camp Pendleton, CA was much shorter (only several months), he gained a transfer into them as he wanted to get into combat while there was still a chance. By that time, he had decided to make the Marine Corps a career and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a combat tour in his record book.
By January 1971 he was on his way to DaNang, South Vietnam with a several-week interruption to attend Jungle Survival Training in the Philippines. Although most Marine air assets were pulled out of Vietnam by March 1971, he was able to continue flying the OV-10 as a FAC (Forward Air Controller) with Marine Observation Squadron Two (VMO-2) and HQ & Maintenance Squadron Eleven (HAMS-11) until April.
The squadron custom was to pick your own radio call sign; he chose “Bear”. The grunts got to know him pretty well in a very short time. During 75 hours of intense combat flying dispensing great qualities of ordnance (7.62mm machine guns and six-barreled Gatling guns, 20 mm cannon and 2.75” rockets) he had a few close calls, took some bullets in the airplane, and helped save a bunch of Marines on the ground.
His next assignment (by choice) as a Battalion Air Liaison Officer (grunt FAC) with 1st ANGLICO (Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, a joint USMC-USN outfit) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Marines at Hoi An, on the coast about 20 miles southeast of DaNang.
His training as an airborne FAC proved immensely valuable in this setting. The Koreans recognized this, treating him and his radio team wonderfully. Although the setting was beautiful, right on the South China Sea (the site is now dotted with luxury hotels), the living conditions were abysmal. Unlike the air-conditioned quonset huts, hot showers, flush toilets, good chow, and an O-Club at DaNang, they were in underground bunkers that flooded regularly, constant companions of scorpions, spiders, ants, snakes and rot. A cold shower from an overhead drum, electricity and fresh food were occasional treats.
Back home for Christmas 1971, then a couple more years flying OV-10’s as an Instructor Pilot and Squadron Legal Officer with VMO-2 back at Camp Pendleton, CA, now as a CAPT. He became disenchanted with the way the Marine Corps was heading (they didn’t call it "political correctness” or “sensitivity” back then), and was made an “offer he couldn’t refuse” at approximately 7 times his military pay. Needless to say, he resigned.
He kept on flying, though -- bought a brand-new Piper Seneca twin in 1978 and flew it for the next 36 years, along with other folks’ airplanes. Along the way, he also managed to sneak in successful careers in production agriculture and commercial real estate investment. In 1991, when Desert Shield brewed into Desert Storm, he tried to get back in, even as a "desk jockey,” but was politely told that at 44, he was too old.
That started his volunteer service with the US Coast Guard Auxiliary as an Aircraft Commander, flying Search and Rescue (SAR), coastal patrol, aids to navigation and logistic/transport missions. That was expanded to include homeland security patrols and acting as a target aircraft for interception after Sept. 11, 2001. He continues to fly to this day, albeit with a co-pilot, as health issues have caused him to surrender his FAA Medical Certificate.
In 1986, he married Jeanne. They have two adult children and two grandchildren. The couple resides in Napa, CA.