Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Temporary Major

Awarded on:

January 31st, 1945

Citation:
"This officer, who was then a British civilian in the employ of an American Oil Comapny, which he had represented in French Indo China prior to the Japanese occupation, volunteered in February 1942 to establish a secret intelligence organisation inside French Indo China to supply military, political and economic intelligence about the Japanese, and to gain contact with Allied prisoners of war held in F.I.C. At that time, owing to the complete breakdown of the premier British secret intelligence organisation in the Far East, we were entirely without any direct sources of intelligence about the enemy in this area, which was of vital strategic importance to all the Commands (including the India Command) responsible for conducting the war against Japan,
Major Gordon's offer was accepted, and he was secretly commissioned and despatched to China, where, by the exercise of much skill and patience, he succeeded in securing to an extent no other British intelligence organisation has ever secured, the confidence and full cooperation of both the Chines D.M.I and the American Intelligence authorities in China. At great personal risk, both from enemy action and risk of betreyal while in enemy occupied territory, and from the hardships and privations which had to be endured, Major Gordon had succeeded, by the end of 1942, in establishing the nucleus of what became by the end of 1943 a highly efficient and productive network of agents in most of the important centres of French Indo China. This organisation, which was knwon as the G.B.T Group provided operational intelligence of the greates value, not only to this Command, when it was an operational one, but to our American and Chinese allies.
When the India Command ceased to be responsible for operations against the Japanese, Major Gordon's organisation continued to work for this Command in connection with the latter's responsabilities for MI 9/MI 19 work in China and French Indo China. Major Gordon has consistently displayed for the last three and a half years personal courage and devotion to duty, determination and leadership of a very high order, and it is difficult to everestimate the personal contribution he has made to the task of defeating the Japanese. His work has been unique both in its scope and its success, and this has been acknowledged personally to the D.M.I. India Command by General Chennault, whoc commanded the U.S. Air Forces in China for the greater part of the period Major Gordon was operating, ans also by the Chinese D.M.I."