Gordon Lopes was born in New Bedford, Mass. Raised on a dairy farm he was the eldest of 4 boys.
Gordon says that for as long as he could remember he had wanted to be a Marine. He joined the Marine Corps on his 17th. birthday.
He wanted to get into Avionics and took a test; he ended up 16th. out of a class of 300. Gordon went to Parris Island for recruit training. He graduated from Plt. 1019 Nov. 24th. 1958. After ITR Gordon was sent to Memphis, TN Aviation school as a Flight Safety Tech.
Gordon was sent Kanehoe Bay, HI and was assigned to the 1st. Marine Brigade and attached to VMF-232 the "Red Devils" Fighter Squadron.
Gordon woorked as a construction worker during the day to supplement his meager $62 a month income. He was paid $6 hr.(an amount quite unusual at the time.) He was assigned to Pres. Eisenhower's honor guard when he was in the aera visiting.
Gordon volunteered for Operation Silver Sword and was assigned to VMA-212 the "Devil Cats" with them he spent time in the Philippines and Hong Kong. He then volunteered for the Flying Tigers/Air America. He went Vietnam with Air America in 1960 as a helicopter Crew Chief.
Afterwards Gordon was with VMF-122 in Beaufort, SC. He later went into the reserves. Stationed with a 155 Howitzer Co. at Fort Rodman. And then later went to Waymeth NAS as a Crew Chief in Helos until 1965.
After the reserves he actually joined the Army Natl. Guard for two years and was promoted to E-7.
He went back into the Marine Corps in 1972 as a SSgt in Waymeth. He was seriously injured in a training accident at NAS Atlanta and spent two years at Newport Naval Hospital. Even though he had the TIS/TIG to pick up Gunnery Sgt. it never came because he was on medical waiting for a discharge. He spent the next 5 years on the TDRC Temporary Disabled Retired List. Gordon was discharged July 9, 1981 as a SSgt.
After his discharge he went to scholl and received his degrees in Criminal Justice, Sociology, and a BA in Paralegal. He also spent 3 years in pre-med and 2 years in nursing school.
Gordon spent his civilian time as a police officer from 1966-1987. His wife Kristen is from Fond du Lac, they have two girls a son and 6 grandchildren.
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