Michael Gordon (soldier)

 Michael Albert "Mike" Gordon was a Canadian-American soldier and combat veteran who was ranked as the most highly trained operative in the United States Military after he infiltrated a Russian nuclear plant during World War III. Gordon was the nephew of Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, a Delta Force sniper who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Mogadishu during the Civil War. Mike Gordon's father said that he was named after Mike Durant, the pilot who Gordon and his friend Shughart rescued. Gordon joined Delta Force in honor of his uncle, and was one of few American soldiers who one the Medal of Honor two times. He was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan during a clean-up mission and he received the Medal of Honor posthumously like his uncle. He was the first American soldier to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

He was born Michael Albert Gordon on September 24, 1968 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to American Democratic politicians Richard and Bridget (nee O'Reilly) Gordon. He had three brothers and four sisters-Aidan, Patrick, Declan, Lachlan, Shannon, Caitlin, Fiona, and Bridget Jr. His father was a wealthy banker of Russian Jewish descent while his mother was a rich interior designer of Irish Catholic background. Richard Gordon was a former Green Beret and Navy SEAL, his two maternal uncles were Army Rangers, his cousin was a Marine, and his paternal uncle was the famed Delta Force sniper, Gary Gordon, who posthumously received the award of the Medal of Honor while rescuing pilot Mike Durant in Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War of 1993. He was named after Mike Durant, and Michael Gordon started to shoot guns when he was four years old. By age twelve, he had even shot a Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle. However, he hated hunting and loved animals. He was a vegetarian and a pacifist for his early life like his parents, and a devout Roman Catholic, a non-drinker, and a non-smoker. Michael Gordon was bullied in his class because of his Irish Catholic and Russian Jewish heritage in a primarily German and Dutch-American Lutheran school, St. Martin Luther's. His parents were both from Boston, but he transferred to New Orleans, and attended Lusher Charter School for middle school. He attended Abington Senior High School in Boston, went to NOCCA in New Orleans, and for college attended Manchester in England and became a Harvard graduate near Boston. He attended West Point Military School in Virginia, and started his military career after graduating.

In 1990, after four years of college, Michael Gordon joined the U.S. Army and fought in the Persian Gulf War with distinction. There, his colonel was critically wounded by an RPG-7 rocket launcher. Before he was overrun, Gordon narrowly saved him by sniping the enemies with his M14 rifle, and carrying his officer back to their position, standing alone in a 103 degree sun, for a whole mile. The colonel was saved, and Gordon was awarded the Medal of Honor by George H.W. Bush. Gordon, a fierce Democratic liberal, disliked Bush intensely and showed disgust at his speech. In 1992, Gordon joined the 75th Ranger Regiment and fought in Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War in 1993. He traveled with Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann, and heard of his uncle being killed. Gordon was devastated, and joined Delta Force in 1996 in his uncle's honor. In Afghanistan in 2007, Gordon's Delta unit was pinned down by a heavy machine gun, but Gordon single-handedly destroyed the Taliban machine-gun nest with a fragmentation grenade, and engaged the crew with his fists. For these actions, Gordon received another Medal of Honor by George W. Bush, and he became the twentieth of nineteen men to receive the Medal of Honor twice. Gordon later gained fame when he infiltrated a Russian nuclear plant during World War III in 2012. He infiltrated a Russian nuclear plant  guarding by Spetsnaz operatives under Ivan Petrakov. His usual weapons are an M4 carbine and an M1911 pistol.


On March 21, 2012, Michael Gordon was on a clean-up mission with a Delta Force sniper and his best friend Morgan Blanchard in Kandahar, Afghanistan. During the fight, a Taliban insurgent armed with a grenade charged Gordon. Gordon desperately tried to load his M4 carbine, but the terrorist through a grenade anyway. It exploded near Gordon, and Gordon drew his sidearm (a Colt .45 pistol), and started to fire, but the insurgent kicked him in the groin and attacked him with a bayonet, pushing the blade through Gordon's stomach. Blanchard shot the enemy soldier and withdrew the bayonet quickly, but Blanchard, not a medic, withdrew the knife too quickly and severely wounded him. Gordon continued to fire his sidearm, killing multiple enemies, and finally threw a grenade that, coincidentally, killed the enemy general. Gordon was evacuated by helicopter, but later died of his wounds. For his actions in sacrificing his life and killing the enemy general, Gordon was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and he became the first American soldier to receive the Medal of Honor three times.