Biography
Gordon, Joe (Jacob; Joseph Mendelowitz; Mendlowitz); b. January 27, 1914 (1915) Brooklyn, New York; Hungarian American; Father Morris Gordon (Mendelowitz); Mother Gussie Medelowitz; Elementary Education; CCC, and US Army, 6th Field Artillery, Fort Hoyle, Maryland, joined in 1936; Deserted from the US Army in order to go to Spain; Single; Steel Worker; YCL 1933 (CP 1934); 356639 December 9, 1936; Sailed December 26, 1936 aboard the Normandie; Arrived in Spain on January 3, 1937; Served with the XV BDE, Lincoln BN; Rank Sargento; Served at Jarama and Brunete; WIA in the head at Jarama and wounded a second time in the leg at Brunete; Repatriated for medical issues to Paris where he was delayed for two months due to passport issues; Returned to the US in the late summer or early fall of 1937; He returned to Spain via Massaneton May 29, 1938 serving with the Lincoln-Washington BN, Co. 1 and later with the Plaza Mayor; Rank Soldado; Served at the Ebro Offensive; Returned to the US after his second tour on December 20, 1938 aboard the Ausonia; WWII joined the Merchant Marines in 1942, served as a wiper and was killed on January 1, 1943 when his ship the Arthur Middleton was torpedoed.
Siblings: brother Leo Gordon.
Sources: Figueres List; Pay; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 849, ll 22, List of American Comrades that have been Repatriated as per October 15 1937; Opis 6, Delo 901, ll. 40-49; Opis 6, Delo 946, ll. 45; ALBA 133 Joseph and Leo Gordon Papers; American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org. L-W Tree Ancestry -1925 Census (under Mendlowitz); "Volunteers for Liberty: Letters from Joe and Leo Gordon, Americans in Spain, 1937-38," in Massachusetts Review 25 (Fall 1984). Code A
Photographs: Joe Gordon RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 901; Gordon and Elias Begelman of Williamsburg, July 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection ; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-0098. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries [photos almost certainly taken in the same series]
Siblings: brother Leo Gordon.
Sources: Figueres List; Pay; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 849, ll 22, List of American Comrades that have been Repatriated as per October 15 1937; Opis 6, Delo 901, ll. 40-49; Opis 6, Delo 946, ll. 45; ALBA 133 Joseph and Leo Gordon Papers; American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org. L-W Tree Ancestry -1925 Census (under Mendlowitz); "Volunteers for Liberty: Letters from Joe and Leo Gordon, Americans in Spain, 1937-38," in Massachusetts Review 25 (Fall 1984). Code A
Photographs: Joe Gordon RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 901; Gordon and Elias Begelman of Williamsburg, July 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection ; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-0098. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries [photos almost certainly taken in the same series]
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