Gordon Joseph Lippman
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Script error: No such module "AfC topic".Gordon Joseph Lippman (November 25, 1924 - December 11, 1965) was a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel. He joined the U.S. Army at the age of 18 in 1943 and participated in 11 military campaigns. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by 1963. He was killed in action by a sniper's bullet during a Viet Cong attack on the 3rd Brigade compound, December 11, 1965.[1] The Brigade Compound was subsequently renamed Camp Gordon J. Lippman.
Early life[edit]
Lippman was born in Zap, North Dakota. His father worked as a salesman for Dakota Implement Company and his mother was a homemaker. Later on in life, his parents would open up and operate A & H Grocery for 40+ years in Hill City, South Dakota. He applied for and received his GED from Lemmon School District in 1947, whereupon he graduated from Lemmon, South Dakota, High School following his service in World War II. He graduated from the University of Omaha in 1962 with a BS degree in Business Administration and in 1965 from George Washington University with an MS degree in International Affairs.
Military service[edit]
Lippman entered the United States Army in 1943 as a volunteer. He received paratrooper training from March, 1943 through May, 1945 at Camp Toccoa and Fort Benning, Georgia. He was commissioned into the regular Army on May 14, 1945, based on his heroic actions during Operation Dragoon and the Battle of the Bulge, in World War II, where he received the first of two battlefield commendations. Lippman attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute where he learned about the foreign affairs of the U.S. Government.
As a member of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the 24th Infantry Regiment, and the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, he served with distinction each time his nation called him to action.
He is the recipient of the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Cross, U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts for his bravery in combat. For this, he was also awarded membership in the exclusive Legion of Merit. At the time of receipt, he was one of only 325 recipients of the U.S. Army's 3rd Award Combat Infantry Badge [2](with 2 stars) after late 1965, following his participation in at least 30 days of combat each in WWII, Korean and Vietnam Wars. Lippman would go on to serve more than 1,032 days in combat during those 11 battle campaigns encompassing a 22-year Army career.
World War 2 paratrooper[edit]
Sergeant Lippman led his light machine gun platoon in coordinated actions of HQ Company / 1st Battalion / 517 Regiment, jumping into southern France during Operation Dragoon, and subsequently heling to rescue members of the 82nd Airborne Division who were trapped by German Marshall von Rundstedt’s counter-offensive in Hotton, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war, he elected to remain in the Army and continued his education while getting married and developing his skills as a soldier. Serving in various capacities as Platoon Leader, Aide-de-Camp, Company Intelligence Officer, Aerial Photo Interpreter, Adjutant, Company Executive Officer and Battalion Intelligence Officer, Lippman became well-grounded in the protocols, duties and responsibilities of an Army officer.
Korean War[edit]
Lippman was called into action again after America had entered the Korean War, as the U.S. Army was losing company and platoon commanders to combat casualties at an excessive rate. Flying in from Fort Benning and meeting up with his platoon while they were engaged in a pitched battle with the North Korean Army, he joined the fight immediately, assumed command of his platoon and organized his troopers into an effective fighting force. Soon after his arrival, he was given another battlefield commendation and promoted to Able Company Commander. During action where the Allies were pushing north and his company was pinned down by enemy machine gunners overlooking the river Hantan, Captain Lippman led a charge to suppress enemy fire. As he ran out of ammunition and grenades, he rallied his troopers, threw his c-rations at the enemy and distracted them long enough for his Company to overtake the enemy positions. Enemy gunners thought he was continuing to throw hand grenades.
- To All Who Shall See These Presents Greeting:
This is to Certify that The President of the United States of America Takes Pride in Presenting
THE
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS[3]
to
LIPPMAN, GORDON J.
Citation:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Gordon J. Lippman, Captain (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as Commanding Officer of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. Captain Lippman distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of Do Chung, Korea, on 11 April 1951. Captain Lippman was leading his men across the Hantan River in the pre-dawn darkness in an attempt to secure the high ground on the opposite shore from a well-entrenched hostile force. When the friendly troops were in the middle of the river, an enemy outpost discovered the operation and directed machine-gun fire on the wading troops. Quickly deploying his men, Captain Lippman led a charge against the hostile emplacement, destroying it and enabling the company to finish the crossing with a minimum of casualties. He then reorganized the company and led his men across a flat, exposed area toward the objective. The enemy, placed in a strong perimeter defense on the crest of the hill, directed such a devastating volume of fire on the friendly troops that only a platoon of the company reached the base of the objective with Captain Lippman, the remainder being pinned down by the intense fire. He realized that he platoon would be forced to launch a frontal assault against the enemy positions, risking annihilation, unless some method was employed to divert the hostile fire from the attacking troops. He immediately moved up the slope and, armed with a pistol and grenades, attacked the enemy emplacements. For forty-five minutes he maneuvered to within a few yards of these positions, harassing the hostile troops and drawing their concentrated fire. This courageous action enabled the platoon to work its way to a position from which an assault was launched that routed the enemy.
- [4]Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 784 (October 19, 1951)
Between Korea and Vietnam, Lippman earned his college degrees and studied foreign affairs at the Army War College and U.S. State Department. He and his wife Lucille adopted 3 young children while on assignment in Germany and they began raising their family in 1958. He wrote and published articles on military history, through the Command and Staff College periodical published by the Marine Corps Institute.
Vietnam War[edit]
Fourteen years after he left Korea, he accepted an offer from his old friend Colonel William Brodbeck, to help train young troopers heading off to Vietnam in 1965. Lieutenant Colonel Lippman was now the 3rd Brigade Executive Officer / 1st Infantry Division. Lippman was instrumental in building a fighting force capable of supporting Operations Hump, Bushmaster I and Bushmaster II in an area that came to be known as the Iron Triangle north and west of Saigon. While quartered in Lai Khe, an old Michelin Rubber Plantation, Lippman also worked with the local communities in supporting their high school and engaging with them to help improve their educational opportunities. He was well-thought of by that community.
As told by Hugh A. Mulligan in his book, No Place To Die: The Agony of Vietnam, LTC Lippman spoke about his secret plans to bring the Bob Hope USO Christmas Show to Lai Khe. He was especially exuberant about a prank (cooked up by Bing Crosby) to be played on Bob Hope when Hope's Christmas USO Show came to the area that December. The colonel had asked Bing Crosby to send over a bikini that he could get Carroll Baker to wear as she inaugurated the Brigade's swimming pool. Crosby's letter and the bikini arrived the day Colonel Lippman was killed, but Baker never got to splash in the 3rd Brigade's lovely pool. The war was warming up considerably at Christmas-time and the USO Show was rerouted.[1]
Gordon Lippman was killed in action by a sniper's bullet during a Viet Cong attack on the 3rd Brigade compound, December 11, 1965.[1] The Brigade Compound was subsequently renamed Camp Gordon J. Lippman, in honor of their fallen hero.
He's remembered on the 517th PRCT Association website[5], was eulogized on Paul Harvey’s radio program on December 30, 1965, written about in a 1966 issue of Readers Digest and the December 27, 1965 issue of Newsweek. His story was recounted on the Harry Reasoner Report for CBS News on December 20, 1965, and he was lauded in the South Dakota Magazine. A Texas high school produced several individual videos on veterans and Gordon was included among them.
Legacy[edit]
His legacy will live on in Honor Through Sacrifice, a book that chronicles his life, accomplishments and memories of those who knew him best![6]
Gordon Joseph Lippman’s name is remembered on Panel 04E, Line 012 of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[7]
As Lyle Rishell wrote in his 1993 book With a Black Platoon in Combat, "Gordon was a fine officer, a strong leader, fair minded, and an inspiration to all.”[8]
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mulligan, Hugh (1966). No Place To Die: The Agony of Vietnam. New York, New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc. pp. 332, 333. OCLC 924353238. Search this book on
- ↑ Lippman, Gordon (January 18, 2022). "3rd Award Combat Infantry Badge".
- ↑ Lippman, Gordon (January 18, 2022). "Distinguished Service Cross Award" (PDF).
- ↑ "US Army, Report of E&E Conference, JACK Hq., 16 October 1951, October 19, 1951, Secret, NARA". U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- ↑ Lippman, Gordon (January 17, 2022). "Parachute Infantry Regiment Memorial" (PDF).
- ↑ Lofthouse, Robert (2021). Honor Through Sacrifice. [S.l.]: Koehler Books. ISBN 1-64663-474-8. OCLC 1267385004. Search this book on
- ↑ Lippman, Gordon (January 17, 2022). "The Wall of Faces". Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
- ↑ Rishell, Lyle (1993). With a Black Platoon in Combat. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-60344-740-9. Search this book on
