Desmond Spencer Gordon
(1911-1997), Major-General and Commissioner-in-Chief, St John Ambulance BrigadeSitter in 1 portrait
by Walter Bird
bromide print, 1 July 1965
NPG x167874
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charles kaye
09 June 2020, 09:44
Major-General Desmond Spencer Gordon CB CBE DSO JP DL (25 December 1911 – 4 November 1997) was a British Army officer who commanded 4th Division.
Military career
Educated at Haileybury and the Royal Military College Sandhurst,[1] Gordon was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1932.[2] He served in the Second World War as Commanding Officer of 1/7th Queen's Regiment from 1943 and then as Commander of 151st (Durham) Infantry Brigade from 1944 and as Commander of 146th Infantry Brigade from later that year in North West Europe.[3]
After the War he was made Commander of 131st Lorried Infantry Brigade.[2] He became Deputy Director of Infantry at the War Office in 1951, Commander of 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group in 1952 and Assistant Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1956.[2] He went on to be Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General at Headquarters 1st Corps in 1959, General Officer Commanding 4th Division in 1959 and Chief Army Instructor at the Imperial Defence College in 1962.[2] His last appointment was as Assistant Chief of Defence Staff in 1964 before retiring in 1966.[2]
In retirement he became Commander-in-Chief of the St John's Ambulance Brigade.[2] Carlos Luis Sancha was commissioned to paint his portrait in 1976.[4