Major-General Desmond Spencer Gordon CB CBE DSO


Desmond Spencer Gordon was born in Middlesex on Christmas Day 1911. After Haileybury and Sandhurst he entered the Green Howards in 1932, serving with the the 2nd Battalion in India. In WW2 he was with the regiment in Norway and then the Middle East. After a spell as brigade major of 69th Brigade he was appointed  CO of the 1/7th Battalion Queen’s Regiment from 1943. He led them at the Mareth Line in North Africa, Italy and in Normandy.  He was awarded the DSO for his services in the battle of Tunis where the battalion captured 4000 German prisoners. In July 1944 he was brigade commander of the 151st Infantry Brigade of the 50th Division. He was then appointed to command 146th Brigade in Northwest Europe. After the war his appointments were:

1945  Command of 131st Lorried Infantry Brigade
1951  Deputy Director of Infantry at the War Office
1952  Command of 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group
1956  Assistant Commandant of RMA Sandhurst
1959  Deputy Assistant Adjutant & QMG at 1st Corps HQ
1959  GOC 4th Division
1962  Chief Army Instructor at the Imperial Defence College
1964  Assistant Chief of Defence Staff
1965  Colonel of the Green Howards (until 1975)
1966  Retired on 30 April

The portrait was painted by Carlos Luis Sancha in 1976 and hangs in the Green Howards museum. He wears general officer’s no.1 dress with a badge for parachute proficiency on his right shoulder. The cross at his neck is the CB (Companion of the Order of the Bath) awarded in1961. Below that is the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) awarded in 1952. Below that is the cross of Knight Commander of the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords. On his left breast, below his medals (including his DSO cross) are the insignia of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. He was Commander-in-Chief of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade from 1973 to 1978. Major-General Gordon was married in 1940 to Sybil Thompson; they had a son and daughter. He died on 4 Nov 1997.


Regimental Details | Colonels


Armed Forces | Art and Culture | Articles | Biographies | Colonies | Discussion | Glossary | Home | Library | Links | Map Room | Sources and Media | Science and Technology | Search | Student Zone | Timelines | TV & Film | Wargames


by Stephen Luscombe