Major Gordon A. Blake Gets
Distinguished Flying Award
WASHINGTON – Major Gordon A. Blake, son of Mr. and Mrs. George A. Blake of Charles City, Iowa, was awarded the distinguished flying cross by the war department Saturday night for “extraordinary achievement” in a mass flight of big bombers from Honolulu to the Philippines last fall. Major Blake was nominated for the award in December.
Seventy-four other officers and enlisted men were on the list of awardees, including the late Capt. Colin Kelly, Jr.
The flight was led by Major Emmet O’Donnel, Jr., of Brooklyn, N. Y., and, although the United States and Japan were then at peace, the planes took an “uncharted and circuitous route” deep into the south Pacific to avoid Japanese patrols, the department said.
“Most of the long route had never been flown before by either commercial or military aircraft,” the department said.
Major Blake, the only Iowan to receive the award for the flight, was graduated from West Point June 11, 1931. He was the youngest member of the class and went directly to the air corps from West Point. His father had for a number of years been court reporter for Judge C. H. Kelley. His mother is prominent in Iowa club affairs.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Monday, April 13, 1942
Charles Cityan Is Lieutenant Colonel
Military honors were heaped on Lieut. Col. Gordon A. Blake of Charles City in April of 1942 – he was promoted from the rank of major to that of lieutenant colonel a few days after he had been awarded the distinguished flying cross by the war department. He was decorated for “extraordinary achievement in a mass flight of big bombers from Honolulu to the Philippines last fall.
Source: The Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Friday, June 12, 1942 (photo included)
Gordon Aylesworth Blake was born July 22, 1910 to George Andrew and Cecilia S. Jessen Blake. He died Sept. 1, 1997 and is buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, TX.
Lt. Gen. Blake served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps. He also served in Korea and Vietnam.
Source: (FindAGrave has a very detailed BIO)
