Example Biography: Korean War

Daniel Paul Gillon by Scott McKenzie

Daniel Paul Gillon came from pure Scottish stock. His father, Daniel P. Gillon, had been born in Erie, Pennsylvania after his parents migrated from Scotland. He met Daniel’s mother, Mary Rose Mae Walsh, in Buffalo. Her father was Scots-Irish from Northern Ireland and her mother was born in Scotland. Daniel Gillon (Sr) was well educated for his day having completed 3 years of college. In 1928, the Gillons moved to Lancaster, New York just outside Buffalo where he worked as a commercial traveler for a paint company. Born on 17 October 1922 in Garwood, New Jersey, Daniel (Jr) was the first of four children: he was followed by two brothers and a finally a sister. His parents pushed him into extra school activities and in 1936, at age 14, he won 1st place prizes for a piano solo and as part of a singing trio.

At the time, he registered for the draft on 30 June 1942, Daniel was 5’7.5” tall and weighed 130 pounds. He had very dark brown hair, brown eyes and a light brown skin. He was working for Dr. John Fernbach in Town Line, a small village outside Buffalo. The following year, he joined the labor force at the Curtiss-Wright Plant in Buffalo working on the P-40 Tomahawks, Kittyhawks, and Warhawks then in action from China to Europe. While he was there, Dan’s interest in aviation piqued, and he applied for the Navy’s new V-12 program that provided qualified young men education at university and simultaneous flight training. In November 1942, he landed a position as a naval aviation cadet at Edinboro State Teachers’ College in Pennsylvania - about two hours away from Buffalo along the southern shore of Lake Erie.

After a couple months there, the Navy transferred him to the Naval Cadet Unit at Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he underwent eleven weeks of pre-flight training. He successfully negotiated this course, and the Navy sent him to Naval Aviation Station, Peru, Indiana for primary flight training. Here, he spent the next eleven weeks learning to fly the Navy’s Stearman (Boeing) PT-17 and upon completion, he qualified for the next and final phase of qualification training, flight training at Pensacola, Florida –“the Annapolis of the Air”. Here, he would train and solo in advanced trainers like the North American T-6 Texan. On the last day of 1943, Dan became 2nd Lt. Daniel P. Gillon, service #23172, USMCR after having pinned on his pilot wings of gold.

2/Lt Gillon was next sent to Bogue Field, North Carolina, an auxiliary field associated with Cherry Point. Here, he joined VMF-93, MAG-93 a dive-bombing training group which was commissioned on 1 April 1944 Their mission was to train pilots to fly the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. For the next eight months, 2/Lt Gillon continued to train in the Helldiver and become proficient in the techniques of close air support.

VMSB-142 – “The Wild Hares”

In January 1945, he finally received orders to the west coast and arrived at the end of that month. From Headquarters, Marine Corps Aviation Detachment, Miramar, San Diego, he was attached by service record book to Marine Air Depot Squadron One, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and boarded the USS General William Mitchell in San Francisco on 23 March 1945. At sea for more than two weeks, 2/Lt Gillon and party arrived at Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands, Free French Territory on 9 April. Once there, he was assigned to VMSB-142, the “Wild Hares”, currently in the Philippines in combat operations against the Japanese in Mindanao.

Prior to his arrival, VMSB-142 was one of seven dive bomber squadrons which had landed in Mangalpan on the west coast of Luzon to support MacArthur’s forces. The squadron flew operations non-stop as the weather permitted. As resistance waned in the north, operations shifted to the most southern island in the archipelago – Mindanao. Japanese resistance broke on the 23 of March and right on the heels of the evacuating enemy forces, the “Wild Hares” landed on Zamboanga and commenced operations.

The ground echelon followed in RF4D cargo planes. The invasion of Mindanao was scheduled for the 17 April 1945. The squadron shuttled Gillon from its rear echelon at Los Negros and ferried him directly into the Zamboanga airfield. To his chagrin, the squadron was still equipped with now-outdated Douglas SBD Dauntless aircraft. Gillon had trained on the technologically improved Curtiss SB2C’s. Now he had to ‘dummy down’ to the old aircraft. Still, allied forces had air supremacy and the older aircraft were still able to deliver quite a punch.

The fighting in Mindanao would last until the end of the war. The last Japanese forces capitulated with the general Japanese surrender on 15 August. 1/Lt Gillon who had been in the aviation pipeline nearly three years finally saw action in the waning days of World War II. His missions were still dangerous enough and relevant enough to earn him several air medals and a distinguished flying cross. In September, he received promotion to captain. That same month, his squadron, VMSB-142 was inactivated in the Philippines; its now-obsolescent SBD Douglas Dauntless dive bombers scrapped in country. MAG-32 with its remaining squadrons shipped out for North China with the rest of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

Capt. Gillon rotated back to Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California where he first joined Service Squadron 46 of Marine Air Service Group 46 before being transferred to Service Squadron 33 of MAG 33 as an instructor for the instrument section. By this time, he had married Elizabeth “Betty” Taft of Alden, New York, another village outside Erie and they waited his discharge in Santa Ana, California. On 19 August, Capt. Gillon was mustered out of the Marine Corps. Betty returned home to deliver their first born in West Seneca in November 1946, but they were committed to living on the West Coast. By 1950, Dan was working as a field clerk for a public utility in Tustin, California, and their family had expanded by another daughter in 1948.

Dan remained with the organized Marine Corps reserve and participated in a command post exercise at Terminal Island, Long Beach with the 11th Signal Company. The following year, he made a summer encampment with his unit before being transferred to a Class III Aviation unit in the 11th Marine Reserve District.

On the 1st of June 1950, the North Korean Army came streaming across the demilitarized zone that demarked its separation from the US-supported south in an attempted coup de main to unite the country under communist authority. The Marines were thrown into the fray almost immediately. Dan watched for a year and a half before he convinced his wife he needed to get involved. He returned to active duty on 1 December 1951 and commenced his refresher training with Marine Training Squadron Ten at El Toro. On 30 April, he flew to Kaneohe Bay, Territory of Hawaii, to join VMF-235 as a 7302 (fighter pilot). He returned to El Toro on 9 July with a primary MOS of 7377 (Instrument Flight Instructor) where he temporarily joined VMF-251 for training.

Now considered fully requalified, Capt. Gillon joined the 25th Replacement Draft assembling to replace Marines in the Korean War. On 20 September 1952, he joined VMF-312, “the Checkerboards”, on the USS Sicily for duty flying the latest model of the Corsair, the F4U-4. He immediately joined the rotation of the squadron officers flying close air support missions on the Korean peninsula in support of NATO forces.

USS Sicily loaded with USMC Corsairs

On December 27, 1952, while striking supplies on a dock near Chinnampo, North Korea, one of Capt. Gillon’s squadron mates, First Lieutenant John B. Goery, piloting an F4U-4 Corsair fighter from the carrier USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116), suffered a hit on his aircraft by anti-aircraft fire. He headed to Taedong-Gang estuary and parachuted safely.

A rescue helicopter was making a futile attempt to rescue 1/Lt Goery when a flight of four Communist MIG-15s attacked. These aircraft were the fastest and most maneuverable fighter jets in the world at the time and outmatched the Corsairs in every category. The MiG attack lasted for 15 minutes with the red jets making repeated runs at the grounded pilot.

Three of the “Checkerboards”, Wallace, Watson and Gillon, met the attacks with head-on firing runs with their wing guns and 5-inch rockets. Throughout the battle, the Migs pressed their attacks extremely close, often passing within a few yards of the propeller-driven Corsairs.

Twice Mullins, the fourth pilot, was forced to fight the MiGs, but only once did a MiG break through the entire cover and reach the lowest level where it was immediately fired upon by Major Cleeland, the flight commander.

The helicopter proceeded to the downed pilot and made several unsuccessful attempts to pick him up. The MiGs left the area and Major Cleeland strafed the beaches while Watson, who was out of ammunition made a reconnaissance of the adjoining beaches. A second helicopter came into the area but also was unsuccessful in picking up the downed pilot. In the end, North Korea People’s Army soldiers found and murdered 1/Lt Goery. Yet the feat that the best jets in the world had been chased off by WWII-era propeller-driven aircraft was amazing. Three of the pilots received the Silver Star Medal while Major Cleeland received the Navy Cross. Capt. Gillon’s citation reads:

"The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain Daniel P. Gillon, Jr. (MCSN: 0-31869), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a Pilot in Marine Attack Squadron THREE HUNDRED TWELVE (VMA-312), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 27 December 1952. When the pilot of an attack plane was forced to parachute into the icy waters of the Taedong estuary after his plane was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire during an aerial assault against a major enemy supply installation, Captain Gillon immediately alerted rescue facilities, directed other friendly aircraft to the scene and established a high protective cover for the downed pilot. With a flight of hostile jet interceptors approaching at high speed to harass friendly helicopters and surface craft engaged in the rescue operation, he quickly maneuvered his plane to meet this threat and deliberately engaged the vastly superior fighters in head-on firing runs, successfully diverting the enemy attack on the defenseless helicopters. In the ensuing aerial duel, he aggressively participated with his fellow airmen to thwart repeated enemy attempts to interrupt the rescue and assisted in forcing the hostile fighters to disengage. Subsequently, with the friendly surface craft subjected to intense enemy anti-aircraft and shore battery fire, he immediately carried out a low dive to strafe the weapons and, when his supply of ammunition was exhausted, continued simulated runs which effectively suppressed the hostile fire. Although his fuel reserve had reached a dangerously low level, he fearlessly continued his threatening attacks until other friendly aircraft arrived on the scene, and then safely returned to his carrier base. His indomitable fighting spirit, superb airmanship and courageous efforts in behalf of another reflect great credit upon Captain Gillon and the United States Naval Service."

After the loss of their shipmate, the Checkerboards continued operations against the NKPA in the north. On 16 January 1953, Capt. Gillon received a gold star in lieu of his 7th air medal. At the beginning of April, he checked in to have his back checked out. The constant g’s from deck launches and landings were taking the toll on his health. He transferred over to the USS Consolation, a hospital ship, for relief. The doctors could prescribe painkillers, but it would mean grounding. He continued to fly.

The Checkerboards on USS Bataan 1952

After 28 more missions suffering ever-increasing back pain, Capt. Gillon was shot down in July 1953 just at the Korean War was in the final stages of peace negotiations at Panmunjom. Unlike his hapless shipmate, Gillon was picked up and taken to a hospital ship and further transported to the Naval Hospital at Corona, Long Beach. There, he remained for almost a year, finally being released from the hospital and from the Marine Corps on 31 May 1954. But not before receiving another Distinguished Flying Cross and his 10th and 11th Air Medals. The following month, he retired from the USMC reserve as a major.

Upon his release, he enrolled in Chapman College in Orange County to get his education degree. In 1962, Dan and Betty moved the family to Henderson, Nevada. He taught elementary school and was named to the board of Mark Twain Life Insurance Company. Sadly, his marriage with Betty dissolved and they divorced in 1976. He became a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, was a 32nd degree Mason and member of Scottish Rite Bodies, the Mount Moriah Henderson Masonic Lodge 39 F&AM, and the Black Mountain Detachment of the Marine Corps League.

Daniel P. Gillon Jr. passed away in Henderson on 1 June 2001. He was survived by his daughter in Las Vegas and son in Henderson. Major Gillon was buried in the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada.

Sources:

Findagrave.com

Nevada, U.S., Death Index, 1980-2012

U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010

U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites ca. 1775-2019

1930, 1940, 1950 United States Federal Census

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014

US Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1954-1958

California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968

U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995