Awarded several medals for bravery, along with a Purple Heart, for a severe leg wound he’d received as he and fellow marines fought in the jungles of Iwo Jima
When our new geometry teacher entered the classroom, we high school seniors almost laughed out loud.
Well over six feet tall, Mr. Gordon was skeleton skinny, his clothes hung on him like a suit on a scarecrow, he walked with a wobbly limp, and the meek expression on his thin, bony face, along with his subdued, kindly tone of voice, convinced us he was a wimp. How wrong we were.
To keep his thick, black-framed eyeglasses — which earned him the nickname “Goggles” — from sliding down his nose, he wrapped rubber bands on the stems behind his ears.