Gordon was born on 17 January 1912 in West Bromwich, the son of William and Kate Draper. They were living in Birmingham in 1921. In 1935, he married Irene Payne in Wolverhampton and they had a daughter, Valerie, born in 1937. In 1939, Gordon was in Birmingham working as an assurance agent – Irene is registered with her parents in Coleman Street, Wolverhampton, although she was presumably just visiting them at the time of the 1939 register as the electoral register her registered in Birmingham.

Gordon enlisted at RAF Cardington in Bedfordshire in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and became a Sergeant (service number 1164769). On 12 August 1942, the plane he was travelling in from Gibraltar to Australia was attacked and shot down. Four of the six crew survived, but unfortunately Gordon died as a result. He is remembered on the Runnymede Air Force Memorial, as well as on the Roll of Honour at St Chad and St Mark’s Church.

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The research for this blog post was completed by remote virtual volunteer, Doug Lewis.