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SGT Michael Lippman
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Lippman, Gordon Joseph, LTC.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Lemmon
Last Address Lemmon
Casualty Date Dec 11, 1965
Cause KIA-Died of Wounds
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Vietnam, South (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 04E 012/Section 3, Site 4140-F
Lt. Col. Gordon Lippman enlisted in the Army on 19 March 1943 at Los Angeles, California. He served with the 517th Parachute Regiment in the ETO as Platoon Sgt. of the machine gun Platoon, 1st Brigade HHC His unit served in Italy, Southern France, the Ardennes-Alsace, and in Germany. The 517th fought during the Battle of the Bulge at Soy and Hotten. During this service period he was awarded two Bronze Stars.
After his his Honorable discharge as Platoon Sgt. May 13 1945 he received his battlefied commission to 2nd Lt. on the same date.
He served in Korea as Capt. of Company A with the 24th Infantry Regiment and was wounded twice. During this time He received two Silver Stars one of which was upgraded to the DSC for his actions at the crossing of the Hant' an River, Korea.
On 16 September 1965, he was assigned to duty in Viet Nam where he served as the executive offier of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division at Lai Khe, RVN.
During the night of 11 December 1965, several Viet Cong snipers infiltrated the perimeter of his camp. Lt. Col Lippman tried to personally locate the snipers, and while moving across an open area when he was shot and killed.
Comments/Citation:
Distinguished Service Cross Awarded for actions during the Korean War
The President of the United States of America, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain (Infantry) Gordon J. Lippman, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as Commanding Officer of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.
Captain Lippman distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of Do Chung, Korea, on 11 April 1951. Captain Lippman was leading his men across the Hantan River in the pre-dawn darkness in an attempt to secure the high ground on the opposite shore from a well-entrenched hostile force. When the friendly troops were in the middle of the river, an enemy outpost discovered the operation and directed machine-gun fire on the wading troops. Quickly deploying his men, Captain Lippman led a charge against the hostile emplacement, destroying it and enabling the company to finish the crossing with a minimum of casualties. He then reorganized the company and led his men across a flat, exposed area toward the objective. The enemy, placed in a strong perimeter defense on the crest of the hill, directed such a devastating volume of fire on the friendly troops that only a platoon of the company reached the base of the objective with Captain Lippman, the remainder being pinned down by the intense fire. He realized that he platoon would be forced to launch a frontal assault against the enemy positions, risking annihilation, unless some method was employed to divert the hostile fire from the attacking troops. He immediately moved up the slope and, armed with a pistol and grenades, attacked the enemy emplacements. For forty-five minutes he maneuvered to within a few yards of these positions, harassing the hostile troops and drawing their concentrated fire.
This courageous action enabled the platoon to work its way to a position from which an assault was launched that routed the enemy.
General Orders: Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 784 (October 19, 1951)
Action Date: 11-Apr-51
Service: Army
Rank: Captain
Company: Company A
Battalion: 1st Battalion
Regiment: 24th Infantry Regiment
Division: 25th Infantry Division
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Ardennes Alsace Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of the Bulge
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
January / 1945
Description The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. Hitler planned the offensive with the primary goal to recapture the important harbour of Antwerp. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred the highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's war-making resources.
The battle was known by different names. The Germans referred to it as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), while the French named it the Bataille des Ardennes ("Battle of the Ardennes"). The Allies called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The phrase "Battle of the Bulge" was coined by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps and became the best known name for the battle.
The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. As well as stopping Allied transport over the channel to the harbor of Antwerp, Germany also hoped these operations would split the British and American Allied line in half, and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favor. Once that was accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war.
The offensive was planned by the German forces with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Despite their efforts to keep it secret, the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Russian Front and transport of forces by rail, both to the Ardennes, was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the codebreaking centre Bletchley Park.
Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success; columns that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
About 610,000 American forces were involved in the battle,[2] and 89,000 were casualties, including 19,000 killed. It was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.
