US Navy

64th Veteran of the Quarter

September 2026/ Nominated by: Cynthia Davis

Gordon Gosh began his military service at just 17 years old, enlisting in the United States Navy in June 1945. He was assigned to the Hospital Corpsman School in San Diego for basic medical training. He then completed the Certified Operating Room Technician program at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. From there he served at the Naval Academy Hospital in Annapolis, MD where he trained in anesthesia and in 1946, was transferred to Adak Island, part of the Aleutian Islands and was put in charge of the operating room.

In late 1947, Gosh was transferred to the USS Helena (CA-75), a heavy cruiser and flagship of the Seventh Fleet. From 1948 to 1949, he served throughout the Asian theater, including Shanghai and Tsing Tao, China, and assisted Marines in helping U.S. citizens leave Tsing Tao during the Chinese Civil War. His medical duties included assisting with surgical operations and performing embalming procedures in the ship’s combined operating and embalming room. He was honorably discharged in June 1949.

Gosh enrolled at the University of Toledo and was there three semesters when the Korean War started in 1950. Because of a shortage of operating room technicians, Gosh was recalled by the Navy and served from 1951 to 1952 aboard the USS Midway (CVB-41), flagship of the Sixth Fleet. For this assignment, he traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean. During this time, Gosh was taking Correspondence Courses from the University of Wisconsin, where he used the operating table as a desk in the evenings. He was later released from the Navy in May of 1952. He returned to the University of Toledo and was later referred to the pre-med curriculum at Northwestern where he graduated in 1954 with a degree in Biochemistry.

For his service, Gosh received the National Security American Campaign Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Victory World War II Medal, and the China Service Medal.

Gosh and his wife, Marylin, were married in June 1952 and had four children. He began his career with Chicago’s Swift and Company (1954–1965) before moving to Boston to work for the William Underwood Company. After Pet Incorporated purchased the company in 1982, he transferred to St. Louis, moved his family to Warson Woods, Missouri, and eventually retired in 1992.

Beyond his professional career, Gosh was deeply committed to community service. In the 1970s, he served as the Massachusetts/Rhode Island State President for Gideons International, was Fundraising Chairman for the Greater St. Louis YMCA, and taught Sunday School for more than 50 years. As a certified Arborist, he also volunteered with the St. Louis Forestry Council and served as an alderman for the City of Warson Woods for 23 years.

Gordon and Marylin, his beloved wife of 74 years, now reside in Bradleyville (since 2021) alongside their daughter, Cynthia Davis, and her family.

Veterans are chosen by a panel of peers. To nominate a local Veteran for the Branson Bank Veteran of the Quarter, please visit: www.bransonbank.com or stop by any Branson Bank location to pick up a Nomination Form.

THE PROUD. THE STRONG. THE LOYAL. OUR VETERANS!