Evening star., 1942-06-07
Buster Gordon Goes to Sea;
Navy Department Feels Loss
Brisk Officer Shone :
As Aide in Public
Relations Section
By CLAUDE A. MAHONEY.

1t. Comdr. Howard w. Buster"
Gordon has gone to sea duty, leav-
ing a void twice his size in the
Offlce of Public Relations of the
Navy Department.
Known as one of the biggest
little men in the Navy" 1t. Comdr.
Gordon soon will be on active duty
in war zone. For more than two
years he had been associated with
the Public Relations Section of the
Navy Department. and for the last
year had been aide to the director.
In this tour of duty he ironed out
the most heavily-wrinkled prob
lens of newspaper reporters. still
and movie photographers, and radio
people, and the wrinkles have gen.
orally stayed smooth. And the life
Of reporters, photographers and
radio men assigned to the Navy is
one succession Of overcoming
wrinkles.
Tough officers who would go into
battle without a qualm brushed
back frank tears when the whole
public relations section gathered
to say goodbye to Buster" Capt.
Leland P. Lovette, acting for all,
presented him with a ships clock.
Buster" took the clock, said about
10 words of choked thanks and
disappeared in the crowd faster
than one of the submarines he used
to sumberge.
Got the Right Answers.
To the reporters regularly cover
ing the Navy, Buster" was practi-
cally a limitless source of highly
diversified information. They asked
him questions of policy, of strategy,
and the answers generally were good.
He could give a quick answer on
tonnage or complement when an
editor was screaming. And If the
same editor was screaming about
his boy having been turned down
for commission in the Navy be-
cause ofea bad eye, Buster" would
calmly dial an extension-always
the right one-and after a minute
would turn and say. Tell the boy
to go see Comdr. Blank in room
so and so; he'll tell him just what
chances he has with that eye"
One complicated question BUS
ter" left unanswered was that of
how he got the nickname. Off1cers
who had known him for years didn't
know, but classmate swears the
handle started out to be Buzz" and
was given him because he was al
ways "buzzing around" with such
vivacity when he was a midship-
man at Annapolis. Half the time
people now call him Buzz" and
half the time Buster" But there
is one school of etymology that in
sists the name came from the old
comic strip, Buster Brown.
He was plain Howard Wright
Gordon when he left Kansas for
the academy, and he was both
Buster" and Ensign Gordon when
he graduated in 1927. After a tour
of sea duty he was sent to the
submarine school, where he fitted
well. being only about S feet S
inches in height, and could still
buzz around inside an undersea
craft, one of which he commanded
in 1887.
Headed List Of 10.
When the Navy Department
picked a successor to 1t. Comdr.
Gordon Beecher in 1910, superior Of
ficers went through list of 10 fitness
reports of officers of the rank and
number. Ofhcials who never had
seen the diminutive Buster" found
the papers of a man whose report
had no blemishes, and who had
gotten from every assignment the
highest marks in cooperation with
others" and initiative" Buster"
got the assignment, and came to
Washington in April, 1910.
When he first came he was in
charge of all Photographic, radio
and script relations, but when he
left, the expanded Office had a
special department for each of
these, and he was an administra-
tive aide.
At 81, Comdr. Gordon still can