Judge Gordon Thompson was born in June 1926 in Perry County, Alabama. He grew up with two sisters on a hundred-acre cotton and corn farm in which he helped his father work. He attended a one room school. Thompson heard on the radio about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. When he turned 17, his father signed for him to join the Navy and was sworn in in June 1944. He joined the Navy so he would have a pillow to put his head on. He was sent to Camp Perry [Annotator's Note: Camp Perry, Virginia] for his basic training for three months. He did not think the training was too difficult. After completing his training, he was sent to New Port, Rhode Island where he was assigned to the aircraft carrier the USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). Thompson was assigned to the deck force. The Bon Homme Richard passed through the Panama Canal on Easter Sunday 1945 on its way to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] to pick up 1,000 Marines. They boarded the ship then they set sail for Pearl Harbor. They stayed in the harbor to do some repairs on the ship. During this time, Thompson had to train the night crew on the ship. They then sailed for the far Atlantic [Annotator's Note: Atlantic Ocean] where they joined the 3rd Fleet in June 1945. USS Bon Homme Richard was responsible for launching air strikes into mainland Japan. [Annotator's note: A telephone rings and a female can be heard speaking in background starting at 0:12:42:000.] Thompson recalled one kamikaze plane that headed toward USS Bon Homme Richard, but was shot down before it hit the ship.

Judge Gordon Thompson recalled preparing for the invasion of mainland Japan in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines. He recalled hearing about the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] and soon the surrender of Japan. The USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) sailed into Tokyo Bay, Japan and Thompson was able to observe the destroyed city. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings at 0:17:17.000 and disrupts the interview.]. After World War 2 ended, the Bon Homme Richard was fitted to transport thousands of servicemen and made several trips back and forth from the Pacific to the United States. He volunteered for food duty and spent the entire day serving food to the crew and her passengers. The ship was sent to Washington and Thompson helped with the decommission. He was discharged in June 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee and returned home to Alabama. He finished his high school education in 1948 and attended the University of Alabama [Annotator's Note: in Tuscaloosa, Alabama] on the G. I. Bill. Thompson believes he would not have married his wife if it were not for his service in the Navy because he married his Navy friend's sister.