Nathan G. Gordon; Navy Pilot, Arkansas Lt. Governor

He was presented the Medal of Honor at a ceremony in Australia on July 13, 1944. Later that day, he was back in the air, flying a 15-hour patrol.

Nathan Green Gordon was born Sept. 4, 1916, in Morrilton, Ark., where his father was a lawyer. He attended a military school in Tennessee and Arkansas Tech University before graduating from the University of Arkansas law school in 1939.

Returning to Arkansas as a war hero in 1946, Mr. Gordon was elected lieutenant governor and was reelected to nine more two-year terms as a Democrat. His political career had little turmoil, except during the racial confrontations surrounding the integration of Little Rock's Central High School in 1957.

Gov. Orval E. Faubus initially ordered the National Guard to defy a U.S. Supreme Court decision to desegregate the all-white high school. When Faubus was out of the state in September 1957, the mayor of Little Rock prevailed on Mr. Gordon, as acting governor, to assign 50 state police officers to the school to prevent violence.

"I am not expecting any trouble," Mr. Gordon said, "but if it becomes evident that the National Guard is needed, I will call them out."

In later years, he refused to discuss his role in the Little Rock integration battle.

He retired from public office in 1967 and returned to his hometown to practice law.

His wife of 49 years died in 1995. He had no children or other immediate survivors.