J. Gordon Maxwell

Rank: Commander, U.S. Navy

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: December 4, 1945

Commander J. Gordon Maxwell was born May 28, 1895 in Merchantville, NJ, to Charles and Katherine Maxwell. His father was in the jewelry business. He attended Merchantville Elementary schools, Merchantville High School, and Moorestown Friends School. He graduated from Haverford College in Haverford, PA, in 1916 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and did graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania in 1916 and 1917.

On June 10, 1917, shortly after the U.S.A. entered World War I, J. Gordon Maxwell enlisted in the United States Navy. Serving until 1919, he rose through the enlisted ranks and was commissioned as an Ensign prior to his discharge. He joined the United States Naval Reserve as an Ensign, and was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in 1925, and to Lieutenant in 1929.

As a Lieutenant, he commanded the Ninth Division of the Fourth Naval District, stationed in Camden, from 1925 to 1939.

Commander Maxwell was activated on December 26, 1941, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois and remained there until the fall of 1944, when he was transferred to Newport, RI, where he was undergoing training for a tour of sea duty when he was stricken ill.

In civilian life, Commander Maxwell had been superintendent of the Maxwell Building in Philadelphia, which his father owned. He had also worked as a chemist at a dye works, as a newspaper advertising man, in real estate, and as an investigator for the New Jersey Old Age Assistance Board, for whom he was working when called to active duty.

Commander Maxwell was a member of the Frederick W. Grigg Post 68 of the American Legion in Merchantville, and under the sponsorship of the Post organized one of the largest Boy Scout troops in Camden County. He was scoutmaster of the troop for about 10 years.

He was a past master of the Merchantville Lodge No. 119, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Philadelphia chapters of the St. Andrews Society and the Sons of the American Revolution. He also was a member of Grace Episcopal Church of Merchantville.

Taken ill while serving at Newport, RI, he was taken to the Brooklyn Naval Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, where he passed on December 4, 1945. His father, Charles J. Maxwell, had died the previous Wednesday, November 28th, at his home at 12 East Cedar Avenue, Merchantville, NJ.

Commander Maxwell had made his home at 2922 Bethel Avenue in Pennsauken, NJ. He was survived by his widow, the former Mildred Condle, whom he had married around 1927, and two daughters, Katherine and Virginia.