David Gordon was born on May 20, 1946, in Oroville, California. Drafted in January 1967, he completed basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington, then medic training at Fort Sam Houston. He later attended jump school in Germany and graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning as a Second Lieutenant before joining the Green Berets.

In Vietnam, David served with MACV-SOG on highly classified cross-border missions. In October 1969, he led a team of four Americans and twenty-four Montagnard Bru on a mission into Laos to locate a POW camp and rescue U.S. and indigenous captives. After a delayed insertion, a reinsertion, and a fierce ambush, the team recovered fallen teammates under fire and called for evacuation. During the final lift, their helicopter was hit by an RPG and crashed into the jungle canopy. David survived, treated his own wounds, and triggered an emergency extraction. After eighteen months of recovery, he returned to service, graduated from Army Ranger School and volunteered for additional Vietnam tours.

David retired honorably after 26 years in the U.S. Army.