Captain Gorrell was a crew member of a B-29A Superfortress Bomber with the 28th Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Wing. On June 10, 1952, while on a night mission, the aircraft was hit by rocket fire from a MiG near Kwaksan, North Korea and exploded. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on February 28, 1954. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.