Ernest Gordon

Ernest Gordon (1917 - 16 January 2002) was the former Presbyterian dean of the chapel at Princeton University. A native of Scotland, Gordon spent three years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. He chronicled his experiences on the Death Railway in his book "Through the Valley of the Kwai". The book served as an inspiration to the film To End All Wars which opened in 2002.

Ernest found his sense of self and spirituality while a prisoner and one of the participant soldiers who helped build The Bridge on the River Kwai. As history shows, the Japanese were especially cruel to their prisoners. The death rate was quite high. He underwent very torturous events ( This led to malnutrition, Beri Beri, Malaria, Jungle Ulcer, and having to have a kidney removed without benefit of pain medication.),that led to his being placed in the "Death Ward" designated for those who were not expected to survive.

He was treated there by two special soldiers in their late twenties, a Methodist named "Dusty Miller", a simple gardener from Newcastle upon Tyne; and "Dinty" Moore a devout Roman Catholic. The two gave 24 hour care to Ernest. They would boil rags and clean and massage Ernest's diseased legs every day. To the great surprise of everyone, Ernest survived, and as a consequence many of the P.O.W.'s experienced a revival of faith and hope for life. Ernest, an agnostic, was impressed by Dusty's simplicity and firm Christian faith in the face of the severe treatment the prisoners received at the hands of their captors. Dusty was one who didn't lose faith and never met the cruel treatment he received with anger.

In a surprising turn of events Ernest survived the war. Upon liberation as he sought news of his friends he found that two weeks before the war's end Dusty had been executed by a Japanese guard who was frustrated with Dusty's sense of calm in the face of hardship. Dinty, whom Ernest cared for and admired profoundly also died as a P.O.W.

Born in Scotland, Ernest eventually moved to America where he became the dean of the chapel at Princeton University.

ee also

*Silence (novel)

Links

* [http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/02/q1/0121-gordon.htm Ernest Gordon, longtime dean of the chapel, dies - News from PRINCETON UNIVERSITY]
* [http://www.pauladams.org/Stories/ErnestGordon.htm Ernest Gordon at pauladams.org]

References

* Gordon, Ernest. To End All Wars. HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. ISBN-10: 0007118481, ISBN-13: 978-0007118489