Ernest Gordon was the former Presbyterian dean of the chapel at Princeton University.
13 Facts About Ernest Gordon
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Ernest Gordon chronicled his experiences on the Death Railway in his book Through the Valley of the Kwai.
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Captain Ernest Gordon was a company commander with the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
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Ernest Gordon fought in several battles in the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore.
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Ernest Gordon was one of the last Allied soldiers to cross the causeway from Johore before it was blown up.
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Ernest Gordon's boat was captured by some Japanese warships, and he was returned to Singapore as a prisoner of war.
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Ernest Gordon 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.
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Ernest Gordon underwent very torturous events, that led to his being placed in the "Death Ward" designated for those who were not expected to survive.
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Ernest Gordon was treated there by two soldiers in their late twenties, a Methodist named "Dusty Miller", a simple gardener from Newcastle upon Tyne; and "Dinty" Moore a devout Roman Catholic.
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Against expectations Ernest Gordon survived, and as a consequence many of the POWs experienced a revival of faith and hope for life.
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Dinty, whom Ernest Gordon cared for and admired profoundly, died when the Allies sank his unmarked prisoner transport ship.
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Ernest Gordon returned home to Scotland to pursue the vocation he had found in the camp.
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Ernest Gordon was ordained a minister of the Church of Scotland at Paisley Abbey in 1950.