Ernest Gordon
Ernest Gordon (born May 31, 1916 in Greenock , Scotland , † January 16, 2002 in Princeton , New Jersey , United States ) was Dean of the Presbyterian Church at Princeton University from 1955 to 1981 .
Life
Before World War II
He first studied history and philosophy at Glasgow University and St Andrews University . In 1936 he joined the Royal Air Force . In 1937 he survived a plane crash near London.
During the Second World War
During the Second World War , Gordon fought as an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Southeast Asia and in 1942 was taken prisoner by Japan with his unit . Japan used prisoners of war and Asian slave labor to build the so-called Death Railway , a railway line between Burma and Thailand . Due to the inhumane living and working conditions, Ernest Gordon fell ill with diphtheria , malaria , typhus and dysentery, among other things . Many of his comrades died. It was not until 1945 that allied troops were able to defeat the Japanese troops and the prisoners of war were released. It took Gordon months for Gordon to recover.
His experiences he described in 1962 in his book Through the Valley of the Kwai , which in 2001 as the basis for the movie To End All Wars - The real hell ( To End All Wars served).
After the Second World War
After the war he continued his studies and decided to become a pastor. He holds degrees from the University of London and the theological seminary in Hartford , Connecticut . Ordained by the Church of Scotland in 1950, he worked for the next three years in Paisley Abbey . In 1954 he was first chaplain of the church at Princeton University and two years later its dean. He held this office until 1981. After his retirement, Gordon went to Washington, DC, as president of the Christian Rescue Effort for the Emancipation of Dissidents . In this role he helped hundreds of dissidents escape the prisons of the then Eastern Bloc .
He also worked as a visiting professor at various universities, for example St Andrews, Moscow, Tokyo. He later went back to Princeton.
Web links
- Princeton University Obituary
- Obituary in the New York Times
- pauladams.org (English)
- Information about the film "To End All Wars - The True Hell" (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gordon, Ernest |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish Dean |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1916 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Greenock , Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 16, 2002 |
| Place of death | Princeton, New Jersey , United States |