Through the Valley of the Kwai - Part 1

Every once in a while, I check out a book at our local public library based on a casual mention or recommendation from someone.  I honestly do not remember who recommended it, but I just finished Through the Valley of the Kwai by Ernest Gordon over the weekend.  I have to say that this was one of the best books that I have ever read!  It's right up there with Man's Search for Meaning by the Austrian neurologist, psychologist, and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl.  It's been a few years since I've last read Frankl's book, but based on my recollection, the two books are very similar.  They are both profoundly written memoirs that explore the major themes of human suffering, resilience, and the search for meaning.  Whereas Frankl's memoir introduces us to his concept of logotherapy (literally "healing through meaning"), Gordon's source of resilience and ultimate redemption is through the spiritual renewal of his Christian faith.

Ernest Gordon died in 2002, but prior to that he had served as the Presbyterian Dean of the chapel at Princeton University.  In his 20's, Gordon served as an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders infantry regiment of the British Army during World War II.  He fought in Southeast Asia and spent three years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, working on the infamous Burma Railway and bridge over the river Kwai (subject of the novel by the French author Pierre Boulle, which was made into a movie starring Sir Alec Guinness and William Holden in 1957).  The Japanese were particularly cruel to the prisoners-of-war, forcing them to labor for long hours to exhaustion with very little food and water.  The conditions were extremely harsh, and most, if not all, of the prisoners suffered from a number of tropical diseases, including malaria, beriberi, malnutrition (leading to starvation), typhoid fever, dysentery, and skin ulcers.  

Gordon suffered from all of these ailments and more (including acute appendicitis, which required emergency surgery performed under incredibly austere conditions).  He ended up with diphtheria, which nearly killed him.  He was actually moved to the camp's "death ward" for those prisoners who were felt to have no chance of survival.  It was only through the compassionate care by two of his fellow prisoners (primarily - there were others that certainly helped too) that he ultimately survived and slowly regained his health.  "Dusty Miller" was a devout Methodist and a gardener before the war, who relied heavily upon his Christian faith to persevere through his ordeal.  "Dinty" Moore was a devout Roman Catholic who Gordon knew very well.

While being nursed back to health, Gordon, who was an agnostic before the war, would have long conversations about faith with Dusty Miller in particular.  During one conversation about his past life as a gardener, Miller told Gordon, "When people are down on their knees weeding, they think only of the weeds and never of the flowers.  I like to grow flowers, not weeds.  But if I'm to grow flowers, I must deal with the weeds.  So I don't mind doing that."  Gordon began to understand that Miller's resilience came from his faith and his unique ability to see the good in everything.

During another conversation, Miller shared, "Here's a verse I've always found to be of help.  It makes us realize that God is closer than we think:  

No one could tell me where my soul might be,

I sought for God, but God eluded me, 

I sought my brother out and found all three, 

My soul, my God, and all humanity."

Gordon would write, "For the first time I understood.  Dusty was a Methodist - Dinty a Roman Catholic.  Yet in each, it was their faith that lent a special grace to their personalities; through them faith expressed a power, a presence greater than themselves.  I was beginning to see that life was infinitely more complex, and at the same time more wonderful, than I had ever imagined.  True, there was hatred.  But there was also love.  There was death, but there was also life.  God had not left us.  He was with us, calling us to live the divine life in fellowship.  I was beginning to feel the miracle that God was working in the Death Camp by the River Kwai."

During his recovery, Gordon underwent a spiritual transformation, largely as a result of both Miller's and Moore's example of faith.  He would begin to assist the prison camp's chaplain with religious services, and ultimately would lead those services for the rest of his time in captivity.  After the war, he would become an ordained minister, eventually finding his way to Princeton University.

Sadly, both of the individuals who were so instrumental in nursing Gordon back to health would not survive the war.  "Dusty Miller" was a devout Methodist who relied heavily upon his Christian faith to persevere.  Two weeks before being liberated, Miller was crucified by one of the Japanese guards who was frustrated with Miller's sense of calm while faced with incredible hardship.  "Dinty" Moore a devout Roman Catholic would die towards the end of the war as well, when an Allied submarine sank his unmarked prisoner transport ship.

Gordon concluded, "It was faith, I saw, that enabled us to transcend our environment, to appropriate what was good and true in our education and tradition, and thus prepare us to make decisions on matters of tumultuous consequence to us as human beings.  It was clear that the quest for meaning, the religious search, and the hunger for knowledge all go hand in hand."

Lt General Arthur E. Percival, who commanded the British forces in Malaysia during World War II would say, after the war, " Inspired by faith, the British soldiers in these camps displayed some of the finest qualities of their race.  Courageous under repression and starvation, patient through the long years of waiting, cheerful and dignified in the face of adversity, they steadfastly resisted all efforts of the Japanese to break their spirit and finally conquered."

I really enjoyed this book.  And there is so much left to cover.  While Ernest Gordon's own personal journey was remarkable, his description of what happened to his fellow prisoners-of-war is just as enlightening.  I will come back to that topic in my next post.