St. Matthew's Church Movie Event and Discussion: To End All Wars

“To End All Wars “tells a story based upon Ernest Gordon’s book, “Through the Valley of The Kwai.”Ernest Gordon was the Commander of the 93rd Highlanders captured and became one of thousands of prisoners of war at Changi Prison in Singapore at the height of World War II. He was transferred from camp to camp in box cars in 90-degree heat and humidity in Malaya and Thailand where murder, decapitation, and disease was an everyday event. Even Gordon almost died from malaria, diphtheria, and dysentery in the “Death House where hopeless cases were left to die. He was transferred to a hut where his comrades bathed, and tenderly nursed him back to health. It was his devotion to others and his example that gave other prisoners hope to the despairing and the “Miracle of the River Kwai” began. Prisoners learned to make prosthesis out of scraps, they started classes in philosophy, classes in the classics, and music that became an orchestra in front of the Japanese guards! Despair gave way to hope and faith; service began and lifted prisoners to a spiritual level devoutly expressed in The Church of the Open Air. For Ernest Gordon, he became a minister after the war and Dean of the Chapel at Princeton University for 25 years.