cool dudes i admire: gus anckorn

gus anckorn served with the royal artillery where he was stationed in singapore in 1942. on his third day there, an anti-personnel bomb was dropped ten feet from his convoy. anckorn was severely wounded from the blast where they rushed him to a field hospital. surviving the blast, he quickly found out that his luck was short lived. he was transferred to alexandra hospital, where, in february 1942, japanese forces took building and committed a massacre of 200 patients and staff. those who were able to walk were marched outside and shot, those who could not were bayoneted in their beds. while preparing for his INEVITABLE death and not wanting to watch it happen, his covered his face with a pillow and awaited his stabbing— it never came.

the japanese took acnkorn as a prisoner where he was promptly sent to work on the burma railroad. as he was still struggling from his injuries, he struggled to meet the demands of the japanese who demanded he climb a 100 foot AQUEDUCT— they tortured him by pouring tar on his back when he couldn’t keep up with the demands. this burn sent him to the hospital— during his time there, every prisoner who worked on the aqueduct project died.

gus anckorn happened to be well versed in magic tricks— he used this skill to distract the guards so that other prisoners could steal food— he once obtained 50 eggs from the kitchen which were split amongst the prisoners, convincing the japanese he needed them for a trick. as the allies closed in on japan, anckorn was put in front of a firing squad. japanese soldiers began to argue about whether or not they’d be charged with war crimes.

once more, he evaded death. anckorn’s luck held out as his camp was soon liberated by allied forces.

Gus' luck held out and he was led back to the camp where he was soon liberated by Allied forces in august of 1945.