William was born in Broxburn, just outside Edinburgh in 1916, he was the 2nd eldest of 4 brothers and 3 sisters.

The family moved to a village called Newtongrange, to a two bedroom house, which had an indoor toilet with a plumbed in bath. Oh the luxuries of modern living!

This was a mining village where grandad worked in the colliery. Unfortunately grandad lost his leg in a mining accident.

Dad had several jobs which we are not clear about, we think he did a stint working on a trawler but not sure if this was pre or post war.

He was a fantastic bagpipe player.

He served in Hong Kong until the surrender on Black Christmas 25th December 1941. He along with many other soldiers were transported on the Lisbon Maru, which sank after being torpedoed by an American submarine on 1st October 1942. Many of the men died but many managed to get to land and were helped by the fishermen on the islands.

Dad did tell us that he and William Gordon managed to get out of the hold and whilst the ship was listing they watched men perish. They decided to raid the Captain's cabin and stole a crate of his whiskey. They then sat on the highest point drinking the whiskey thinking this is it. By the time the ship went down they were so drunk they just floated along until saved by the fishermen.

They were then re-captured by the Japanese and imprisoned in various camps until the end of the war.

Dad's tales of the camps were horrific, but as he said it was war and bad things happen in war. However he cited that he suffered from severe ulcerations in his legs and back. The British doctor thought it best to amputate the leg. Dad refused as he was so weak he knew he would never survive the operation. A Japanese doctor who was at the camp at that time suggested some different treatment, by spooning the ulcerations out and packing the holes. I can’t imagine the pain this must have caused but thankfully this worked and dad kept all his limbs, and till the day he died he would not have anything bad said against the Japanese, as they saved his life

One other thing he told us, in the camps they had long benches of latrines, many men died whilst sitting on them and they were taken away and put in mass graves, some were still alive, but too weak to let them know. However, he recalls that when you sat on the latrine you kept your pinky moving to show you were still alive. We cannot imagine how they lived to tell the tales.

Lots of the men suffered from malaria, dysentery and many others diseases associated with malnutrition.

Again information is sketchy in the early years after discharge from the army.

He did go back to work at the colliery, we know that he was a boiler maker and often spent down time at the mine making fish tank stands and brewing tea which was so stewed you could have danced on it.

He then changed jobs and became a rope splicer. This entailed unwinding the large steel hawsers which took the cages down the mine to test their strength before being used.

In between this in the mid 50s dad was a Tram Driver in Edinburgh where he met mum who was a Clippie.

Dad was in the TAs as a Piper Sergeant and played at the Edinburgh Tattoo every year, a couple of times as the Lone Piper at the end of the show.

Dad retired at 62.

Mum and dad left Scotland in the early 1980s and made their home in Milton Keynes joining the rest of the family who had moved there several years before.

He was an avid story teller to the grandchildren and a beautiful calligrapher often combining poems with the calligraphy.

Sadly our dad died in 1999. He was survived by his wife, 3 children, 11 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

William Gordon was dad's best friend whilst in the army and in the Territorial Army, was a fellow Royal Scot and was also on the Lisbon Maru. After the war he went on to marry dad's sister Ellen (Nellie).