Gibson, Walter

Walter Gibson, born in 1914, enlisted as a young soldier with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It was with their 2nd Battalion that he was sent to Asia, serving in India, China and Malaya for seventeen years. His remarkable experiences during World War II include fighting in the Battle of Slim River, escaping through the Malayan jungle and surviving in a lifeboat for twenty-six days amidst cannibalism, desperation and treachery. For two years he endured a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Medan until being liberated in Singapore in 1945. Often described as a colourful character, he wrote