The exploits of an insurance salesman turned wartime escapee have been charted for the first time in print.
Budleigh’s 93-year-old Gordon Huntington has published his memoirs Seize the Day – billed as ‘a true account of one man’s life and his escape during World War Two when he was held as a prisoner of war’.
Gordon, from Westfield Road, was captured at Tobruk in 1942 and later escaped from a prisoner of war camp in Italy in 1943.
His tales of armed combat, capture and escape from the enemy offer an illuminating insight into what it was like at the sharp end, during an extraordinary period of history.
Gordon’s memoirs include the innocent times prior to the war and detail what happened afterwards, when the war ended and he had to pick up the pieces of ‘ordinary’ life.
Always one to seek out and grab opportunities, he writes about how to make the most of possibilities using gut instinct and daring.
Gordon Harold Huntington was born on May 26, 1920, in Streatham.
After a sound academic grounding at Wallington Grammar School, his ‘further education’ was gained in the war and on the streets of real life, grasping opportunities when he spotted them.
Seize the Day is his first book and is intended to capture the highlights and lowlights of his life so far, at the age of 93, in perpetuity.
Prior to joining the Territorials, Gordon worked for the Prudential Assurance Company.
After the war, he returned to his job at the Prudential before setting up a successful catering company in the City of London, initially selling sandwiches from a basket.
Subsequently, he drew on his natural sales ability to work for an organisation selling massage equipment for aches and pains.
He was then headhunted by a Finnish company and ended up running a flourishing sauna bath business.
Gordon says: “I’ve always wanted to write a story about life in general, and perhaps mine in particular.
“But I’m lazy – always have been in some ways. However, I’ve decided to put my story down, so here it is!”
His book is available online from Amazon.co.uk.
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