World War II
At the outbreak of World War II Gandar-Dower was in the Belgian Congo photographing gorillas. Returning to England, he then worked on the Mass-Observation project with Tom Harrisson before being hired by the Government of Kenya to improve its public relations with the native inhabitants, producing a number of works that the government considered "excellent". Later he acted as a war correspondent, covering campaigns in Abyssinia and Madagascar, travelling vast distances by bicycle and canoe. At Tamatave in eastern Madagascar he came under heavy fire, leaping from an amphibious vessel carrying a bowler hat, a typewriter, and an umbrella.
On 6 February 1944 Gandar-Dower boarded the SS Khedive Ismail at Kilindini Harbour at Mombasa, bound for Colombo. While approaching Addu Atoll in the Maldives, on 12 February 1944, the vessel was attacked by Japanese submarine I-27. Struck by two torpedoes, the Khedive Ismail sank in two minutes, with a death toll of 1297, Gandar-Dower among them.
Gandar-Dower's obituary in Wisden stated that "he was one of the most versatile player of games of any period." A wealthy man, Gandar-Dower left over £75,000 in his will.
Read more about this topic: Kenneth Gandar-Dower
Famous quotes containing the words war ii, world and/or war:
“I realized how for all of us who came of age in the late sixties and early seventies the war was a defining experience. You went or you didn’t, but the fact of it and the decisions it forced us to make marked us for the rest of our lives, just as the depression and World War II had marked my parents.”
—Linda Grant (b. 1949)
“There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.”
—J.M. (James Matthew)
“Your length in clay’s now competent,
A long war disturbed your mind;”
—John Webster (c. 1580–1638)