Gordon Stifler Seagrave (18 March 1897 – 28 March 1965) was a Burmese-born American missionary, physician and author.

Life and career

Born in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, he was the son of American Baptist missionaries Rev. Albert Ernest Seagrave and Alice Vinton.Friends of Burma website, ''The Last American Baptist Missionaries to Burma, 1946-1966'', by Neil Sowards and May Pearl Cartee
published by The American Baptist Historical Society (2013) As such he represented the fourth generation of a mission tradition begun when his great-grandparents Justus Vinton, Calista Holman, James Madison Haswell and Jane Mason, were sent to Moulmain, Burma in 1834 and 1835 to establish a Baptist mission, work continued in subsequent generations by several family members, including his great-aunt, missionary and physician Calista Vinton Luther. Seagrove's sisters followed in the family footsteps, with Rachel working as a teaching missionary in

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

and Grace becoming a medical missionary in

Moulmein Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; ; , ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' southeast of Yangon and south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) River. Mawlamyine was an ancien ...

. Seagrave also followed their path and became a missionary and medical doctor in Burma. He was sometimes referred to by the title of his book, " Burma Surgeon", or as Gordon Surgeon Seagrave. His first language as a boy was

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding white woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand * House of Karen, a historic ...

. Seagrave was married on 11 September 1920 to Marion Grace "Tiny" Morse. They had four children: Leslie Mae, b. 1921 in Baltimore, MD; Weston M.; John H.; and Sterling V., a journalist and author. Seagrave graduated from

Denison University Denison University is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio, United States. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called ...

in 1917 and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1921. He practiced medicine and surgery on the China border of Burma for nearly 20 years. He joined the US Army Medical Corps in 1942, worked with Gen.

Joseph Stilwell Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (19 March 1883 – 12 October 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India theater during World War II. Stilwell was appointed as Chief of Staff for Chiang Kai-shek, the Chine ...

and served with the Chinese

New 6th Army New 6th Army was a Chinese combat command involved in the Burma Campaign of World War II, and later, the Chinese Civil War. They operated in the Shan States and the Karen State of eastern Burma. The New 6th Army's General and Supreme Commander w ...

through the

Burma Campaign The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of British rule in Burma, Burma as part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. It primarily involved forces of the Allies of World War II, Allies (mainly from ...

in the

China-Burma-India Theater China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was ...

. He helped Stilwell's walking retreat into

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1942. He walked back in to work in 1945. He served as chief medical officer for the

Shan State Shan State (, ; , ) is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos (Louang Namtha Province, Louang Namtha and Bokeo Provinces) to the east, and Thailand (Chiang Rai Province, Chia ...

s of Burma with the British military government from 1945-46. He was arrested and charged with treason by the newly independent Burmese government in 1950.Hot potato
''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. November 13, 1950. Retrieved February 1, 1950. He chose to stand trial rather than be perceived as fleeing. He was sentenced in January 1951 to six years at hard labor, on charges that he wrote a letter that helped

rebels arrest a government commissioner, and that he gave medical help to the Karen rebels. The sentence was later reduced to six months, and in November 1951 the verdict was overturned by Burma's three-man Supreme Court and he was declared not guilty. He suffered dysentery and malaria in part from his time in jail.Sea of troubles
''

''. January 29, 1951. Retrieved February 1, 2015.Final verdict
''

''. November 19, 1951. Retrieved February 1, 2015. Seagrave wrote six books: ''Waste Basket Surgery'', 1930; ''Tales of a Waste Basket Surgeon'', 1939/1942; ''Burma Surgeon'', 1943; ''Adventure in Burma told in pictures'', 1944; ''Burma Surgeon Returns'', 1946; and ''My Hospital in the Hills'', 1955; and he co-authored ''The life of a Burma Surgeon'' with Chester Bowles, 1961. Gordon Seagrave died at his hospital at Namhkam, Burma on 28 March 1965."Dr. Seagrave Dies of a Heart Illness", ''Dallas Morning News'', 29 March 1965

References

External links

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

Archives, 1957 film
LIFE 11 Jan 1963
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seagrave, Gordon Baptist missionaries from the United States 1897 births 1965 deaths Burmese surgeons People from Yangon Baptist missionaries in Myanmar American expatriates in Myanmar 20th-century surgeons 20th-century Baptists