From brutal legionario to lover of Christ

When Mark Gee went AWOL from the Spanish Foreign Legion, he was sent to their notorious penal work section as a punishment. There, a dramatic encounter with an effigy of Jesus turned his life around 

I didn’t have the best start in life. My father was a violent alcoholic and it affected me profoundly. I was being brought home by the police when I was four or five years old for throwing rocks at cars and shoplifting. I was pretty messed up. 

My mother remarried and I didn’t get along with my stepfather. I made his life a misery and was constantly in trouble. At 13, I won a scholarship to a public school. I grafted hard because it meant I could leave home. Trinity House Navigation School trained boys for a career in the merchant navy. It was very disciplined and I got expelled, but not before I’d landed myself a job. I joined my first ship in Pakistan when I was 16.