After the Olympics, in 1925 he returned to China (where he had been born to Scottish missionary parents in 1902) to serve as a missionary teacher. Aside from two furloughs in Scotland, he remained in China until his death in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945.
On one occasion he was asked if he ever regretted his decision to leave behind the fame and glory of athletics. Liddell responded, “It’s natural for a chap to think over all that sometimes, but I’m glad I’m at the work I’m engaged in now. A fellow’s life counts for far more at this than the other.”
In 1991 the University of Edinburgh erected a memorial headstone, made from Isle of Man granite and carved by a mason in Tobermory, at the former camp site in Weifang. The simple inscription came from Isaiah 40:31: “They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary.”
"...we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ." --Eric Liddell
"...we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ." --Eric Liddell
