A Doctor's Sword
How an Irish Doctor Survived War, Captivity and the Atomic Bomb
Published on 1. August 2016
321 pages
978-1-84889-589-8 (ISBN)
Description
`There followed a blue flash accompanied by a ver y bright magnesium-type flare ... Then came a frighteningly loud but rather flat explosion, which was followed by a blast of hot air ... All this was followed by eerie silence.' This was Cork doctor Aidan MacCarthy's description of the atomic bomb explosion above Nagasaki in August 1945, just over a mile from where he was trembling in a makeshift bomb shelter in the Mitsubishi POW camp. At the end of the war, a Japanese o?cer did the unthinkable: he surrendered his samurai sword to MacCarthy, his enemy and former prisoner. This is the astonishing story of the wartime adventures of Dr Aidan MacCarthy, who survived the evacuation at Dunkirk, burning planes, sinking ships, jungle warfare and appalling privation as a Japanese prisoner of war. It is a story of survival, forgiveness and humanity at its most admirable.
Reviews / Votes
Fascinating, engrossing, educational read. * Irish Examiner * Powerful, powerful read. * Patricia Messenger Show, C103 * Engrossing. * Firecall magazine * Gripping stuff. -- Cahir O'Doherty * Irish Voice * Exemplary biography ... to be filed under the 'couldn't make it up' category. * Irish Independent *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
Ireland
Publishing group
Gill
File size
13,00 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-84889-589-8 (9781848895898)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
BOB JACKSON lectures in Creative Media at the Institute of Technology, Tralee. He produced the feature documentary A Doctor's Sword, which was released in Irish cinemas in 2015 and was nominated for an IFTA award in 2016. Bob also works in music production, and lives in Cork city.
Content
Prologue 1. Home 2. War in Europe 3. Bomber Command 4. War in the East 5. The Shadow of the Rising Sun 6. Voyage to Hell 7. An Unlikely Saviour 8. Slavery in Nagasaki 1329. Final Reserves 10. 'The End of the World' 11. Liberation 12. Post-War Life Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Bibliography Index
