The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
IT Tralee’s Bob Jackson puts pen to paper to tell incredible story of heroic WWII doctor
A TRALEE lecturer, who last year tasted national success with the release of his documentary entitled A Doctors Sword, is in the news again after he celebrated the launch of his new book which he feels will more fully tell the complete story of Cork’s Dr Aidan McCarthy.
Bob Jackson, who lectures in creative media in the IT Tralee, celebrated the launch of his first ever book, again entitled A Doctors Sword, in O’Mahony’s bookstore in Tralee last Wednesday night and says that he couldn’t have been happier with how the evening went.
“It went great; we all had a fantastic chat. There were people there who had already read the book and they just came again on the evening to talk to me about it” said Bob, talking to The Kerryman on Thursday.
The book, over a year in writing, tells the tale of Dr Aidan McCarthy, a doctor who served during WWII and who lived as prisoner of war (POW) in Japan for three brutal years before he was released after surviving the dropping of the Atomic Bomb in Nagasaki in August of 1945.
“To have the opportunity to tell the full amazing story of this man’s life, with all the background details that you simply couldn’t tell through film, it’s amazing, it’s one of the best stories that I’ve ever heard,”
“I mean, this is a man whose life was saved by the atomic bomb being dropped, he and the rest of the prisoners were being asked to dig a mass grave and they were all to be killed if the Americans ever invaded Japan; the bomb being dropped and Japan’s surrender, saved his life.”
“I did not set out to write a book, my intention was that Collins Press would reprint Aidan McCarthy’s original memoir and that they could use all the documents that we discovered while making the documentary,”
“I got a call back and they said to me that this was a new story that needed to be told and they asked if I would be interested in writing it and obviously, I said yes!”
Bob says that his aim with the book is to try and do as much justice as possible to the doctors story; something that he feels is much easier to do with a book rather than his documentary.
“His original book is only 158 pages long and for what he went through in his life, it’s written very modestly; the atomic bomb being dropped in Nagasaki, his description of this huge event in history that he was a first –hand witness to, it’s only given about four pages in his book,”
“A book on the other hand, can be read and read again; this provides the opportunity to go into greater detail, include references and details on historical context which, hopefully, present the reader with the complete story,” he finished.
A Doctors Sword by Bob Jackson is available in all good book stores around Kerry and Cork, with retail price set at just €23.