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A Doctor's War

Name: A Doctor's War
Author: Aidan MacCarthy
ISBN: 9781846172908

by Aidan MacCarthy

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Overview

"Researching McCarthy's Bar Pete McCarthy entered MacCarthy's Bar in Castletownbere, west Cork. During his visit Adrienne MacCarthy gave him a copy of A Doctor's War, her father's wartime memoir. The next night Pete found it 'unputdownable' and told her it was eminently worthy of republication." As an RAF medical officer, Aidan had served in France, survived Dunkirk, and was plunged into adventures in the Japanese-American arena comparable with those of famous war heroes. Interned by the Japanese in Java, Dr. MacCarthy helped his fellow prisoners with incredible ingenuity in appalling conditions. In 1944, en route to the Japanese mainland, his ship was torpedoed but in Japanese whaling boat picked him up and he was re-interned in Japan. While in Nagasaki his life was literally saved by the dropping of the atom bomb and he was an eyewitness to the horror and devastation it caused. Finally, he cruised home on board the Queen Mary.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An Irish doctor who served in Britain's Royal Air Force, MacCarthy's memoir concentrates on his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. Captured in the Dutch East Indies early in 1942, he spent time in several local POW camps where conditions for Europeans and Americans were much worse than in German POW camps. Often the only doctor in his area, he treatedand experienced firsthandthe many deadly ailments that were caused by poor diet, the hostile climate and regular beatings from guards. In 1944, MacCarthy was transferred to Japan (on the way his ship was sunk, and he drifted at sea for several days), only to be put to work in factories in Nagasaki. He survived the atomic bomb explosion by getting into a shelterprisoners who waited above ground were vaporized. Written in a straightforward, matter-of-fact tone, this book is marked by the author's ability to keep cool under adversity and by his admirable sense of humor and irony. A wonderful, if chilling work. (August)