An “engrossing” memoir of a Royal Air Force doctor’s World War II experiences, from surviving Dunkirk to witnessing Nagasaki (The Irish Times). As an RAF medical officer, Aidan MacCarthy served in France, survived Dunkirk, and was interned by the Japanese in Java, where his ingenuity helped his fellow prisoners through awful conditions. While en route to Japan in 1944, his ship was torpedoed, sending him into the Pacific. Miraculously, MacCarthy was rescued by a whaling boat—only to be re-interned in Japan. Ironically, it was the dropping of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki that saved his life, though it also meant being an eyewitness to the horror and devastation it caused. Long out of print, this remarkable war memoir was rediscovered during a journey through Ireland by Pete McCarthy, author of McCarthy’s Bar, who describes it as “jaw-dropping.” “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.” —Publishers Weekly “A gripping read.” —Evening Echo

One of the last great stories to emerge from World War II, this is an account of the horrors of battle, imprisonment and survival as seen through the eyes of a young doctor. Eminent surgeon Rowley Richards was a young doctor and officer in the army reserve when war broke out. He embarked for Singapore in 1941, a year before the Allies capitulated to invading Japanese forces. Richards became a POW and, as a medical officer, found himself tending to other prisoners in shocking conditions. In a diary, he recorded the horrors he witnessed as well as the courage, humour and mateship of his fellow prisoners. As the Allies advanced, he buried his writings in a bottle in a soldier's grave and made a map of the site which, remarkably, stayed intact during his transfer and imprisonment in Japan. Dr Rowley Richards' memoir begins with his carefree childhood in Australia, covers time spent in conditions which could - and did - prove fatal to so many others, and describes a vigorous and busy post-war career as a doctor. An engagingly personal story, it's also a reflection on humanity and on the will to survive.

'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 officer 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.

"It was half past five in the morning as I lurched through the front door of the B&B. Mrs. O'Sullivan appeared just in time to see me pause to admire the luminous Virgin holy water stand with integral night-light, and knock it off the wall. Politely declining the six rounds of ham sandwiches on the tray she was holding, I edged gingerly along the hallway to the wrong bedroom door and opened it." Despite the many exotic places Peter McCarthy has visited, he finds that nowhere else can match the particular magic of Ireland, his mother's homeland. In McCarthy's Bar, his journey begins in Cork and continues along the west coast to Donegal in the north. Traveling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, "never pass a bar that has your name on it," he encounters McCarthy's bars up and down the land, meeting fascinating people before pleading to be let out at four o'clock in the morning. Through adventures with English hippies who have colonized a desolate mountain; roots-seeking, buffet-devouring American tourists; priests for whom the word "father" has a loaded meaning; enthusiastic Germans who "here since many years holidays are making;" and his fellow barefoot pilgrims on an island called Purgatory, Peter pursues the secrets of Ireland's global popularity and his own confused Irish-Anglo identity. Written by someone who is at once an insider and an outsider, McCarthy's Bar is a wonderfully funny and affectionate portrait of a rapidly changing country.

Doctors at War is a candid account of a trauma surgical team based, for a tour of duty, at a field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan. Mark de Rond tells of the highs and lows of surgical life in hard-hitting detail, bringing to life a morally ambiguous world in which good people face impossible choices and in which routines designed to normalize experience have the unintended effect of highlighting war's absurdity. With stories that are at once comical and tragic, de Rond captures the surreal experience of being a doctor at war. He lifts the cover on a world rarely ever seen, let alone written about, and provides a poignant counterpoint to the archetypical, adrenaline-packed, macho tale of what it is like to go to war.Here the crude and visceral coexist with the tender and affectionate. The author tells of well-meaning soldiers at hospital reception, there to deliver a pair of legs in the belief that these can be reattached to their comrade, now in mid-surgery; of midsummer Christmas parties and pancake breakfasts and late-night sauna sessions; of interpersonal rivalries and banter; of caring too little or too much; of tenderness and compassion fatigue; of hell and redemption; of heroism and of playing God. While many good firsthand accounts of war by frontline soldiers exist, this is one of the first books ever to bring to life the experience of the surgical teams tasked with mending what war destroys.

In World War I, 104 African American doctors joined the United States Army to care for the 40,000 men of the 92nd and 93rd Divisions, the Army's only black combat units. The infantry regiments of the 93rd arrived first and were turned over to the French to fill gaps in their decimated lines. The 92nd Division came later and fought alongside other American units. Some of those doctors rose to prominence; others died young or later succumbed to the economic and social challenges of the times. Beginning with their assignment to the Medical Officers Training Camp (Colored)--the only one in U.S. history--this book covers the early years, education and war experiences of these physicians, as well as their careers in the black communities of early 20th century America.

#1 International Bestseller: A frontline trauma surgeon tells his “riveting” true story of operating in the world’s most dangerous war zones (The Times). For more than twenty-five years, surgeon David Nott has volunteered in some of the world’s most perilous conflict zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993 to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out lifesaving operations in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major metropolitan hospital. He is now widely acknowledged as the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. War Doctor is his extraordinary story, encompassing his surgeries in nearly every major conflict zone since the end of the Cold War, as well as his struggles to return to a “normal” life and routine after each trip. Culminating in his recent trips to war-torn Syria—and the untold story of his efforts to help secure a humanitarian corridor out of besieged Aleppo to evacuate some 50,000 people—War Doctor is a heart-stopping and moving blend of medical memoir, personal journey, and nonfiction thriller that provides unforgettable, at times raw, insight into the human toll of war. “Superb . . . You are constantly amazed that men such as Nott can witness the extraordinary cruelties of the human race, so many and so foul, yet keep going.” —Sunday Times “Gripping and fascinating medical stories.” —Kirkus Reviews

In their efforts to utilize their medical skills and training in the service of their country, women physicians fought not one but two male-dominated professional hierarchies: the medical and the military establishments. In the process, they also contended with powerful social pressures and constraints. Throughout Women Doctors in War, the authors focus on the medical careers, aspirations, and struggles of individual women, using personal stories to illustrate the unique professional and personal challenges female military physicians have faced. Military and medical historians and scholars in women’s studies will discover a wealth of new information in Women Doctors in War.

Doctors played a bigger role in the First World War than in any other previous conflict. This reflected not only the War's unprecedented scale but a growing recognition of the need for proper medical cover. The RAMC had to be expanded to meet the needs of Britain's citizen army. As a result by 1918 some 13,000 doctors were on active service over half the nation's doctors.Strangely, historians have largely neglected the work of doctors during the War. Doctors in the Great War brings to light the thoughts and motivations of doctors who served in 1914-1918, by drawing on a wealth of personal experience documentation, as well as official military sources and the medical press. The author examines the impact of the War upon the medical profession and the Army. He looks at the contribution of medical students, and the extent to which new professional opportunities became available to women doctors.An insight into the breadth of responsibilities undertaken by Medical Officers is given through analysis of the work of various medical units on the Western Front, demonstrating the important role played by doctors in the maintenance of the Army's physical and mental well-being. The differences between civilian and military medicine are discussed with a consideration of the arrangements for the training of doctors, and an assessment of the difficulties faced by doctors in adapting to military priorities and dealing with new challenges such as gas poisoning, infected wounds and shell shock.Doctors in the Great War will undoubtedly appeal to general readers, students and specialists in the history of war and society, as well as to those with an interest in the medical profession.As featured in the Derby Telegraph, Dover Express and Kent & Sussex Courier

On the night of April 4th, 2004, 1st Marine Expeditionary Forces launch a major assault on the city of Fallujah. U.S. Navy Lieutenant Donnelly Wilkes’s battalion leads the assault into Fallujah as he is positioned with Navy Corpsmen and Marines at the tactical highway intersection called “The Cloverleaf.” Rarely have U.S. military physicians been so close to combat in a major conflict as they were in the chaotic, embattled streets of Fallujah—Code Red Fallujah will take you there. Sharing the harrowing entries from his field diary, Wilkes becomes the first-ever Navy physician to recount the sights and sounds of one of the most violent events of the entire Iraq War. In heart-pounding detail, he divulges his struggles to save wounded warriors amidst rockets landing close enough to knock him off his feet. When Wilkes—fresh out of medical school—is suddenly thrust into this war zone, his skills, his faith, and his ability to endure are all put to the test. Code Red Fallujah is the firsthand narrative of Wilkes’s role in the Battle of Fallujah, scintillating combat trauma, and the spiritual challenges that pierced his journey.