The Jack Ford The Newfoundlander in Nagasaki is an amazing story of endurance, courage and survival. In 1940, Jack Ford was an employee of the Newfoundland Railway in a remote settlement of Newfoundland. Having volunteered for service in World War II at the age of twenty-one, Ford encountered the realities of war when the troop ship he was traveling on to England was attacked several times by German U-boats. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, Jack Ford was there - in a prisoner of war camp. In this riveting story, he shares his memories of that horrific time in his life, his rescue and his long-awaited journey home.
Jack Fitzgerald was born and educated in St. John's, Newfoundland. During his career he has been a journalist, a feature writer and political columnist with the St. John's Daily News; a reporter and public affairs writer with CJON and VOCM News Services; editor of the Newfoundland Herald and the Newfoundland Chronicle. During the last years of the Smallwood administration he was assistant director of Public Relations with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has also worked as Assistance Officer with the Department of Social Services. Jack Fitzgerald also hosted a regular radio program featuring off-beat Newfoundland stories on radio station VOFM.
As well as writing about unusual happenings relating to Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders, Fitzgerald has also authored a series of Newfoundland crime and punishment stories as well as Newfoundland historical publications.
Totally gripping!! I was absorbed until the very end. There's so much more of World War Two history than the Nagasaki atomic blast included here,though the description of the blast alone was worth the read. Jack Ford should be a household name in ,at the very least, Newfoundland . This should be required reading in high school or in university!!
Just wow!!!! My initial interest was sparked for this book due to Mr. Ford being from the area of NL that I grew up and not necessarily because of WW2. However, I think it should be a required reading for not only every high school student in NL but for every Canadian student. It was so we'll written and Mr Ford's quotes were intertwined seamlessly. Also the pertinant pictures were place at the end of each chapter as opposed to all of them placed in the center of the book. Probably one of the fastest books I've read.