No Surrender: a Story of Angola

by James Watson

No Surrender is the true story of an American WWII soldier who escaped a Nazi POW train and fought in the French Resistance, rivetingly told by the man himself. A paratrooper in the 101st Airborne, James Sheeran was just a kid when he floated into Normandy-part of the historic invasion that brought more than a hundred thousand Allied soldiers into Nazi-occupied France. He survived D-Day only to be captured by German forces. Barefoot, starved, and sleep-deprived, he was forced on a marathon march, exposed to fire from American fighter planes, and herded onto a train to Germany. But, using his jump knife, he carved his way out of the boxcar and leaped into the countryside. Stumbling into a French village, he found his way with the aid of the underground network, and fought alongside a guerrilla faction of the French Resistance. This gripping account of war-torn Europe is, ultimately, a story about humanity's capacity for self-sacrifice and remarkable endurance. Here Sheeran shares not only the details of his extraordinary wartime experience, but the private thoughts that guided him in his darkest moments. It is an unforgettable memoir that will speak to anyone who has faced adversity and refused to admit defeat.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

For Nobel Laureate and co discoverer of DNA, see James D. Watson

James [1 space] Watson – Radical
James [2 spaces] Watson – Photographer (page: James Watson)
James [3 spaces] Watson – Novelist (page: James Watson)
James [4 spaces] Watson – War (page: James Watson)
James [5 spaces] Watson – Vietnam (page: James Watson)
James [6 spaces] Watson – Novelist (page: James Watson)
James [7 spaces] Watson – Marketing
James [8 spaces] Watson – Dogs (page: James Watson)
James [9 spaces] Watson – Scottish poet (page: James Watson)
James [10 spaces] Watson – Stamps (page: James Watson)
James [11 spaces] Watson – Media (page: James Watson)
James [12 spaces] Watson – Architecture
James [13 spaces] Watson – Romance (page: James Watson)
James [17 spaces] Watson – Fantasy novels (page: James Watson)

In 1799, James Watson, who became a much-imprisoned freethought publisher, was born in Yorkshire. As a young worker in Leeds, he joined a radical reading club and became a freethinker. At age 23, Watson moved to London to assist publisher Richard Carlile at his shop, taking over when Carlile was imprisoned in 1822. Carlile had expressly opened the shop to publish and sell periodicals that would challenge "Six Acts," a suppressive law passed in 1819. Watson was arrested in 1823 for selling Elihu Palmer's Principles of Nature, and was sentenced to a year at Coldbath Fields prison for blasphemy. He took advantage of his confinement to read rationalist writers. Released in April 1824, he learned the skills of the printing trade directly from Carlile, and also worked for another radical publisher, Julian Hibbert. In 1827, Watson joined the Owenites (see Robert Owen), and became an agent for Owen' Cooperative Trading Association. In 1830, Watson opened his own publishing house, specializing in hand printed and bound volume-classics by freethinkers such as Thomas Paine, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, selling for one shilling each. In 1831, the irreverent publisher organized a feast to counter a government-ordered fast. In 1832, he began publishing Working Man's Friend, an unstamped newspaper (stamp laws had a chilling effect on publishers of newspapers and pamphlets), for which he was sent to prison for 6 months in 1833. For selling Poor Man's Guardian, Watson was imprisoned 6 months in 1834-35. In the 1840s, Watson campaigned against blasphemy laws, and, with George Holyoake, published the anti-Christian journal, The Reasoner. D. 1874.

An untaxed and absolutely free press became his main object in later years. He died at Burns College, Hamilton Road, Lower Norwood, on 29 November 1874, and was buried in Norwood cemetery. A grey granite obelisk erected by friends commemorated his "brave efforts to secure the rights of free speech". A photographic portrait was in the Memoir by William James Linton.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wa...