Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris

by Hal Vaughan

Maine-born Dr. Sumner “Jack” Jackson joined the British Army as a volunteer physician during World War I. After the Battle of the Somme, he married a beautiful French Red Cross nurse. When the war was over, Jackson joined the staff of the American Hospital in Paris, where he quickly became a favorite physician of such Lost Generation figures as Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

During World War II, Jackson, his wife, and their teenage son joined the French Resistance. They hid and treated wounded Allied flyers and Resistance fighters, used the hospital as a cover for Resistance activities, photographed the German submarine base at Saint-Nazaire, and helped smuggle plans for the V-1 rocket to England. Just before the Americans liberated Paris, however, the family was betrayed to the Gestapo and deported to German concentration camps. The day before the war ended, tragedy struck.

Doctor to the Resistance is based on recently declassified records of the French Resistance, the National Archives, family letters and diaries, and the author’s interviews with Dr. Jackson’s son. Hal Vaughan recounts the Jacksons’ remarkable true story for the first time. It will captivate history buffs, World War II aficionados, and anyone interested in the Paris of that fascinating era.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, World War II

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Hal Vaughan has been a newsman, foreign correspondent, and documentary film producer working in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia since 1957. He served in the U.S. military in World War II and Korea and has held various posts as a U.S. Foreign Service officer. Vaughan is the author of "Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris" and "FDR’s 12 Apostles: The Spies Who Paved the Way for the Invasion of North Africa." He lives in Paris.

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure when I picked this up if it was the same subject as Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris that I read but I'm still glad I read this. It has a lot of great info and the author visited with Philip Jackson which is invaluable for this tale. The Jacksons were insanely heroic. They seemed to be nonchalant about it but how could that be? Seems impossible to be surrounded by the SS and threat of death. It goes into tangents but they are all relevant to the story. The Lubeck bay harbor massacre by the SS shows exactly how horrible they were. There was no reason for that at all, just another story of their cruelty. It is a dense 168 pages. The appendix is kind of interesting as in it was first time translated and shared.

[Marnie Gellhorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

More people should read and know this book, and the story of Dr. Jackson. It saddens me to think that the Jackson family story will be forgotten. Hollywood should adapt this into a movie with some A list actors as a reminder of the innate goodness and self-sacrifice that exists in some extraordinary individuals.
The part that has stayed at the forefront of my mind after reading this book several years ago - is that to end, the very end - Dr. Jackson was a true hero, and of how few people have ever heard of him and his family's sacrifice.

[Sharon McNeil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult read -- the chapters on the concentration camps. But, I needed the information.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave the book three stars because both the title and the subtitle makes it seem as if the entire story is about the American surgeon and his family. It's not. In fact, they're a very small part. There's a lot of detail about the Occupation of Paris by the Germans (it's very thorough)and the French Resistance. The most startling information was reading about the horrific massacre at Lubeck Bay. The RAF (Royal Air Force)bombed SS prison ships not paying attention to the warnings from the International Red Cross that the ships were holding thousands of concentration camp survivors. What happened was considered one of the most devastating maritime disasters in history. I never heard of this incident before in all of the books that I have read about the Holocaust.
But, what the family did selflessly to save people from the brutal Nazis was admirable, even though I wish there had been more information about them.

[Wendy Percival · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written and compelling story of Dr Sumner Jackson, who ran the American Hospital in Paris during WW2. The sense of anxiety at living in occupied France comes across well, as we learn how Jackson, his wife Torquette and even their teenage son Phillipe, play their part in the French Resistance, as well as assisting American and British servicemen, shot down over France, in escaping back to England.
A sad and moving story, with witness accounts of the horrors of Nazi labour camps, imprisonment and torture, including the survivors' recollections of the massacre at Lubeck, in May 1944, Doctor to the Resistance' is informative and shocking in equal measure.

[Sandra D · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a great story -- several great stories, in fact -- condensed into only 168 pages of text, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Also, the writing is a bit overwrought.

The carnage at Lubeck Bay in May 1945 was the most amazing part of the book; I can't believe I'd never heard of it before.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of the world is made up of individuals makin decisions which not only effet themselves but the world around them.

[Sean Martin]

good book