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A DOCTOR’S SWORD

A Doctor's Sword Aidan in uniform with hat Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Aidan in uniform with hat
A Doctor's Sword Aidan at RAF Honington circa 1941 Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Aidan at RAF Honington circa 1941
A Doctor's Sword 2nd Lieutenant Isao Kusuno Image Name: A Doctor's Sword 2nd Lieutenant Isao Kusuno
A Doctor's Sword The military sword of 2nd Lieutenant Isao Kusuno Image Name: A Doctor's Sword The military sword of 2nd Lieutenant Isao Kusuno
A Doctor's Sword Medals left to right; OBE, George Medal, 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-45, Knight's Cross of the Order of St. Sylvester Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Medals left to right; OBE, George Medal, 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-45, Knight's Cross of the Order of St. Sylvester
A Doctor's Sword Animation still - Dunkirk Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Animation still - Dunkirk
A Doctor's Sword Aidan MacCarthy, older with Samurai Sword Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Aidan MacCarthy, older with Samurai Sword
A Doctor's Sword Aidan MacCarthy POW camp Keisen, seated, third from left Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Aidan MacCarthy POW camp Keisen, seated, third from left
A Doctor's Sword Aidan in uniform Image Name: A Doctor's Sword Aidan in uniform

 

A Doctor’s Sword on RTÉ One on Thursday August 25th at 22.10 

In 1945 young Irish doctor from west Cork, survived the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki and was gifted a Samurai sword for the lives he saved. 70 years later his family searches for the origin of their father’s sword.

A Doctor’s Sword tells the incredible story of how Aidan MacCarthy, a young doctor from a small fishing village on the west of Ireland survived some of the most harrowing episodes of World War II.

Aidan’s experiences cast a long shadow over the MacCarthy family throughout his life and almost 20 years after his death his daughter embarks on a journey to Japan to discover the truth behind the origin of the sword. This is a story of survival, forgiveness and humanity of the highest level.

 

Key Points

• The critically-acclaimed documentary had an extended run in Irish cinemas in Autumn 2105 and was nominated for an IFTA award in April 2016. It will be released in UK cinemas in Autumn 2016.

• MacCarthy was awarded the George Medal, the highest award for bravery for non- combat personnel in the British armed forces, when he rescued the crew of a bomber that crash-landed at an RAF base in England in 1941.

• MacCarthy spent the final year of the Second World War working as a slave for the Mitsubishi Corporation.

• The Mitsubishi Steel & Arms Works, the Nagasaki factory where MacCarthy was imprisoned and where he sought refuge from the atomic bomb, was the target of the bomb on 9 August 1945.

• MacCarthy graduated in medicine from University College Cork in 1938 and put his medical training to good use in the camp while treating his fellow prisoners, including making a protein-rich maggot soup for those who were ill, smuggling yeast in balls of rice to other camps and treating eye infections with shaving cream.

• He was the first non-Japanese doctor to assist civilians in the aftermath of the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki.

• On 15 August 1945, MacCarthy was gifted an ancestral Japanese sword by his Japanese camp commandant, whose life he saved from POWs intent on revenge.

• He is one of the few people who survived the two events which bookend the Second World War – Dunkirk and Nagasaki.

• MacCarthy’s life was saved by a rat when the Japanese ship on which he was being transported to Nagasaki was sunk by an American submarine. Out of the 1,000 POWs on the ship, just 35 survived.

• Before the war, Aidan weighed 14 stone. When he returned home at the end of the war, his body weight had halved to just 7 stone.

• A new medical facility at RAF Honington where Aidan served during the war will be named in Aidan’s honour – the ceremony will be in February 2017.

 

Directed by Gary Lennon | Produced by Bob Jackson | Edited by Ariadna Fatjó-

Villas and Breege Rowley | Animation by Ronan Coyle | Director of Photography –

Michael Kelly | Soundtrack composed by Erik Gullikson | Gambit Pictures Ltd