About the author: Calvin G. Jackson, M.D. (1904–1995). Served in General Hospital No. 2, Bataan. Thereafter, a P.O.W. in the Philippines and Japan.
About the diary: Jackson’s alma mater, Ohio Northern University, published the diary in 1992. According to an article in United Press International,
The decision to print the diary was made in 1989. Jackson said his wife, Goerdis, complained that she could not read the tiny, cramped writing. Jackson himself could barely read what he wrote.
Wearing glasses and holding a magnifying glass, he began reading the diary to his wife, who wrote it down longhand until she became tired. The task took two to three months of daily effort…
When it came time to find a printer, his friend, Ohio Northern University President DeBow Freed, offered to print the univeristy’s press in Ada. The first printing of 560 books in March quickly sold out.
Jackson said he bought a small five-year diary on a whim in Macon, Ga., where he was sent for an Army physical. It begins Feb. 20, 1941, shortly after he was called up to service.
The final entry is dated Oct. 3, 1945, after his group of prisoners was liberated in Japan and sent back to San Francisco.
Five decades have passed since Dr. Calvin Jackson trudged…