Item Condition: Used; Very Good
……WHERE ARE ALL THE MADMEN
INTRODUCTION
In 1950, after I had said goodbye to the army to settle down in civvy
street, I had time to consider if what I had experienced in my so far short
existence had really been worth while. I was thirty years of age and I felt
that I had already used up more than fifty years, having assisted in the
disposal of hundreds of the casualties of war, including many friends and
comrades. Also witnessing the ugly head of jealousy and its resultant
carnage, I had, similar to my friends and comrades, reached the bottom of
the barrel of despair, my aim now being to tell the world about the Japancse
and their vile insidious methods of eruelty. It was imperative that I get my
imperceptible message across to the families of those men who in ny
opinion had been betrayed by their own government into giving away their
lives, on the whim of a jumped up picayune member of parliament.
Unfortunately I had no means by which to do this. Having left school
when I was fourteen years old and apart from being able to count up to
twenty without having to resort to taking my shoes off, and being able to
read such books as Treasure Island, I was considered, and I also considered
myself thick, many times trying to put pen to paper and each time realising
more than ever that I was never going to be able to fulfil this ambition.
Finally I obtained a second hand typewriter, and although it had seen better
days, it gave me a new lease of purpose. So I settled down and compelled
myself every day to type at least one page. Using just two fingers and with
no knowledge at all about using the noisy machine. I struggled for more than
a year to produce a rough draft of "One God Too Many Devils". I began
hawking it around to the various newspaper editors and reporters, who in the
main although being sympathetic could never find the time to even look at
the synopsis. So my manuscript, such as it was, was consigned to an old set
of drawers in the attic, and there it remained for several years while I
attempted to get on with my life and try to get rid of the ghosts of the past.
No matter how hard I tried, the faces and the memories of those fine young
men continued to reappear in my minds eye and more than that, in my ……