Weary: The Life of Sir Edward Dunlop by Sue Ebury

In a wartime nightmare of starvation, disease, brutality and death, Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's courage and compassion made him an Australian legend.

During more than three years as a surgeon in the notorious work camps and vast hospital camps along the Burma-Thailand railway, he worked tirelessly to save lives and get men home to their families. He confronted his captors fearlessly; three times he was tortured and taken out to be executed, only to be reprieved at the last moment.

Fellow prisoners regarded him as 'a symbol of hope and a rock'.

This new, illustrated biography of Weary includes over 150 images and never-before-published material about his betrayal by his captors. (Trove)

Australians proclaimed Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop a national hero, much honoured and greatly loved, when he died in July 1993. A brilliant student and sportsman, qualifying as a pharmacist and surgeon and representing Australia in rugby, Weary turned his back on a surgical career and volunteered immediately when war broke out in 1939.He joined the 2nd AIF and served in Palestine, Greece, Crete, Tobruk and Egypt before sailing to Java with his medical unit in 1942. Captured by the Japanese, he spent more than three years as a prisoner-of-war in Java and on the notorious Burma-Thailand 'Death Railway'. His care for men under his command and his defiance of his captors in the face of brutality, starvation and death made him a legend in his lifetime.Sue Ebury's meticulously researched biography, written with Sir Edward's total cooperation, gives a rare view of a reticent man who lived by old-fashioned values, yet retained a wild streak that gave fire to his character and lifted him above his fellows. (back cover)