Jack D. Harrison

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Jack Harrison, an established Poet/Author, has always had an interest in the two World Wars for various reasons, but he also grew up during the years of the Cold War as well as the Space Race. He was a Railway Signalman between 1978-88 until back injuries forced him to retire early. He covered nearly all of the Signal Boxes and Crossings on the Blackpool North and South lines, and his beloved Wyre Branch to Fleetwood.

Then as a survivor of a Drink-Drive collision during 1993, he had a varied background, which included time as a local Councillor and Case Worker for the Royal British Legion, ‘Whistles Of War and Peace’ is a change from his usual work with Poetry. This new Novel draws partly on the memories of his Grandads; one who served on the Somme, whilst the other served on the cross-Channel boats carrying Dispatches and Troops to and from the Western Front.

Jack’s new book ‘Whistles of War and Peace’ is a Novel which covers many issues involved with the Great War, and seeks to ensure that certain facts and sacrifices are never forgotten, as we pass the Centenary of the Great War’s Armistice. But it can also serve to remember the sacrifices and traumas of men, women and yes, children too, in other conflicts around the World. Jack believes that “People carry those inner scars of past experiences, and even years after the events, they still affect lives. Though they can also be used to help to ‘move on. That there can be hope for the future”.

Jack also hopes to tell something of those who were unarmed, yet still served. The long chain of support that brought the injured and dying from battlefields to the safety of a Hospital bed, back in ‘Blighty’. The Military Ambulance, Bearers, Nurses Surgeons, Orderlies, Railway Staff, Seamen; and the Chaplains who gave comfort along that chain – again during other conflicts, since 1914-18.

Whether Jack succeeds in his task through this Novel and his other work, only the Readers and perhaps Time can say.