Hello, and welcome to The Gale Hill Radio Hour.

I'm your host Kate Jones, here with a follow up to my January 2022 conversation with Jack Torry. He's the author of "The Last One Out," the acclaimed biography chronically the life of Yates McDaniel, a daring reporter in World War II.

Since that interview, which took place shortly after the book was published, Jack has received many kudos and five-star reviews for his excellent storytelling and thorough reporting.

Here's what one reviewer wrote: "A fascinating story about an understudied but important historical figure."

Another said, "World War II has been over for nearly 80 years, but the horrors and hard-earned triumphs of the allies' Pacific campaign come alive in Jack's superb account."

That's a mere sampling of what has been written about Jack's book, so I think his interview is well worth hearing again. The following is an excerpt in which he talks about McDaniel, a once world-famous work correspondent who died in relative obscurity.

Excerpt
"Jack:
On the memorial to the Nanking Massacre, in what is now known as Nanjing, they quote one of Yates' stories, which ends with: "My last memories of Nanking are dead Chinese, dead Chinese, dead Chinese."

Kate:
Oh, my gosh, what a sentence that is.

Jack:
He was a great writer. I mean, when he was in Singapore, he was the last Western reporter to leave. And, you know, there he is, sitting there in his hotel room in Singapore. He's got a British censor next to him who's having a breakfast of biscuits and brandy. And he's got another PR guy next to him, saying, "Come on, we've got to get going. We've got to get going."

And Yates writes what became known as his Goodbye to Singapore story. And the opening line is "The sky over Singapore is black with a smoke of a dozen huge fires as I write my last message from this once beautiful, prosperous and peaceful city."

Kate:
Oh, that's quite beautiful. And it does sum it all up, doesn't it?

Jack:
It does. It's a great story. And every now and again, it pops up. Robert Weintraub who used to be at The New York Times, wrote a book about a British officer who escaped from Singapore and was in large part saved by his dog, whose name was Judy.

The book is "No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog, and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII." It's a really good book. I would recommend it highly. But in there, he mentions Yates, who was at that time in Singapore. And he quotes from the Goodbye to Singapore story, which was printed all over the world in British, American, Australian papers.

Yates was like this international star at that time. And he was on his escape from Singapore in this rickety old Yangtze River steamer. The boat was sunk by the Japanese, and about 132 survivors got to a deserted island, and they waited for a rescue ship and that's where the cover photo comes from. Yates sitting on a fallen log, taking his notes. It's just an incredible story, and like I said, he should not have survived."

Closing remarks
Hope you enjoyed this segment of Jack Torry's interview. To hear the interview in its entirety, please go to episode 14 of The Gale Hill Radio Hour.

This is Kate Jones. Until next time, thanks for joining us. Please remember to subscribe, like, and share. It's greatly appreciated. Thank you.