Behold the Dark Gray Man: Triumphs and Trauma: The Controversial Life of Sholto Douglas

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Katharine Campbells father Sholto Douglas was the hero of her childhood, an unconventional senior commander in the Royal Air Force described as a gloriously contentious character. Following childhood abandonment and poverty, Sholto rose through the ranks of the fledgling RAF in the First World War before taking on a crucial role in the Second as head of Fighter Command and going on to serve as Military Governor in Germany in the wars devastating aftermath.

But when Katharine was five years old, he began to be stolen away by strange night-time wanderings and daytime distress including vivid flashbacks to his time signing death warrants in post-war Germany. The doctors called it dementia, but decades later, Katharine started researching her fathers story and realised that she had observed the undiagnosed consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD is a hot topic today. Were aware of the front-line soldier suffering from shell-shock but what about the senior officer giving the orders, who may be carrying hidden wounds accumulated over many years We dont expect our military leaders to have PTSD, nor is it something they often recognise or acknowledge in themselves, yet this secret burden likely affects a surprising number of those making important tactical decisions. A thought-provoking insight into the damage done by military conflict, Behold the Dark Gray Man is the story of a daughters search to understand the impact of war upon one of its most charismatic senior commanders.

Reviews

"Hugely powerful. An exploration of fatherhood, heroes, war and trauma from an intensely personal point of view." - Dan Snow, historian and broadcaster "A fascinating and humbling account, lovingly written by his daughter, of the life of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sholto Douglas, a truly inspiring and compassionate man. Katharine's narrative interweaves the story of Sholto's achievements as a high-ranking military officer with his battle with what we now recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder. Although Sholto's story illustrates how far we have progressed in our understanding of mental health both within the Services and in society in general, it also underlines why we must continue to work to reduce the stigma of mental illness - a burden which can affect the best of us, at any time, and for reasons which might not always be apparent." - Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston KCB CBE ADC, Chief of the Air Staff "Through the fierce battles in the skies of the First and Second World Wars, to the traumatic signing of death sentences at Nuremberg and then onto the chairmanship of BEA, Sholto Douglas knew the highs and depths of professional and family life. Katharine Campbell's brilliant book is a most compelling account of her father's battles with the enemy without and the enemy within." - General Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL, former Chief of the General Staff

Author Bio

Dr Katharine Campbell was a neuroscientist before becoming a writer, working for many years on the development of pain processing in infants. She brings to her writing substantial medical knowledge, an eye for detail and a fascination with the events of the first half of the twentieth century, initiated by the exciting stories she heard as a child from her father Sholto Douglas, a senior RAF commander. She collaborates with historians across Europe and in the UK, and with leading experts in Australia and the Netherlands on post-traumatic stress disorder, an illness that affected her father, especially in his old age. She also campaigns for the charity Combat Stress.