Sherry Dumont: Forest of Darkness
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Join us on the eve of National POW/MIA Recognition Day for a reading and conversation between Sherry Dumont and Ilene Benz. In 2023, Dumont published the memoir of her late father, American Special Forces Staff Sergeant James E Jackson, who was held for 16 months in a Viet Cong POW Camp.
Set against the backdrop of the U.S. civil rights and peace movements, Forest of Darkness: The Memoir of a U.S. Special Forces POW, chronicles the harrowing story of 26-year-old American Special Forces Staff Sergeant James E. Jackson, who was on his third tour as a CIDG advisor when he was captured in July of 1966 and held for 16 months in a Viet Cong POW camp. While America grappled with racial unrest and growing opposition to the war, those same fault lines occasionally emerged among the prisoners, threatening to transform the camp into a microcosm of the country they had been sent to defend. Enduring unimaginable physical and psychological torture, debilitating diseases and starvation, and the ever-present possibility of death, Jackson’s journey reveals not only the brutal realities of war and captivity, but also the power of faith, courage and shared humanity to overcome division and despair.
Sherry Dumont’s love of words began in the third grade, sparked by a teacher who showed her the transformative power of stories. Today, she is a writer, editor and storyteller who shepherded her late father’s book, Forest of Darkness: The Memoir of a U.S. Special Forces POW, to publication in 2023. A graduate of Monroe Community College and St. John Fisher University, she has spent decades helping individuals, organizations and brands find their voice and share their stories. Named a 2024 Rochester Business Journal Women of Excellence honoree, Sherry is committed to using storytelling to connect people, foster understanding and break down barriers. She is grateful for the opportunity to share her father’s legacy and the journey of bringing his firsthand account to readers.
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