For the Boys: The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton's Third Army

by N.C.R. Davis

The biography of a young nurse from Minnesota who joins the war effort behind her father’s back. She finds herself holed up treating the critically wounded from the Battle of the Bulge. In December 1944, she blatantly defies discriminatory army rules to save the lives of her patients.

A month after her 24th birthday, Lt. Mary Elizabeth Balster collapses among the rubble of a shelled supply room. Has the young nurse finally succumbed to the mounting emotional toll caused from months of caring for the sick and wounded just behind the front lines of General Patton’s Third Army? On the night of November 30, 1944, holed up in the Heinrich Himmler Barracks in Morhange, France, Lt. Balster’s evac receives a typical patient load (over 200 soldiers, including wounded enemy), but this time one of the admissions is a 19-year-old tanker she’d nursed back to health five months before in Normandy. The charge nurse on Surgical gently informs the lieutenant that the private is critical, admitted with two gunshot wounds and almost half his body consumed by burns. Rising determined to save him, Balster limps toward the shelled supply room determined to search for any blood plasma bottles still intact after Luftwaffe strafing.

Recaptured from her mother’s reminiscences and letters home, N. C. R. Davis takes the reader through every heat-of-battle harrowing moment as Balster lived it, achieving a rare glimpse of one nurse’s point of view during the latter part of the European conflict.
The book mixes Lt. Balster’s observations, memories, and dreams to re-tell the true story of a richly rebellious and intense woman trying to navigate her life and nurture her sanity while nursing the wounded and dying frontline soldiers of the Third Army. Her strong-willed, beguiling personality fosters the grit necessary for her success as a combat nurse, but these same characteristics cause two men to fall in love with her. And the personal cost of war comes to a heartrending conclusion, as she must choose one man over the other to save herself.

Genres: History, Biography

372 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2023

Reviews

[Cynthia Davenport]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Although it reads easily, like a novel, it is a factual account of the Author's Mother's (Mary) life as a combat nurse in General Patton's Third Army. Content is drawn from letters that Mary sent home to her parents, from interviews conducted by the Author of her Mother near the end of her life, and from extensive research done by the Author to understand that historical period as well as a woman's "place" in it. And, like many "coming of age" books, there is a good love story (actually several) hidden within the pages! In addition, the strong bonds of "sisterhood" rang true then, particularly in war time, as they do today. In summary, "For the Boys -- The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton's Third Army" by NCR Davis was a revealing female "coming of age" story at a time when women's contributions to the war effort were under recognized and largely ignored.

[Katy's Book Den]

Everyone should read this! A true story that reads like fiction, this is a rare story of war through a woman's eyes. This book will stay with me! It's real and it's honest. It's the PERFECT book club read!

The story is about Lt. Mary Balster, a young woman that enlisted in the army during WW2 as a combat nurse. She wrote over 600 letters home during the war and she compiled a war diary. On her 90th birthday she gifted these to her youngest child, the author NCR Davis - the book tells her story based on her diary, her letters and conversations she had with her daughter. It took NCR Davis over 10 years to write it! It's beautiful, heart-breaking, and it's honest. Again, this reads like fiction but it's all true. It's a gift, it's a love story, it's a reminder that we are all human and have our flaws. It also reminds us of what those before us sacrificed. The book also features some wonderful photos of Mary's time in the army and some of her letters home. If there's one book you put on your TBR list, it should be this! I cannot recommend this enough.

Katy's Book Den

[Doug Tabner]

I don’t know if they knew each other but on the first page of this book I learned that my mother and Mary Balster were classmates at the University of Minnesota’ nursing school. My mom also became a nurse at an evac hospital in Europe during the war, but in a different unit.

Mom, like most WWII vets, didn’t talk about the war. She DID talk about the concentration camp her unit liberated, the Ebensee camp in Austria. She did that because she felt an obligation to the victims to tell their story.

What I loved about this book was that I got a feeling for my mom’s experiences in the war, and what day to day life was like in an evacuation hospital near the front lines. And because of that, I’m grateful for this concise, well-written book.

[Jim]

Being a bit jumbled this book was still a great read. The text gives one a look at war from a very different perspective from how most other stories of WWII do; we must remember that there were more than GIs in the thick of things in Europe. Well worth time to read.

[Shirley]

This was not exactly what I expected. It was more romance than a nurse on the frontline. However, the author does say she’s a storyteller and the story is about hr mom. It’s good to know about women in the World Wars. I recommend this book as a story.

[Margaret Neiheisel]

Using elegant prose and letters from high spirited combat nurse Mary Balster ( the author’s mother) NCRDavis weaves a beautiful tribute to the unsung heroes of WWII

[Barb Willard]

I’ve read several biographies of men who served in WWII, but this is the first bio about a woman. Ms Davis depicts her mother’s (Lt Balster) story in vivid accounts during the war. Excellent book!

[Kate]

Loved this book.
If you want to know more about the real living and working conditions of the American nurse during the battle in the European theater, add this one to your list !

[April]

Fantastic story. Read in one day- couldn't stop.