American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy

by Bob Welch

The heart-wrenching and inspirational WWII story of the first American nurse to die at the Normandy landings, the true account of a woman whose courage and compassion led to what a national radio show host in 1945 called "one of the most moving stories to come out of the war—a story of an army nurse that surpassed anything Hollywood has ever dreamed of."

She was a Jewish girl growing up in World War I-torn Poland. At age seven, she and her family immigrated to America with dreams of a brighter future. But Frances Slanger could not lay her past to rest, and she vowed to help make the world a better place—by joining the military and becoming a nurse.

Frances, one of the 350,000 American women in uniform during World War II, was among the first nurses to arrive at Normandy beach in June 1944. She and the other nurses of the 45th Field Hospital would soon experience the hardships of combat from a storm-whipped tent amid the anguish of wounded men and the thud of artillery shells.

Months later, a letter that Frances wrote to the Stars and Stripes newspaper won her heartfelt praise from war-weary GIs touched by her tribute to them. But she never got to read the scores of soldiers' letters that poured in. She was killed by German troops the very next day.

American Nightingale is the unforgettable, first-ever full-length account of the woman whose brave life stands as a testament to the American spirit.

Genres: Biography, History, World War II, Nonfiction, War, American History, 20th Century

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Barb H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have often stated that reading is an emotional experience. Upon entering the world of Frances Slanger, I feel totally moved and saddened. I shed many tears throughout this book, despite my knowledge of the outcome for this woman. Bob Welch, a journalist, has faithfully researched her life through her many personal papers, archives and interviews with family and colleagues. His vivid pictures of Frances and her life were conveyed so intensely that I sensed her emotional climate throughout. This biography is truly heartrending.

Although obviously Frances Slanger's life story differs radically from mine, I can view many similarities which have helped me gain an understanding of her and to comprehend this book's profound effect on me.

Frances was born Freidel Schlanger in 1913 in Lodz, Poland, a city with the second largest Jewish population in Poland. They were victims of violence, bigotry and numbing poverty. Frances' life was bracketed by two wars. The family survived the hardships, hunger and devastation of WW I. In 1920, they immigrated to Boston, where they changed their names and set out to start a new life, where they discovered that the streets were not "paved with gold". Nevertheless, despite poverty, they lived a freer life.

Frances was a solitary, sober, determined young woman. She read avidly and enjoyed writing, filling journals with her thoughts, activities and many quotations which had inspired her. She wrote numerous stories and essays with mixed results, but most of her jottings survived. In addition to her tendency to remain as a loner, she was barely 5'1" and slightly overweight. Frances was unwavering in her desire to become a nurse from her early years. Despite this dream, it was nearly impossible for Jewish women to gain admission to most of the schools of nursing due to the insidious practice of quota systems and discrimination. (My own brother failed acceptance to medical school because of this.) Another common reaction among her own people was, "Jewish girls don't become nurses". (A reaction I received when I announced my own intention.) Frances persisted and was accepted by the Boston City Hospital- just a few blocks from her home.

After successfully graduating nursing school and working at her profession for several years, WW II broke out. Frances knew this is where she belonged and became a lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps. The horrors and the hardships for her, her colleagues and the soldiers were expressively portrayed. Wartorn France and Belgium were suffering mightily. She continued functioning through battles, mired in mud and with little sleep. All along she continued to find time to write. As one continues to read it is quite easy to know and admire this special woman. Welch has completed his task well.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story of a Jewish American nurse who served during WW2

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a good book. It was interesting, and kept me wanting to read more. It did need some editing of content, but for the most part is was pretty clean.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating in just a few pages...
Ok, done, but Frances will be in my thoughts for a long time to come. My thoughts are jumbled, and random but here they are: Frances endured hardship all her life, she had very few moments of peace externally or internally...yet she perservered, and because of her tenacity, she saved and inspired many lives. She was like me a health care professional, and frustrated writer, wanting to do something noble, something worthwhile, but she did not realize her life was actually just that...noble, courageous, and lastly sacrificing. This book also shames me for the complaints and whines in my everyday life...kinda kicking me in the butt. I am fortunate to live in America, and I should do more for this country and its people, but what? I'll figure it out so that Frances won't be forgotten, and her life though short here will not a distant memory for just those who knew her, but a beacon for us all.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare I find a book that moves me so very thoroughly, but when this one was recommended to me by a WWII survivor, I knew it was going to be one of them. An absolutely true story about a woman extraordinary in her ordinariness, someone I couldn't help but fall in love with as I read, it's an engaging read. Definitely one that may take a few sittings.

Dealing with the atrocities of WWII, in my humble opinion, was worth taking this book slowly. Putting it down occasionally to chew over what I'd read, internalizing it as best I can, I nevertheless read the last portion of it very quickly, and largely through tears.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. Welch manages to capture the fields of battle in a realistic and interesting way. Even better, he crafts suspense despite the fact the reader knows the outcome. When Frances was working so hard and hoping to get into nursing school and then struggling to finish nursing school, I felt a real sense of anxiety for her. My only complaint. Welch mentions and describes numerous photos of Frances, but there are very few in the book. I wish there had been more.

A beautiful tribute to a true American hero. Nurses are a special breed of person, military nurses high amongst the best.

[Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing story. I have read a lot about WWII but not about nurses and I did not know Frances Slanger’s story. If you are interested in WWII, women in the military or nurses serving in WWII, this is a must-read. Your emotions will get wrapped up with Frances and the forty-fifth field hospital unit as you read this well-researched, well-documented and well-written book.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in preparation for writing about my mother, who served in the Army Nursing Corps and followed Patton from North Africa to Sicily. The life of Frances Slanger presented here made me realize how brave my mom was. A good read

[Graceann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frances Slanger is probably not well remembered today, as those who were most directly affected by her services and sacrifice are leaving us at a rate of more than 1,000 per day. She was an Army Nurse, the first American nurse to die in combat in the European Theatre of Operations.

The day before Slanger's death, she wrote and mailed a letter, printed in Stars and Stripes, expressing the gratitude she felt to the soldiers. Many were moved at the time, and more were shocked by her death when they heard of it.

Frances Slanger was one face among many who served and suffered. She was an imperfect person, just as every person is, but a thoughtful one. A particularly moving story in the book concerns one of her fellow officers, his pain over a difficult case, and a fresh egg. She wanted to be a writer and was "always scribbling," as those who were trained and served with her noted. Her poetry was heartfelt but generally awful, it must be said, but her prose, what can be found of it, carries with it all the internal struggle that she clearly carried as a woman fighting the expectations of her family back home and the calling she felt to serve. An added and no-less-important layer to the story is the anti-Semitism she faced and the fact that she was serving in a theatre of operations where her family members were being annihiliated (only one of her relatives still living in Europe at the time of WWII survived the Holocaust).

All of that struggle, all of that pain, all of that determination comes through in that final letter. In plain, simple, exquisite language, she takes eight paragraphs to describe what the life of a nurse is like, and why the life of a GI is so much harder. She, in essence, says "thank you."

Bob Welch uses the opportunity of this book to tell us how she got to this point, where every step was a battle of its own, and to tell us what was going on at various points in other parts of Europe. The layout of the story and how it all makes a difference is skillful writing on Mr. Welch's part. He was also able to interview many of the people who knew and served with Frances Slanger (some of them only just in time), and his research is impeccable. Don't skip the notes at the end explaining how he came to find some of his information.

American Nightingale boils down to one simple question that I will ask myself often. It asks us to consider what we did today that will leave this world a better place. As the quote found in Frances Slanger's "chapbook" reminds us, every pebble leaves a ripple. It was an honor to learn about the ripple left by Frances Slanger.

[Christine Boyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those one-person-CAN-make a difference stories!! It's also a must read. Written by Bob Welch, who's a newspaper columnist in Oregon, it definitely has a journalist/reporter feel to the writing - and I thought it worked perfectly for the subject matter. I was in Normandy and Utah & Omaha beaches last summer, and could really picture poor Frances and her fellow nurses slogging through the water, up the beach, and immediately realizing that war IS hell. I cried several times. Mr. Welch includes a wonderful afterword and epilogue to let you know what became of the folks Frances was working with, as well as her parents, sister, and nephews. Sadly, when he wrote this book, many of those people had already passed away, and some were interviewed, but died before Welch finished the book. We're losing our members of that"Greatest Generation" every day. Which makes it even more important to tell these stories - so we don't forget the quiet dignity and unbelievable humanity that they exhibited in the face of such atrocities.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Welch is a columnist for the The Register-Guard in Eugene, OR, and a reader suggested that he write about Frances Slanger, one of the first nurses to arrive at Normandy beach after the invasion in 1944. He took the reader's advice, did some research and wound up writing this book. Slanger was Jewish; born in Poland during WWI; emigrated to the States when she was seven. As a young woman, she was determined to become a nurse and did so against all odds and against the wishes of her family and the nursing hospital. Then she decided to join the US Army -- another hurdle, but she was a very determined young woman. Welch became fascinated by her story and has written a book that is well worth reading. Her life was short but her impact on the lives of those around her was large. Welch has since met with people who served with Slanger and has gotten to know members of her family. The book gives a new perspective on a slice of time during WWII.

Re-read for book group.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

What struck me the most about reading the story of Frances Slanger is that I was reminded of the power of the individual. Frances was not a stand-out in any way, shape, or form, either growing up or in her nursing career. But she was diligent and caring. She's remembered for a letter she wrote to the Stars & Stripes in which she thoughtfully reflects the soldiers' appreciation for nurses right back to the soldiers. Her letter was so simple and heartfelt, and struck the hearts of many who read it. Talk about a powerful idea. Frances died within 24 hours after mailing the letter (shrapnel). It was published post-humously and served as a battle cry and a reminder of "why we fight." Really remarkable when you think about it.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to read Bob Welch's column in the Eugene Register Guard, and that is why I picked this book up at our library. I learned so much about WWII. It is a wonderful true story about a nurse of Jewish descent who fought against all odds to serve in WWII. Mr. Welch does an excellent job of investigating and reporting how one seemingly insignificant young made a huge difference in the lives of soldiers - most of whom she didn't even know.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book how can you ever forget - The Story of Frances Slanger. Bob Welch does a fine job in bringing forward the story of an obscure Polish-American nurse that just wanted to help out as a NURSE during the war.
A good fireside read.

[Camilla Tilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my blog:
When I bought this book, I did so to get a female view of D-day and yet another witness account of that day, to my D-day library. I did not fully pay attention to what I was buying. I am glad that I discovered this book and let's say, I got more and more impressed with it, with every page I read. The author is a journalist at a small newspaper in Oregon, USA, and who would have guessed that a non-historian could produce such a book like this? I am impressed. This book is not just the story of Frances Slanger but also about Lodz, Poland and about the 6 million Jews that were exterminated in camps. And it is about Nazi madness. But first and foremost, it is a story about an ugly girl, from a very poor background that succeeded against all odds and who came to do something worthwhile in her short life!

Usually I get irritated when a book jumps back and forth in history but it worked for this book in more ways than one and I hope I can explain why. The book jumps from 10 June and Frances coming ashore on Utah beach with 17 other nurses to work in the 45th Field Hospital. The reader gets to follow her and her fellow nurses, doctors, enlisted men up the beach, setting up hospital, receving patients and then moving on because Germans were coming their way... But this is not what makes this book so great. What makes this book so good, is that Frances was no ordinary young woman. Her pre-war story is woven in with the Normandy landing and the hospital's continuing journey through France and then Belgium.

Frances wasn't Frances at all but was Freidel Yachet Schlanger, born 13 August 1913, in Lodz, Poland. Her father, Dawid, having entered USA on the 22 May that same year. She had an older sister, Chaja and together, they waited with their mother Regina, for the father to earn the money for their US passage. Her parents were of course Jewish, and they had grown up with Cossack pogroms and when WWI broke out, the three females, were stuck in Poland for that "duration". They starved with the rest and suffered under both Russian and German occupation. Not until 1920 could they rejoin Dawid that had changed his name to David Slanger. And coming to Ellis Island, Freidel was almost sent back to Poland again, since she had developed a severe eye infection during the journey across the ocean.

The family traded one kind of poverty for another. Someone said the streets were paved with gold, like "Fievel" sings in the cartoon film ("There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese"), but meaning that it was paved with freedom. Freedom to make something of yourself. David never got anywhere though. He remained a fruit peddler till he had a stroke in the 1930s. And they met with bad anti-semitism in Boston's Irish quarters as well as in fancier parts than what they themselves lived in. It came as a shock to me, to read about this! What was sad to read about, was how Regina, who became Eva in America, did not do anything to help contribute to the family income. And how the older daughter Chaja, that became Sarah, called Sally, was allowed to grow up a vain girl, only caring about lipstick and finding a husband. She married as soon as she could an started having the three sons she would end up having.

Freidel who was re-named Frances, was of another kind. She tried her hardest to make something of herself, without any encouragement from home. T. said that it sounded like she and I very much had the same experiences in that respect. And I agree. I know exactly what it is like when your mother doesn't want you to study but only cares about you growing up quickly so you can go out and get a job and help support. I never did. I went against my mother. But Frances didn't. She tried to do both. From an early age, she wanted to be a writer, just like myself. But she was discouraged at home. Teased by all children for reading, writing and seeking solitude, just like I was. Poor Frances also had to fight her teachers on top of everything else. They were not impressed with her immigrant English writings. She struggled on though, writing, helping her father on his fruit peddling routes and acting as go between since her parents never learned anything but Yiddish. It took her forever to graduate from high school since she had to help more and more with her father's job. And then he had a stroke that prevented him from working. She needed to work in a factory instead of fulfilling her other dream, of becoming a nurse. Finally she had to go behind her parents' backs and her culture, religion and everything, to fulfill that dream. Nursing was considered a "Christian Calling. For pork eaters." The family lost their income, and noone suggested Eva or Sally taking up a job instead, did they??? But Frances got her nursing degree against all odds. She even signed up for joining the army in November 1941, right before Pearl Harbor. Only problem was that her father had another stroke and she could not make herself go. This poor girl was always drawn between her parents and what she felt was the right thing to do. The latter always won the battle, but after a lot of heart ache. In 1943, she did join once and for all, and did not back out.

She trained in four different camps and then sailed for England, saying goodbye to the Statue of Liberty, for good it turned out. On the 10 June 1944, she set foot in Normandy and was met by dead bodies and wounds noone had been able to prepare the nurses and doctors for in America! What makes this book three times as interesting is that while Bob Welch tells her story, he tells her fellow Jews' story as well. When something happens in Frances life, he documents what Hitler is up to in Europe. What happens in her Lodz ghetto, to her extended family. And on the day that she lands in Normandy, he describes what happens in the little village of Oradour-sur-Glane, far away from Normandy. The 10 June 1944, the village that had been technically German since 1940, saw German soldiers for the first time! A company of "the Reich", comes in and kills all the children, women and men they can find. For reasons unknown even today! An entire village killed in hours!

Only four nurses of the 18 that came ashore that day, were alive when the book was written. The 45th Field Hospital never have had a re-union. And still, Bob Welch was able to puzzle together what happened to the company for the next four months. Frances was an oddity in the company. She did not fit in. Not when it came to telling jokes, doing social things. But when it came to nursing, THEN she was noticed by everyone. She was 200% devoted to her job. She loved and cared for every soldier and patient that came her way. She would not put up with fellow nurses and doctors that did not feel the same way. And she found a kindred spirit, in a gigantic doctor of 250 pounds, called "Tiny" Schwarz. Another Jew from Boston who had had to fight hard to be there as well. They were both perfectionist and totally devoted to their calling.

What put Frances on the map? What made Bob Welch write about her? This woman stand out because of everything she had had to go through up to that point. But also her personality being so different. But what put Frances on the map, was a letter she wrote from Belgium, during a stormy night the 20th October 1944. She wrote to Stars & Stripes, the soldier newspaper during WWII, that was distributed to all services around the world. And they used it for their editorial. Her letter touched the heart strings of all soldiers! She said that they all praised the nurses, but she wanted to praise the soldiers. How they didn't complain as patients but wanted to know how their best friend was doing. How they tried a cheerful flirtatious hello, no matter how badly wounded they were. Soldiers loved her letter. And they wrote thousands of letters to her via the newspaper. Only, on the next night, the 21st, something unexpected happened to Frances. They were in a place that was considered so safe, that no foxholes had been dug for the company to dive in to, in case of artillery shelling. That night, the Germans started to shell the hospital camp, that they knew fully well, was located there. A shell hit the tent that Frances was sharing with three other nurses. Shrapnel hit her in her abdomen and all the way in to her spine. All her collegues, that rushed to her side, knew that she could not survive, but her friend "Tiny" still pulled on his surgical gloves to do his best. Instead he could only hold her in his arms while she whispered "oh...my...poor...mother" and then died. Typically, all the enlisted men regretted being mean to her and liking her so little. Noone knew at that point about her letter. It was published even though she had died one day after writing it, and then they had to publish two weeks later, that the author of the famous letter, had been killed in action. The first nurse to die in the ETO.

She was not miss popular at all, but everyone looked upon her as an inspiration and as a heroine. But she really has been forgotten! Thousands wrote to the Stars & Stripes again after her death. She was awarded a medal. She was buried in Belgium but in 1947, when her mother was asked if she wanted to have her come home, her mother decided to bring her to Boston. So with lots of other dead soldiers, her body was taken back to the US. Her casket was made to stand on parade on a Belgian square the last night, to remind people, before all the caskets left on a ship. The public in the US was reminded of her deeds, when her casket arrived home, and a square in Boston was named after her. A hospital ship was also named after her, at the end of the war. But all of it, has been forgotten today.

I am not sure, why this book was so very special. If it was the fact that a Jewish woman went against tradition and decided to do something so patriotic as going out in a war, that in part was fought against her people or race, if it is not wrong to call it that. Or if it was because, as the author said, she always was "that other person in the photo". In a way, she was a nobody. She wasn't pretty. She wasn't particularly smart. She wasn't really amusing or funny. She was an ordinary, grey mouse in many people's eyes. And yet, she had a hidden part of herself, that few took the chance to get to know. Maybe I loved the book so much because I recognised myself in her. I know what it is to be an outsider. Someone that people find boring. A grey mouse that stay in the background. But when I have decided to do something, I do it 200% and as perfect as I can. And I do get upset when people around me do not do their part in the same manner, with the same devotion. And THAT gives you enemies! In that one letter, she poured out her innermost feelings, and it touched everyone. May you rest in peace Freidel Yachet Schlanger! Now when I know about you, I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!

[Miles Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, if a touch awkward, book about Frances Y. Slanger, an American nurse who was tragically killed in action during WW2. It interweaves the story of her quite fascinating life early life with her successful, against-the-odds quest to become a nurse and serve overseas with a field hospital during the war: also with her desire to become a famous writer, a distinction she ironically achieved in death.

Slaner was born in Lodz, Poland, the daughter of downtrodden Jews who eventually emigrated to the U.S. She grew up in Boston, a shy, quiet, thoughtful child who assisted her fruit-peddling father sell his wares. Resisting Jewish traditions regarding a woman's place in the world, the bookwormish but compassionate Frances longed to become a nurse, while simultaneously devoting much time to reading, and writing a great deal of what is admittedly quite bad poetry. (Her fiction was better...but not much.) Bucking the odds, she became a nurse; bucking yet more odds, when WW2 broke out, she was able to get an overseas assignment despite poor eyesight which ought to have disqualified her. She landed at Normandy with her mobile field hospital unit just days after the invasion in 1944, and served honorably, diligently and with trademark compassion, until she was killed in an artillery strike in October of that year. An eloquent letter she wrote just before her death, praising the courage of the wounded American soldiers she'd met in her capacity as a combat nurse, was published in STARS AND STRIPES 17 days after her death, and made her an instant celebrity all across Europe: interestingly, the newspaper had no idea she was dead when they ran the letter, and when this news was published later, the flood of admiration and affection her epistle produced in millions of G.I.'s turned into an outpouring of grief. In life, Slanger was "nobody's idea of a hot date" and tended toward solitude: in death she became the famous writer and inspiration she'd always longed to be.

I enjoyed the book very much. Bob Welch did a fine job of telling Slanger's story and is quite a pleasing prose-writer. I had no real issues with him stepping out of her narrative to discuss the holocaust, considering that Slanger was a Polish Jew by birth and born in Lodz, an epicenter of Hitler's crimes. However, At several points in the book he tries very hard to made Slanger's story interweave with the infamous massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane, which was carried out by SS troops after D-Day. This has absolutely nothing to do with Slanger, her unit, or even the holocaust: Oradour was a spontaneous massacre of French civilians perpetrated by Germans in reprisal for actions of the Resistance, and I get the feeling that Welch, having been to Oradour himself while touring France, was simply moved by the atrocity and wanted to work it into Slanger's tale even though it has no connection to it at all.

This aside, I found the book readable and interesting as well as informative: I never had a clear picture of how medical units worked or how nurses were trained and employed during WW2, and NIGHTINGALE gave me one. It's also an inpiring tale in itself, the story of a bookworm who overcame internal sexist traditions, external anti-Semitism, and her own physical shortcomings and fears to achieve a selfless goal. It is more than a little tragic, particularly as she never lived to see her own literary success, but as the doctors and nurses themselves liked to say, that's war.

[Helen-Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book at the recommendation of a friend and fellow WWII buff who knows of my interest in women in the military and military nurses. I in turn highly recommend it to others, both for its military interest and as a biography of Frances Slanger, a woman with an unusual and far too short life. Jewish, born in Lodz, Poland to parents fortunate enough to immigrate to the United States in the 20's, she grew up in Boston. Despite much resistance from parents ["Jewish girls aren't nurses!"] and even teachers ["You haven't studied the right things,"] she managed to get accepted to Boston City hospital School of Nursing, and to graduate, despite having never had a science or math course in her life. She did love to read, and to write poetry, and I am sure that background helped her. She graduated in 1937, and by then, stories were coming out of Europe from Jews and others trying to escape. Torn between a strong desire to become a military nurse and care for the "boys" fighting for a free world, she joined the Army Nurse Corps. Mr. Welch, the author, uses a non-traditional, non-chronological structure for the book. In addition to giving us the story of Frances' life, he also covers changing opinion in the US about the war, and events in Europe leading up to and encompassing the war. He gives a good picture of what life was like for the men and women of the 45th Field Hospital - one of the first hospitals to land in Normandy, arriving on 10 june, 1944, 4 days after D-Day. Life was not easy for them - bad [horrible] weather, shortages of equipment, and above all, streams of casualties with injuries none of these people had seen before, not in ERs in Boston, and certainly not as a private duty nurse, as Frances had been. But the hospital and the individual care providers and staff learned their job, and provided the care that eventually led GIs to call the nurses "American Nightingales," giving Welch the title of this book.

In October 0f 1944 Frances wrote a letter to STARS AND STRIPES, the military newspaper published in Europe, intending it for "letters to the editor." Instead the paper ran it as the lead editorial, only the second time in the war that a non-staff person had written the editorial; the first was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Two days later, she was killed in an attack that hit the hospital hard. A week later, the letter was published and brought more letters to the paper than any other article published. And then the story of her death broke, scooped by Catherine Coyne, a woman reporter from Frances' hometown paper, the BOSTON HERALD. A hospital ship was named for her. When her body came home to Boston, she had an honor guard of women veterans from the Lt. Frances Y. Slanger PLost Number 313 of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S., the first all-female post of that organization, as well as members of the Boston City Hospital School of Nursing Class of 1937 - her class. In the years since the war, other people and even other wars have taken over the news cycle. I hope that this is a name that is familiar to Army nurses at least. She represents our best and brightest.

[Maureen Caupp · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring, heartbreaking true story of the life of Frances Slanger, a nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps who inspired through her actions in life and an article she wrote to the Stars & Stripes right before she was killed. Just one example of the hard uncomplaining work and sacrifice of the doctors and nurses who worked in field hospitals on the front line during World War II. Florence Slanger was a Jewish, Polish immigrant born in Poland right before the start of World War I. She embodied the American spirit, striving to make her mark through hard work and overcoming obstacles, she wanted to make the world a better place. She felt it was her duty to care for the soldiers defending the country that had become her home. I cried when I read the samples of responses of soldiers sent to Stars & Stripes after Frances's article was published.

[Kathy kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of first American Army nurse killed in battle after the Normandy Invasion in WW2. Personal accounts by her comrades and a look into her note books. She wrote an editorial for the Stars and Stripes accounting the life of soldiers and nurses in battle.This was published posthumously. The story traces her early youth in a Polish ghetto,move to Boston, where she against all odds trained as a nurse and then enlisted in the Army. She was such a life source for her comrades. Ultimately a hospital ship was named in her honor, which transported wounded soldiers back home. The research was exhausting. It took an estimated 3 years to research. I read this after I read the Women, a novel based on American nurses in Viet Nam. In contrast they was a true account of day to day life under attack. An excellent read.

[Aaron Erhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part unimaginable adventure regarding one woman's determination to be a damned good nurse for herself and then for our American forces towards the end of WWII in spite of the social culture of the time regarding the "place" of women, this inspiring and tragically heartbreaking biography (researched, interviewed, and coherently assembled by Bob Welch) peels back the loss in time of a quiet heroine who uplifted the spirits of hundreds of injured and dying soldiers following the Allied Forces invasion of Normandy. And how her humble service and consideration of the soldiers for whom she tended united the tattered spirits and hearts of the same, other fellow servicemen she honored but never met, and our American nation as we learned the loss of this humble hero.
It's been months since I've read this story and I'm still moved to tears by the enormity of it.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding story of a person, soldier, nurse, of a hospital team, of our G.I.’s and of a war. Frances Slanger was an especially intentional giver, a person seeking purpose. That she was captured so well in words after all of the time that has passed is wonderful. I appreciate all that was added beyond the completion of her story and the dovetailing with 9/11. It was very moving. I will recommend this to others, but I’m not giving away my copy. This is a treasure and a reminder of sacrifice.

[Anne Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Welch is a friend. He joined book club virtually via telephone. It was a thrill.

I read this book pre-blogging and pre-Goodreads. I am going back and adding books I read for the SOTH book Club, trying to create a record of all the books I've read in our 30 years of meetings! I read this book for the club meeting in Jan. 2007

[Shane Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely interesting story of a Polish immigrant child who grew up to be an American nurse who landed on one of the D-Day beaches so she could tend the wounded and dying. Researched [for three years] and written[very well] by a columnist/journalism professor of Eugene.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was happy to learn of Frances Slanger, the American Nightingale. I was reminded next, again, how men can be so cruel to each other. But in the darkness, people like Frances remind us more importantly that love is bigger than evil.

[Sam Beeghly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for this heart warming true to life angel of mercy, treating soldiers with unconditional love and service. I vividly remember the military nurses that took care of me and all the others in China Beach, Da Nang, Vietnam. This reading brought me to tears several times.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is important to remember history and the individuals who refuse to allow evil to dominate their purposes in life. Frances Slanger RN was such a person. I am honored to read her story.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story and her life was really interesting and sad. I didn’t know anything about her until I read this but I felt like the writing could have been better to make this five stars

[Ghada · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful,superb book to read.

[Derek French · Rating 5 out of 5]

By local author Bob Welch, extremely interesting story of a WWII nurse and her impact on other soldiers.

[Lauren Heaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars