Here are the stories of the courageous young women who served as nurses at Pearl Harbor, Corregidor, Anzio, Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima, and other fighting fronts of the second World War.
As an intelligence officer with the Naval Air Corps in World War II, Wyatt Blassingame served on the islands of Tinian and Okinawa. He witnessed the work of army and navy nurses when he visited sick and wounded comrades in hospitals on Hawaii, Saipan, and Okinawa.
This books was a hard but I think necessary read. Here in 2021 America we are so insulated from many types of physical suffering and sacrifice. The story of these WW2 nurses is inspiring and humbling to read. I was challenged by their fortitude, bravery and strength.
This was a wonderful tribute to the unsung heroines of World War II, the nurses. This book was easy to read and gripping, while being sad and joyful at the same time. You don't have to be a WWII buff to read this book, or even interested in nursing. If you want to read about strong, courageous, intelligent women, this is the book for you. I highly recommend this book.
Blassingame errs when he repeatedly refers to Army medics as corpsmen. They are not. The Army has medics. The Navy has corpsmen. It is actually frowned upon for a hospital corpsman to be referred to as a medic. Corpsman is their identity, one which they have held since 1898 with the establishment of the Navy Hospital Corps. Navy Hospital corpsmen are the most highly decorated rate in the U.S. Navy. I am the son of a retired Chief Hospital Corpsman. My brother and I are Vietnam War era 2nd Class Hospital Corpsmen.