(12 reviews) Author: Kathi Jackson ISBN : 9780275968991 New from $70.87 Format: PDFA topical presentation of firsthand accounts from some of the thousands of army and navy nurses who served both stateside and overseas during World War II, this book tells the stories of the brave women who used any and all resources to save as many lives as possible. Although military nurses could have made more money as civilians, thousands chose to leave the warmth and security of home to care for the young men who went off to war. They were not saints but vibrant women whose performance changed the face of both military and civilian nursing. Jackson's account follows both army and navy nurses from the time they joined the military, through their active service, to their lives today.
The jobs done by military nurses were valuable and varied. Some worked in clean stateside hospitals. Some found themselves nursing in tents or bombed-out buildings. Others entered hospitals so recently occupied by Axis forces that Nazi propaganda still covered the walls. While often treating ordinary accidents and illnesses, they were responsible for men with wounds so disfiguring that it took all of their willpower to maintain the hopeful attitude that the men so desperately required. From the humorous account of a nurse in her forties, who joined the war effort despite the smirks of those much younger, to the sorrow shared when men and women were separated and became prisoners of war, these are the stories of women who lived under extraordinary circumstances in an amazing time, women who, even today, bear emotional scars along with their lasting pride.
- Hardcover: 248 pages
- Publisher: Praeger (June 30, 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0275968995
- ISBN-13: 978-0275968991
- Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.3 x 9.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
They Called Them Angels: American Military Nurses of World War II PDF
In this well-organized book, Dallas native, Kathi Jackson taps a rich vein of diaries, letters, memoirs, period magazine and newspaper articles to spotlight the story of the 77,000 American military nurses who served in World War II.
These nurses witnessed many of the same horrors as a combat solder. They came under bombardment at Anzio, were taken prisoner at Bataan, battled the williwaw winds on Attu, were torpedoed in the North Atlantic, and crash-landed in the mountains of China. They worked in mobile units and clearing stations near the front lines administering plasma, controlling hemorrhage, and closing sucking chest wounds, often under fire.
In an armed forces outfitted strictly for men, they dealt with a lack of latrines, privacy, and feminine supplies. As one nurse at an evacuation hospital in Africa described it: "We live in tents ... we don't take baths, wash our hair, shave, or wash clothes -- just one big, dirty, happy family." And an Army flight nurse remembered a 90-minute fight that lasted seven hours because of fog: "The worst part of it was that we had no place to go to the little girls' room."
But despite the long hours and the hardships, a little fun did creep in now and then. Some of the nurses recalled dances onboard troop ships, or just on spread-out pieces of canvas with Jeep headlights for illumination. Wherever they were stationed, the nurses were always outnumbered by the men. A couple of nurses in the South Pacific wondered why there was so much air traffic over their sunbathing spot. And nurses at Gibraltar were terrified by the American gun turrets that followed them everywhere they went, until they were told the gunners were simply admiring them through their telescopic sites.
Jackson has done her homework and it shows.
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