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

Welch, Bob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743477588 ISBN 13: 9780743477581

Publisher: Atria Books, 2004

Synopsis

Traces the military service of an American nurse who died at Normandy, describing her childhood in war-torn Poland, immigration to America, decision to become a nurse against the wishes of her Jewish fruit peddler parents, and letter to the Stars and Stripes newspaper that would inspire thousands of soldiers.

About this title

About the Author

Bob Welch, an award-winning columnist for The Register-Guard newspaper, is the author of seven books. His work has appeared in Reader's Digest and Los Angeles Times Magazine, among other publications. He is an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he lives.

From the Inside Flap

"Through indefatigable research and a nearly obsessive quest to inhabit a great moment in time, Bob Welch achieves something rare among works of military history: He brings one person, a single extraordinary person, to vivid life upon the page. Read American Nightingale, and you'll never think of D-Day in the same way again." --Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Americana

"Bob Welch's compelling biography of Lieutenant Frances Slanger illuminates the extraordinary courage and patriotism so emblematic of the valorous Army nurses who served in World War II. His intriguing volume serves as a celebration of these unsung heroines. It represents a valuable contribution to the literature of nursing, women in combat, and military history." --Mary T. Sarnecky, author of A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps

"We have forgotten what they endured, and how much they hoped and fought and sacrificed, the young hearts who came to this country, and gave it their all. This book brings it back. I can't read Frances Slanger's letter to the Stars and Stripes--written just before she became a casualty herself--without seeing my own mother's face before me. That letter needs to be reread regularly, especially in these times, and reprinted every Fourth of July. So we'll be reminded and reheartened." --Paul Greenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist

"Bob Welch's book may well start a sea change in public consciousness. No one who reads American Nightingale will ever again assume that every military hero killed in action was, is or will be male." --Judith Bellafaire, chief historian of the Women In Military Service for America Memorial Foundation

"Reading American Nightingale is an intensely moving and unforgettable experience." --Evelyn Benson, author, As We See Ourselves: Jewish Women in Nursing

Reviews

Former newspaper columnist Welch (The Things That Matter Most) presents a detailed biography of a World War II army nurse for whom death and fame came nearly simultaneously. Frances Slanger was a shy, bookish woman who worked tirelessly to care for wounded soldiers. In June 1944, she was one of the first nurses to wade ashore on Normandy beach. One night, she wrote a letter in praise of her American G.I. charges, which was published in the military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes. Hundreds of soldiers wrote to thank her for the letter, not knowing that she had been killed by enemy fire within hours of posting it. Welch carefully traces the major events of Slanger’s life: from her childhood in World War I Poland, where she suffered because she was Jewish, to her coming of age in Boston, where she decided, against her parents’ wishes, to become a nurse so she could serve her adopted country and help stop the spread of Nazism in Europe. Thanks to her famous letter, Slanger received many posthumous honors, including having a warship named for her, but Welch’s biography is the first extended account of her life. The book is at its best when describing the conditions of the army field hospital where Slanger worked. It is less assured when recounting Slanger’s experiences before she entered the army, and the author’s conceit of switching back and forth between the two time periods is needlessly confusing. Nonetheless, Slanger’s life offers a stirring story of intense personal devotion and, despite its somewhat pedestrian prose, this book should be appreciated by WWII buffs, as well as those interested in women’s history.
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This is an account of the first American army nurse to die on the Normandy front. A few days before she was killed, she had written a letter to the Stars and Stripes, a tribute to the soldiers she had helped to live--and die. It began, "They are brought in bloody, dirty, with the earth, mud, and grime, and most of them so tired. Somebody's brother, somebody's father, and somebody's son." The day after it was printed, she died when the Germans shelled the Forty-Fifth Field Hospital Unit. She never knew that she had stirred the hearts of thousands of soldiers and their families. Welch searched for the woman who had written that letter, helped by one of the few surviving nurses of the unit. In writing her story, he has also given us a picture of the Jewish neighborhoods of Boston in the 1920s and 1930s, nursing school and hospital work in the 1930s, and the training and responsibilities of army nurses at the front. This is not only a heartwarming story for all ages, but it is also especially recommended for young people. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743477588
• ISBN 13: 9780743477581
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320