American Nightingale; The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy
New York: Atria Books, 2004. First edition. Stated. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. xi, 308 pages. Includes Illustrations. Source Notes. Bibliography. Index. Bob Welch (born c. 1954) is an American author, speaker, teacher and newspaper columnist from Oregon. He writes a column for The Register-Guard, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon. He has been honored multiple times by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and won many awards, including The Seattle Times C.B. Blethen Award for Distinguished Feature Writing. Welch imparts the illuminating story of Frances Slanger, a World War II military nurse--one of the first to reach Normandy beach in June 1944--who instilled boundless hope in the hearts of soldiers with her sense of duty, her poetic words, and her relentless courage. Slanger went ashore under combat conditions in 1944 at the Normandy beaches and met her death under fire--the first American nurse to die in Europe after the invasion. Of the 350,000 American women in uniform during World War II, none instilled more hope in American GIs than Frances Slanger. In Army fatigues and helmet she splashed ashore with the first nurses to hit the Normandy beach in June 1944. Later, from a storm-whipped tent amid the thud of artillery shells, she wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes newspaper that would stir the souls of thousands of weary soldiers. Hundreds wrote heartfelt responses, praising Slanger and her fellow nurses and honoring her humility and patriotism. But Frances Slanger never got to read such praise. She was dead, killed the very next day when German troops shelled her field hospital, the first American nurse to die in Europe after the landing at Normandy. Frances Slanger was a Jewish fruit-peddler's daughter who survived a chilling childhood in World War I-torn Poland and immigrated to America at age seven. Inspired by memories of her bitter past and a Nazi-threatened future, she defied her parents' wishes by becoming a nurse and joining the military. A woman of great integrity and courage, she was also a passionate writer and keeper of chapbooks. This is the story of her too brief life. American Nightingale is the unforgettable, first-ever full-length account of the woman whose brave life stands as a testament to the American spirit. Condition: Very good / very good.
Keywords: Frances Slanger, Military Medicine, Army Nurse Corps, John Bonzer, Discrimination, Racism, Margaret Bowler, Christine Cox, Sallylou Cummings, Forty-Fifth Field Hospital, Fred Michalove, Joseph Shoham, Isadore Schwartz
ISBN: 0743477588
[Book #58499]
Price: $35.00