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As the
war in Iraq marches into its fifth year and soldiers are returning
decorated, deformed, or disturbed, it's no question that women
make up a historically large portion of veterans. There were
also about 500,000 women veterans in World War II, though
many weren't considered part of the war effort or veterans
because they didn't "engage in combat:" They were drivers,
secretaries, and nurses. And If I Perish: Frontline U.S.
Army Nurses in World War II is a story of the women who
had a pivotal yet forgotten role in saving the lives of the
fighting soldiers.
Authors
Evelyn Monahan, who served in the Women Army Corps from 1961
to 1967, and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee, a former U.S. Navy
Nurse, seem to be overly yet justifiably emotional in the
introduction and conclusion, lamenting how often women veterans
were forgotten after the war. Even though they have deep emotional
stakes in the subject, they are experts, having written two
other books about nurses during wartime.
And
If I Perish is a collection of stories from women who
served in the Army Nurse Corps on the frontlines in the Pacific,
North Africa, Italy, and Germany. Their stories are ones that
haven't been heard; they had hand-sewn a big cross for where
they set up the hospital, only to have to scrap it because
it was the wrong color, they cuddled in cots to keep warm,
and they travelled through enemy territory with the rest of
the soldiers.
The authors
gloss over some of the prissiness of the nurses and focus
on the non-mundane—but also not as exciting—experiences
they had overseas. The women were physically and emotionally
strong, but the writers don't focus on pertinent topics such
as the injuries they mended, the actual jobs they had, the
relationships they had, or the roles they played back home.
Instead,
it seems as though the authors felt they had to cram all the
stories into a single book. Because of this none of the characters
were developed, there were few details about the women's individual
stories, and the author's compulsion to include everything
about everyone rushed the book to completion. Furthermore,
there are many characters, and the writers don't give enough
time to developing the character, so it's hard to get the
reader to care about the nurses' day-to-day lives and how
they felt. It's also easy to lose track of who is who.
Monahan
and Neidel-Greenlee reveal that the war-time nurses complained
about seemingly trivial conditions compared to trench wars,
showing the mindset of how women acted in the 1940s. However,
stories of the women hoarding lipstick (for dry lips) and
face powder (for sun block) from supplies did have a deeper
purpose than just cosmetics. While these women did not face
the same stressors as men in combat, they had their own demons.
These women came upon rotting amputated limbs in ditches,
the frightening sight of the emaciated prisoners in Dachau
and other labor camps, parasites in the bellies of soldiers,
gaping wounds, and even more terrifying: the mental stresses
the men faced. Adhering to a routine of cosmetics and sanitary
napkins help them to maintain some semblance of a routine
like that which they kept at home.
They
also faced the same terrifying and looming knowledge that
they too could be killed while doing their duty and "supporting
their boys." The nurses braved moving hospitals from site
to site in the middle of the night, under enemy fire; the
invasion of Normandy; the sinking of the HMHS Newfoundland;
the Battle of the Bulge; and campaigns in the Pacific.
Half
of the nearly 60,000 volunteer nurses were on the frontlines,
16 died in combat, 201 died from sickness or accidents. The
book shows what women can do and proves they had the same
strength as soldiers even though many people thought that
they couldn't. There is no debate over whether or not these
women should be recognized, and their role should be talked
about more than it is now, but the book seemed so overly excited
about that recognition, that it takes away from the women's
actual accomplishments.
(June,
2008)
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