And If I Perish Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in

In World War II, 59,000 women voluntarily risked their lives for their country as U.S. Army nurses. When the war began, some of them had so little idea of what to expect that they packed party dresses; but the reality of service quickly caught up with them, whether they waded through the water in the historic landings on North African and Normandy beaches, or worked around the clock in hospital tents on the Italian front as bombs fell all around them. For more than half a century these women's experiences remained untold, almost without reference in books, historical societies, or military archives. After years of reasearch and hundreds of hours of interviews, Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee have created a dramatic narrative that at last brings to light the critical role that women played throughout the war. From the North African and Italian Campaigns to the Liberation of France and the Conquest of Germany, U.S. Army nurses rose to the demands of war on the frontlines with grit, humor, and great heroism. A long overdue work of history, And If I Perish is also a powerful tribute to these women and their inspiring legacy.

Evelyn M. Monahan, a retired psychologist, served in the Women’s Army Corps from 1961 until 1967 as a corpsman and psychiatric technician. She subsequently took her M.Ed. and Ph.D. at Georgia State University and her M.Div. in theology and ethics at Emory University. She worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs from 1980 to 1996. Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee served in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps on active duty from 1962 until 1965, and on reserve duty between 1989 and 1991. She has a master’s degree in nursing from Emory University, and worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Atlanta from 1981 to 2002. Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee are co-authors (with Agnes Jensen Mangerich) of Albanian Escape: The True Story of U.S. Army Nurses Behind Enemy Lines and co-authors of All This Hell: U.S. Nurses Imprisoned by the Japanese. From the Hardcover edition.

Introduction

3

(5)

Prologue

8

(17)

PART ONE: THE NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN

Operation Torch---U.S Army Nurses in the Invasion Force: D-Day North Africa---8 November 1942

25

(31)

Nurses at the Battle of Kasserine Pass: In It All the Way---January--February 1943

56

(32)

The Allied Push to Bizerte and Tunis: Perfecting Combat Medicine---February--May 1943

88

(32)

Staging for Italy: Needed, 50,000 Army Nurses---Spring--Summer 1943

120

(29)

PART TWO: THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

Nurses in the Sicilian Campaign: Tough Enough for Patton's Army---10 July--1 September 1943

149

(24)

The Sinking of HMHS Newfoundland: Army Medical Teams at Salerno---26 August--27 September 1943

173

(25)

From Salerno to the Gustav Line: Army Nurses Going Where They Are Needed---29 September 1943--25 January 1944

198

(40)

Hell's Half-Acre---The Anzio Beachhead: And If I Perish . . . ---22 January--15 February 1944

238

(38)

Stalemate at Anzio Beachhead and Monte Cassino: Nurses Endure with the Rest of the Troops---12 February--15 May 1944

276

(27)

Breakout and Pursuit: The U.S. Army Enters Rome---15 May--5 June 1944

303

(16)

PART THREE: THE LIBERATION OF FRANCE

The Invasion of Normandy: Army Nurses in Northern France---6 June--21 August 1944

319

(31)

Operation Dragoon and the Battle of the Rhone Valley: Combat Medicine in Southern France---15 August--15 September 1944

350

(23)

Confronting the Siegfried Line: Medicine Under Canvas---15 September--15 December 1944

373

(32)

PART FOUR: THE CONQUEST OF GERMANY

The Battle of the Bulge: Army Nurses Meet the Challenge---16 December 1944--15 January 1945

405

(22)

Battle of the Rhineland: Army Nurses Persevere---15 January--23 March 1945

427

(15)

The Surrender of Germany: Army Nurses at Dachau and Nordhausen---29 April--8 May 1945

442

(16)

Epilogue: Forgetting and Remembering

458

(11)

Notes

469

(24)

Bibliography

493

(8)

Acknowledgments

501

(2)

Index

503

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And If I Perish Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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