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

Rating:
Summary: An Epic Work...
Review: A thoroughly compelling work about the unsung and often forgotten heroines of WW II. This is truly a great book and will be remembered for its accurate and moving accounts of those who courageously and unselfishly served!

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!!!!
Review: For way too long has this story been untold. What a great book!!! What a great Christmas/Hanukkah present to give to family and friends. If I had my way, every American would read AND IF I PERISH, as soon as possible. It makes clear in a very readible way that Americans owe their freedom not just to the men who fought in WWII, but to the thousands of women, who served on the frontlines in order to help bring our fathers, brothers, sons, nephews, and friends home safely. One scene that was particularly touching to me was when a young US Army nurse in Anzio, Italy is ordered to prepare the body of a sister Army nurse for burial following her death after German artillery shells fell on the hospital tents on the beach head. As she washes and dresses the body, the young Lieutenant talks to her friend and tells her how sorry she is, that they have to meet again like this. This scene is even more poignant in that it takes place in a large tent used as the hospital morgue and the young Lieutenant is literally surrounded by death. Army nurses are not usually the heros of books, but after reading AND IF I PERISH, I think they should be.

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!!!!
Review: For way too long has this story been untold. What a great book!!! What a great Christmas/Hanukkah present to give to family and friends. If I had my way, every American would read AND IF I PERISH, as soon as possible. It makes clear in a very readible way that Americans owe their freedom not just to the men who fought in WWII, but to the thousands of women, who served on the frontlines in order to help bring our fathers, brothers, sons, nephews, and friends home safely. One scene that was particularly touching to me was when a young US Army nurse in Anzio, Italy is ordered to prepare the body of a sister Army nurse for burial following her death after German artillery shells fell on the hospital tents on the beach head. As she washes and dresses the body, the young Lieutenant talks to her friend and tells her how sorry she is, that they have to meet again like this. This scene is even more poignant in that it takes place in a large tent used as the hospital morgue and the young Lieutenant is literally surrounded by death. Army nurses are not usually the heros of books, but after reading AND IF I PERISH, I think they should be.

Rating:
Summary: Heroism Under Fire
Review: I found this book to be a gripping account of an era of unselfish dedication to ones duty to both country and professional calling. Credibility is gained from strong first party stories that resulted from meticulous research by the authors. For me, perhaps the greatest inspiration was in the picture painted by the authors of the evolution of the role of U.S. Military women in the 20th century despite the many obstacles they endured and overcame both inside and outside the military and political institutions of the time.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Book About Incredible Women.
Review: I have wanted to write this review since I finished "And If I Perish", but, quite frankly, I did not know how to start. As a lifelong reader, a woman of a "certain age" and an English teacher, I must have read thousands of books over the years. This one is, quite simply, the best book I have ever read. One of the jacket cover comments uses the word, masterpiece, that barely describes it.
The authors have done a magnificent job of weaving a seamless saga from the early days of WW II in North Africa, up through Italy and France and into Berlin. While I have read many books that chronicle the experiences of several people it was always difficult to keep them straight without a great deal of re-reading. Not so with these nurses, they are all recalled with no effort at all. While this is in no doubt due to Monahan & Neidel-Greenlee's formidable talents as authors, it is also because of these incredible nurses themselves. They were all of the things their daughters demonstrated about. They were brave, dedicated, self-reliant, tough, funny, compassionate, smart and inspiring. I am in awe of every one of them. They stand among the greats of the Greatest generation.
Monahan and Niedel-Greenlee have done us all a great service by telling this story. Thank you both.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Book About Incredible Women.
Review: I have wanted to write this review since I finished "And If I Perish", but, quite frankly, I did not know how to start. As a lifelong reader, a woman of a "certain age" and an English teacher, I must have read thousands of books over the years. This one is, quite simply, the best book I have ever read. One of the jacket cover comments uses the word, masterpiece, that barely describes it.
The authors have done a magnificent job of weaving a seamless saga from the early days of WW II in North Africa, up through Italy and France and into Berlin. While I have read many books that chronicle the experiences of several people it was always difficult to keep them straight without a great deal of re-reading. Not so with these nurses, they are all recalled with no effort at all. While this is in no doubt due to Monahan & Neidel-Greenlee's formidable talents as authors, it is also because of these incredible nurses themselves. They were all of the things their daughters demonstrated about. They were brave, dedicated, self-reliant, tough, funny, compassionate, smart and inspiring. I am in awe of every one of them. They stand among the greats of the Greatest generation.
Monahan and Niedel-Greenlee have done us all a great service by telling this story. Thank you both.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Book About Incredible Women.
Review: I have wanted to write this review since I finished "And If I Perish", but, quite frankly, I did not know how to start. As a lifelong reader, a woman of a "certain age" and an English teacher, I must have read thousands of books over the years. This one is, quite simply, the best book I have ever read. One of the jacket cover comments uses the word, masterpiece, that barely describes it.
The authors have done a magnificent job of weaving a seamless saga from the early days of WW II in North Africa, up through Italy and France and into Berlin. While I have read many books that chronicle the experiences of several people it was always difficult to keep them straight without a great deal of re-reading. Not so with these nurses, they are all recalled with no effort at all. While this is in no doubt due to Monahan & Neidel-Greenlee's formidable talents as authors, it is also because of these incredible nurses themselves. They were all of the things their daughters demonstrated about. They were brave, dedicated, self-reliant, tough, funny, compassionate, smart and inspiring. I am in awe of every one of them. They stand among the greats of the Greatest generation.
Monahan and Niedel-Greenlee have done us all a great service by telling this story. Thank you both.

Rating:
Summary: Iron ladies!
Review: I love nurses, especially World War II nurses who never got their due, despite their stalwart courage in the face of Axis bombing and shelling.
AND IF I PERISH traces the nurses' involvement from their landing (at the same time as the regular troops) in North Africa, to Sicily, to Anzio and the push northward in Italy, to the Normandy invasion, to the invasion of Germany and finally to the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.
30,000 nurses served in combat zones on the front lines of every American battlefield and yet they were treated like second-class officers. Most of them received "general" commissions, never rising above second lieutenant. Enlisted men were not required to salute them. Back home they were often viewed as prostitutes and lesbians. A woman living among unmarried men? What sort of woman would subject herself to that sort of scandal?
Unfortunately, the writing in AND IF I PERISH doesn't do these women justice. Hardly any of the nurses come alive and only one of the wounded soldiers is mentioned by name. Two of the nurses, however, are very memorable. Lt. Claudine "Speedy" Glidewell, who was almost killed when her hospital ship was bombed by the Germans, and Lt. "Frenchie" Miernicke. Frenchie tells off an uppity surgeon who treats her like a servant, and in the most touching anecdote in the book, Speedy's grandson, rather than do a report on Cleopatra, chooses his grandma instead.
Two incidents show the bravery of these remarkable women. When the American troops landed at Anzio their advance was stopped by the Germans and they were hemmed in near the harbor for months. There was no fallback position for the hospitals and the Germans would hurl artillery shells over the nurses tents, sometimes coming up short sometimes overshooting, sometimes scoring a direct hit. Yet the nurses stayed and did their duty. Also, during the Battle of the Bulge, the chief nurse was told to choose five nurses to stay behind to help patients who could not be moved. This was immediately after seventy some troops had been massacred by the Germans. Yet when she asked for volunteers more than fire volunteered, risking imprisonment or death.
Sixteen army nurses were killed by enemy action, 201 lost their lives due to illness or accidents. Many nurses received the DSM, the Silver Star, the DFC and the purple heart. Yet, when they returned home they were expected to return to their old roles as homemakers. Many relished this return to normalcy but for others this was just not possible. These women went on to further challenges and would become symbols to the next generation of women who fought for equal rights for their gender.

Rating:
Summary: And If I Perish
Review: If history had been taught like this when I was in school, I might have become an historian instead of a nurse. AND IF I PERISH makes it very clear that history is alive with wonderful stories and heroes yet unsung. I thank Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee for writing a book that is meticulous in the facts it presents, and thoroughly enjoyable as a good read----a combination not often found in books dealing with historical subjects. I hope these two authors will grace us with many more books in the future. As for AND IF I PERISH, it should be designated a national treasure and read by every American. It belongs in every library and on the bookshelves of every home. Once I began reading, I could not put it down. Wonderful, Wonderful!

Rating:
Summary: And If I Perish
Review: If history had been taught like this when I was in school, I might have become an historian instead of a nurse. AND IF I PERISH makes it very clear that history is alive with wonderful stories and heroes yet unsung. I thank Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee for writing a book that is meticulous in the facts it presents, and thoroughly enjoyable as a good read----a combination not often found in books dealing with historical subjects. I hope these two authors will grace us with many more books in the future. As for AND IF I PERISH, it should be designated a national treasure and read by every American. It belongs in every library and on the bookshelves of every home. Once I began reading, I could not put it down. Wonderful, Wonderful!