In Defense of a Nation: Servicewomen in World War II [Hardcover]

Jeanne M. Holm (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Maj. Gen. USAF (Ret.) Jeanne M. Holm has, with the assistance of a dedicated group of former and current servicewomen, written a history of American servicewomen in WW2 that is a credit to their sometimes unacknowledged but heroic performance. To read the richly photographed text, one sees the scope of such service. Not only had this enormous undertaking been thrust upon a largely unprepared military in the wake of Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941), with over 2400 casualties, but the armed services had to first scope out the institutional and racial corollaries already in existence since demilitarization after WW1. For example, only the Army (Army Nurse Corps) was less than reluctant to engage women in any form of service equality. The Navy, Coast Guard and Marines were slow to come on board. Also, for much of WW2 black servicewomen had to serve in segregated units.Nonetheless, as appendices and charts show, women were much more than "Rosie the riveter" in domestic industry. By the end of WW2, over 400,000 women had served in the Armed Forces. The fact that the military relaxed many provisos during and after the war (especially after 1944) reflected the respect women gained in nursing, reserves, air force service, and auxiliary tasks like the American Red Cross, the United Service Organization, the Public Health Service, and the Cadet Nurse Corps.The Army Nurse Corps was in the Philippines when it was taken over by the Japanese. Many nurses in captivity cared for hundreds of inmates in primitive conditions until they were liberated in 1945. Nurses were at Pearl Harbor, Australia, New Guinea, Iwo Jima, Anzio, China, Burma, and India, as well as England and France after D-Day. Navy nurses were in many of the same locations, many times as prisoners of war. Due to wartime alliance, women were stationed in the Ukraine during attacks by the German Luftwaffe, and were in England during the Blitz and "buzz bombs." A summary of the corps of command shows the depth of commitment. Women served in the Army Nurses Corps; Navy Nurses Corps; Women's Army Corps (WAAC and WAC); WAVES; Marine Corps Women's Reserve; Coast Guard Women's Reserves (SPAR); Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP); as well as Army dietitians, physical therapists and occupational therapists. Initially hoped to be recruited to help "free a man" for able bodied military service, women in WW2 went with men to all corners of the globe and all theaters of operation, north, south, east, and west. To all those brave recruits, who as military casualties never returned to the United States, this well written book is a memorial to their bravery and heroism. -- From Independent Publisher

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Vandamere Pr (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966020219
• ISBN-13: 978-0966020212
• ASIN: 091833943X
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,201,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)