American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy (Paperback)

by Bob Welch (Author) "The bow of the William N. Pendleton, a U.S. Merchant Marine freighter, sliced through the chop of the English Channel, cutting a wake soon lost..." (more)
Key Phrases: fruit route, eighteen nurses, shock ward, Frances Slanger, Second Platoon, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Former newspaper columnist Welch (The Things That Matter Most) presents a detailed biography of a World War II army nurse for whom death and fame came nearly simultaneously. Frances Slanger was a shy, bookish woman who worked tirelessly to care for wounded soldiers. In June 1944, she was one of the first nurses to wade ashore on Normandy beach. One night, she wrote a letter in praise of her American G.I. charges, which was published in the military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes. Hundreds of soldiers wrote to thank her for the letter, not knowing that she had been killed by enemy fire within hours of posting it. Welch carefully traces the major events of Slanger’s life: from her childhood in World War I Poland, where she suffered because she was Jewish, to her coming of age in Boston, where she decided, against her parents’ wishes, to become a nurse so she could serve her adopted country and help stop the spread of Nazism in Europe. Thanks to her famous letter, Slanger received many posthumous honors, including having a warship named for her, but Welch’s biography is the first extended account of her life. The book is at its best when describing the conditions of the army field hospital where Slanger worked. It is less assured when recounting Slanger’s experiences before she entered the army, and the author’s conceit of switching back and forth between the two time periods is needlessly confusing. Nonetheless, Slanger’s life offers a stirring story of intense personal devotion and, despite its somewhat pedestrian prose, this book should be appreciated by WWII buffs, as well as those interested in women’s history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
This is an account of the first American army nurse to die on the Normandy front. A few days before she was killed, she had written a letter to the Stars and Stripes, a tribute to the soldiers she had helped to live--and die. It began, "They are brought in bloody, dirty, with the earth, mud, and grime, and most of them so tired. Somebody's brother, somebody's father, and somebody's son." The day after it was printed, she died when the Germans shelled the Forty-Fifth Field Hospital Unit. She never knew that she had stirred the hearts of thousands of soldiers and their families. Welch searched for the woman who had written that letter, helped by one of the few surviving nurses of the unit. In writing her story, he has also given us a picture of the Jewish neighborhoods of Boston in the 1920s and 1930s, nursing school and hospital work in the 1930s, and the training and responsibilities of army nurses at the front. This is not only a heartwarming story for all ages, but it is also especially recommended for young people. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atria (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743477596
• ISBN-13: 978-0743477598
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #419,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is American courage, June 4, 2004

By	Steven Cain (Temporal Quantum Pocket) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy (Hardcover)

Like British Army Nurse Florence Nightingale before her, and American Army Nurse Sharon Ann Lane (KIA, 312th Evac., Chu Lai, 1969, Vietnam) after her, Frances Slanger was a true heroine.

Bob Welch struck gold when a former Nursing comrade of Slanger's read one of his articles and got in touch. Previously, details about Frances Slanger had been slightly scant and it had been reported that she had been killed by an Enemy sniper. Welch gets it right in indicating that she had actually been killed during an artillery barrage.

Even by Day 3, the slowly expanding Normandy beach heads were a dangerous place to be. Despite overwhelming Allied airpower, involving thousands of combat sorties per day, the Germans were still putting up determined resistance on the ground.

Even the act of wading ashore was not without its dangers, especially given that Frances Slanger was barely five feet tall. She was one of only four nurses to land at Normandy while it was still an intensely active combat zone. Yet in spite of the mines, the snipers, the artillery exchanges and the odd air attack, Slanger and her courageous sisters pitched in immediately to help care for the endless influx of wounded.

A few months later, she became the first Army Nurse KIA of the post-Overlord campaign.

While ever America can still produce women like Frances Slanger and Sharon Ann Lane, and men like the brave young warriors that they gave their own young lives to support, the enemies of Freedom will never win.

Never.

An outstanding book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant read..., July 26, 2005

By	Angie L. Wheaton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy (Hardcover)

As a nurse that has retired from that field, I read this book and was touched beyond words about the person Frances Slanger and the nurse and heroine Frances Slanger. I am an avid reader and love to read about WWII era; this book opened a new area of history that hasnt been adequately covered. It is well written and I highly recommend!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Hero, October 16, 2004

By	Neal Bellet (Wayne, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy (Hardcover)

I just finished reading American Nightingale. What a FANTASTIC book. The story of Frances Slanger is truly inspirational and the greatest testament to this inspiration, and to her heroism came from the very men that she cared for while in Europe. I am an avid reader of WWII books and I rank this up there as one of the best that I've ever read. Great job!