For the Boys: The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third Army

"This novelistic narrative captures both the violence and trauma of WWII and its subject’s remarkable heroism."― Publishers Weekly A month after her 24th birthday, Lt. Mary Elizabeth Balster collapses among the rubble of a shelled supply room. Has the young nurse finally succumbed to the mounting emotional toll caused from months of caring for the sick and wounded just behind the front lines of General Patton’s Third Army? On the night of November 30, 1944, holed up in the Heinrich Himmler Barracks in Morhange, France, Lt. Balster’s evac receives a typical patient load (over 200 soldiers, including wounded enemy), but this time one of the admissions is a 19-year-old tanker she’d nursed back to health five months before in Normandy. The charge nurse on Surgical gently informs the lieutenant that the private is critical, admitted with two gunshot wounds and almost half his body consumed by burns. Rising determined to save him, Balster limps toward the shelled supply room determined to search for any blood plasma bottles still intact after Luftwaffe strafing. Recaptured from her mother’s reminiscences and letters home, N. C. R. Davis takes the reader through every heat-of-battle harrowing moment as Balster lived it, achieving a rare glimpse of one nurse’s point of view during the latter part of the European conflict. The book mixes Lt. Balster’s observations, memories, and dreams to re-tell the true story of a richly rebellious and intense woman trying to navigate her life and nurture her sanity while nursing the wounded and dying frontline soldiers of the Third Army. Her strong-willed, beguiling personality fosters the grit necessary for her success as a combat nurse, but these same characteristics cause two men to fall in love with her. And the personal cost of war comes to a heartrending conclusion, as she must choose one man over the other to save herself. Table of Contents Acknowledgements Author’s Note Preface PART I: St. Paul, Fort Leonard Wood, Middle Tennessee, Winter 1933–Winter 1943 1 On a Streetcar, Guilt Takes a Prisoner 2 During Quarantine, a Nurse is Born 3 Under Control 4 Mail Call 5 The Cave 6 Hotel Jefferson, St. Louis 7 Please Forgive This Depressing Missive 8 No Excuses 9 Pickled Caterpillars and Wood Tick Juice PART II: HMS Andes and Altrincham, Spring 1944–Summer 1944 10 Shave Tail 11 The Buckleys 12 A Doctor Captain PART III: European Theatre of Operations, Summer 1944 13 Christmas in July 14 Bed-Check Charlie 15 Poppies 16 On a Grassy Knoll near Sainte-Mère-Église 17 Lost Cots and Litters in the Sun 18 It’s Just the Little Things, Daddy 19 You Can’t Blame These Boys 20 Got into a Little Dutch 21 Toul 22 These Boys 23 Snow Globe 24 Redmond 25 General Patton’s Vagabonds 26 KAR 98 27 Blue 88 28 For the Boys 29 Lucky Strikes and a Limey 30 Luxembourg 31 Deposed Queens 32 Buchenwald 33 Hopes Unrealized 34 The Green Danube 35 Isolation Has its Perks 36 Winter Storm Brewing Afterword
ASIN: 1636241581
VSKU: DBV.1636241581.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Davis, NCR
Binding: Hardcover
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Gently used with minimal wear on the corners and cover. A few pages may contain light highlighting or writing, but the text remains fully legible. Dust jacket may be missing, and supplemental materials like CDs or codes may not be included. May be ex-library with library markings. Ships promptly!