Alice Zwicker was the only service woman from Maine to be a prisoner of the enemy in either of the two World Wars. But there is more to the story than that. Across the nation, wherever one of the seventy-seven Angels of Bataan returned home, there was a hero’s welcome. Those Army and Navy nurses had shown what American women could do and be, even in times of defeat. This is Alice’s story: her growing up in a small Maine town, her commitment to the profession of nursing, and her immersion in World War II. There was Manila, Bataan, Corregidor, and then three long, hungry years when she was held prisoner by the Japanese. For Alice, the terrible legacy of war did not end with her liberation from internment camp, or even with her coming home. When victory finally arrived for Alice, it was achieved in her own soul.

In the fall of 1941, the Philippines was a gardenia-scented paradise for the American Army and Navy nurses stationed there. War was a distant rumor, life a routine of easy shifts and dinners under the stars. On December 8 all that changed, as Japanese bombs began raining down on American bases in Luzon, and this paradise became a fiery hell. Caught in the raging battle, the nurses set up field hospitals in the jungles of Bataan and the tunnels of Corregidor, where they tended to the most devastating injuries of war, and suffered the terrors of shells and shrapnel. But the worst was yet to come. After Bataan and Corregidor fell, the nurses were herded into internment camps where they would endure three years of fear, brutality, and starvation. Once liberated, they returned to an America that at first celebrated them, but later refused to honor their leaders with the medals they clearly deserved. Here, in letters, diaries, and riveting firsthand accounts, is the story of what really happened during those dark days, woven together in a deeply affecting saga of women in war. Praise for We Band of Angels “Gripping . . . a war story in which the main characters never kill one of the enemy, or even shoot at him, but are nevertheless heroes . . . Americans today should thank God we had such women.”—Stephen E. Ambrose “Remarkable and uplifting.”—USA Today “[Elizabeth M. Norman] brings a quiet, scholarly voice to this narrative. . . . In just a little over six months these women had turned from plucky young girls on a mild adventure to authentic heroes. . . . Every page of this history is fascinating.”—Carolyn See, The Washington Post “Riveting . . . poignant and powerful.”—The Dallas Morning News Winner of the Lavinia Dock Award for historical scholarship, the American Academy of Nursing National Media Award, and the Agnes Dillon Randolph Award

With the insight and intimacy of firsthand accounts from some of the thousands of army and navy nurses who served both stateside and overseas during World War II, this book tells the stories of the brave women who used any and all resources to save as many lives as possible. Although military nurses could have made more money as civilians, thousands chose to leave the security of home to care for the young men who went off to war. They were not saints but vibrant women whose performance changed both military and civilian nursing. Kathi Jackson's account follows army and navy nurses from the time they joined the military, through their active service, to their lives today. They Called Them Angels presents the stories of women who lived under extraordinary circumstances in an extraordinary time, women who even today bear emotional scars along with lasting pride.

When the Japanese began their brutal occupation of the Philippines in early 1942, 76,000 ill and starving Filipinos and many Americans were left to defend Bataan, Manila, and surrounding islands. During the three violent years of occupation that followed, Allied sympathizers smuggled suppliesand information to guerilla fighters and prisoner camps around the country. Theresa Kaminski's Angels of the Underground tells the story of two such members of this lesser-known resistance movement - American women known only as Miss U and High Pockets. Incredibly adept at skirting occupationauthorities to support the Allied effort, the very nature of their clandestine wartime work meant that the truth behind their dangerous activities had to be obscured as long as the Japanese occupied the Philippines. Were their identities revealed, they would be arrested, tortured, and executed.Throughout the war, Miss U and High Pockets remained hidden behind a veil of deceit and subterfuge.Angels of the Underground offers the compelling tale of two ordinary American women propelled by extraordinary circumstances into acts of heroism. Married to servicemen, Peggy Utinsky and Claire Phillips, the women behind Miss U and High Pockets, hoped that their clandestine efforts would reunitethem with their husbands. Both men died at the hands of the Japanese, but Utinsky and Phillips stayed on through the occupation, working in hospitals, moving supplies, and building their networks. Utinsky narrowly survived a month of torture at Fort Santiago, then joined John Boone's guerilla bandand became a brevet second lieutenant before returning to the Red Cross until the end of the war. Phillips barely escaped execution in 1943, and was sentenced to hard labor in a prison camp, where she remained until February 1945.Angels of the Underground illuminates the complex political dimensions of the occupied Philippines and its importance to the war effort in the Pacific. Kaminski's narrative sheds light on the Japanese-occupied city of Manila; the Bataan Death March and subsequent incarceration of American militaryprisoners in camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan under horrific conditions; and the formation of guerrilla units in the mountains of Luzon.Angels of the Underground makes a significant contribution to the work on women's wartime experiences. Through the lens of Utinksy and Phillips, who never wavered in their belief that it was their duty as patriotic American women to aid the Allied cause, Kaminksi highlights how women have alwaysbeen active participants in war, whether or not they wear a military uniform. An impressive work of scholarship grounded in archival research and personal interviews, this is also a stunning story of courage and heroism in wartime.

This is the story of the heroism of Margaret Utinsky, who, against unbelievable and fantastic odds, for three years led an underground organization in the Philippines in a relentless and telling effort to aid American prisoners of war held by the Japanese. Dauntless and determined, she pushed into the background her own personal loss, faced the twin demons of physical and mental anguish, and “stood up” to circumstances and conditions which most of us find inconceivable. In her own words, she became “accustomed to doing the impossible.” And gaunt prisoners behind walls and wires, guerrillas in the hills, the faithful in Manila—all felt the force of the courageous leadership of this small dynamo, for whom “something always happened.”

As a young naval aviator, Dusty Rhodes was shot down by the Japanese on his first combat mission in World War II. Toughing out the rest of the war in POW camps, he wondered if he would ever fly again. But Rhodes was destined to take flying to new heights. As only the third fighter pilot to become leader of the Blue Angels, Raleigh E. "Dusty" Rhodes participated in developing the most famous aerobatics team ever formed. From POW to Blue Angel tells his story - a fast-paced drama teeming with action and human interest and capturing the initiative and tenacity of a true American hero. Jim Armstrong has drawn on extensive interviews with Dusty and his closest colleagues, as well as Dusty's scrapbooks, flight logs, and prison journal, to produce a rare account of the Blue Angels in the late 1940s. Readers will experience the stress of practice and the exhilaration of air shows as Armstrong takes them inside Dusty's cockpit during the team's early years. This was the era when the Blues first found fame, perfecting their trademark diamond formation and barrel roll, as well as transitioning from prop planes to jet aircraft. This book is also a moving account of the brutality Rhodes suffered for three years as a prisoner of war - the beatings, the interrogations, the forced labor - and includes his rare, ground observer's view of the firebombings of Tokyo and Yokohama. Armstrong captures Dusty's exhilaration and uncertainty in returning to a changed postwar America, and also recounts how Rhodes followed his Blue Angels command with a tour as a fighter pilot in Korea.

""Even though women were not supposed to be on the front lines, on the front lines we were. Women were not supposed to be interned either, but it happened to us. People should know what we endured. People should know what we can endure.""—Lt. Col. Madeline Ullom More than one hundred U.S. Army and Navy nurses were stationed in Guam and the Philippines at the beginning of World War II. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, five navy nurses on Guam became the first American military women of World War II to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. More than seventy army nurses survived five months of combat conditions in the jungles of Bataan and Corregidor before being captured, only to endure more than three years in prison camps. When freedom came, the U.S. military ordered the nurses to sign agreements with the government not to discuss their horrific experiences. Evelyn Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee have conducted numerous interviews with survivors and scoured archives for letters, diaries, and journals to uncover the heroism and sacrifices of these brave women.

“Farrell chronicles the harrowing story of U.S. Army and Navy nurses based in the Philippines during WWII . . . a memorable portrayal.” —Booklist (starred review) In the early 1940s, young women enlisted for peacetime duty as U.S. Army nurses. But when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 blasted the United States into World War II, 101 American Army and Navy nurses serving in the Philippines were suddenly treating wounded and dying soldiers while bombs exploded all around them. The women served in jerry-rigged jungle hospitals on the Bataan Peninsula and in underground tunnels on Corregidor Island. Later, when most of them were captured by the Japanese as prisoners of war, they suffered disease and near-starvation for three years. Pure Grit is a story of sisterhood and suffering, of tragedy and betrayal, of death and life. The women cared for one another, maintained discipline, and honored their vocation to nurse anyone in need—all 101 coming home alive. The book is illustrated with archival photographs and includes an index, glossary, and timeline. “Farrell doesn’t spare her young readers any grim details . . . She includes the challenges these women faced and the joy they felt on returning home. As awful as history can be, now might be the right time to introduce the next generation to this important period.” —The Washington Post “Young readers who enjoyed Tanya Lee Stone’s Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream will also appreciate this story of courageous women whose story was nearly forgotten.” —School Library Journal

"Absolutely riveting. A stay-up-all night read about two very different women who discover just how strong they can be—and just how much they'll dare—during the brutal Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. This story of endurance and sisterhood will have you turning pages late into the night." —Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author If you loved Beantown Girls by Jane Healey and Hazel Gaynor’s When We Were Young & Brave, then you won’t want to miss critically acclaimed author Elise Hooper’s powerful new novel of the Angels of Bataan, nurses held as prisoners during the occupation of the Philippines in World War II. Their survival would depend on sisterhood and service. Inspired by the extraordinary true stories of World War II’s American Army nurses famously known as the Angels of Bataan and the unsung contributions of Filipinas of the resistance, this novel transports us to a remarkable era of hope, bravery, perseverance, and ultimately—victory. The Philippines, 1941: Tess Abbott, an American Army nurse, has fled the hardships of the Great Depression at home for the glamour and adventure of Manila, one of the most desirable postings in the world. But everything changes when the Japanese Imperial Army invades with lightning speed and devastating results. Tess and her band of nurses serve on the front lines until they are captured as prisoners of war and held behind the high stone walls of Manila’s Santo Tomas Internment Camp. When the Japanese occupation of her beloved homeland commences, Flor Dalisay, a Filipina university student, will be drawn into the underground network of resistance, discovering within herself reserves of courage, resilience, and leadership she never knew she possessed. As the war continues, Tess and Flor face danger, deprivation, and terror, leading them into a web of danger as they unexpectedly work together to save lives and win their freedom.