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Bob Welch Bob is the general columnist at The Register-Guard, Oregon's second-largest newspaper, and was honored for his work by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in 2001, 2002 and 2003. He has won dozens of newspaper, magazine, and book awards. An adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, Welch is the author of six books, including A Father for All Seasons, Where Roots Grow Deep, and The Things That Matter Most: Choosing Family, Faith and the Simple Life. His articles have appeared in major national magazines including Reader's Digest, Sports Illustrated, and Runner's World. His latest book is American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy, which was published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster in time for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. American Nightingale is the heart-wrenching and inspirational WWII story of the first American nurse to die after the landings at Normandy. It is the true story of Frances Slanger, a Jewish fruit peddler's daughter who survived a chilling childhood in World War I-torn Poland and immigrated to America at age seven. Inspired by memories of her bitter past and a Nazi-threatened future, she defied her parents' wishes by becoming a nurse and joining the military. In Army fatigues and a helmet, she splashed ashore on Normandy beach in June 1944. Later, by flashlight, from a storm-whipped tent amid the thud of artillery shells, Frances wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes newspaper that would touch the hearts of thousands of weary soldiers across Europe. But she never got to read the thank-you letters that poured in by the hundreds; as one GI later wrote, her words were "sealed with her own blood." She was killed the next morning. At the end of the war, as 5,600 caskets were being loaded on a transport in Belgium for shipment home, one was held out to honor the rest. It was Frances Slanger's. American Nightingale received widespread media acclaim, including a feature article in the Boston Globe, reviews in the Baton Rouge Advocate, Manchester Union Leader and Salem Statesman Journal, the Portland Oregonian's article and review, as well as features on ABC's Good Morning America and Boston NPR affiliate WBUR, both of which offered an excerpt of the book on their Web sites. Several online sites have featured interviews with Bob, including Authorlink and ABEBooks. Film and television rights have been optioned to Relentless Entertainment. Booklist called American Nightingale "a heartwarming story for all ages." Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Americana, said "Through indefatigable research and a nearly obsessive quest to inhabit a great moment in time, Bob Welch achieves something rare among works of military history: He brings one person, a single extraordinary person, to vivid life upon the page. Read American Nightingale, and you'll never think of D-Day in the same way again." James Bradley, best-selling author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys, said "Bob Welch has done the country a service by recalling Frances Slanger's story... enrich your life and read this touching story."

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