Back to previous page New in the Northwest One more D-Day story that deserves to be read Sunday, June 14, 2004 AMERICAN NIGHTINGALE, Bob Welch, Atria Books, $22, 320 pages Americans are just about D-Dayed out after the 60th anniversary media hype. But there is an aftermath tale that is every bit as compelling and moving as the wave of Normandy invasion stories that have inundated the news. "American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy" tells the intimate tale of a U.S. Army nurse who gave the ultimate sacrifice for her country. Bob Welch, a writer for the Eugene Register-Guard, wrote a column about Slanger in 2000. He was stunned when a Eugene resident, one of 17 nurses in the 45th Hospital Unit who served alongside Slanger, contacted him -- and a book evolved. The best way to understand the enormity of war is to look at individual stories. "American Nightingale" seamlessly weaves the horror Slanger faced while helping those injured during the D-Day Allied invasion with the struggles of her early life. She was a Polish-born immigrant who grew up poor in Boston's South End. She wanted to be a nurse, something nice Jewish girls just didn't do, and barely made it through nursing school. In spite of those challenges and being thrust into one of the most brutal battles in history, Slanger remained ever hopeful. She became a minor celebrity when Stars and Stripes newspaper published her letter commending brave GIs; those who read it didn't know she had been killed the day after she wrote it. It's a tragic story, but thanks to Welch's capable reconstruction, it's compelling as well. He balances the inspirational quotes and insipid poetry Slanger wrote in her journal with the hellish details of war. Some of Welch's prose is overwrought -- "As November deepened, the icy breath of war chilled the neck of Ldz." -- but it fits within the intense historical context. Slanger was a typical American caught up in an extraordinary drama; her story transcends a media time peg. -- Susan Wickstrom, Special to The Oregonian © Copyright 2004 OregonLive.com. Back to previous page