I love nurses, especially World War II nurses who never got their due, despite their stalwart courage in the face of Axis bombing and shelling.

AND IF I PERISH, by Monahan and Neidel-Greenlee, traces the nurses' involvement from their landing (at the same time as the regular troops) in North Africa, to Sicily, to Anzio and the push northward in Italy, to the Normandy invasion, to the invasion of Germany and finally to the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.

30,000 nurses served in combat zones on the front lines of every American battlefield and yet they were treated like second-class officers. Most of them received "general" commissions, never rising above second lieutenant. Enlisted men were not required to salute them. Back home they were often viewed as prostitutes and lesbians. A woman living among unmarried men? What sort of woman would subject herself to that sort of scandal?

Unfortunately, the writing in AND IF I PERISH doesn't do these women justice. Hardly any of the nurses come alive and only one of the wounded soldiers is mentioned by name. Two of the nurses, however, are very memorable. Lt. Claudine "Speedy" Glidewell, who was almost killed when her hospital ship was bombed by the Germans, and Lt. "Frenchie" Miernicke. Frenchie tells off an uppity surgeon who treats her like a servant, and in the most touching anecdote in the book, Speedy's grandson, rather than do a report on Cleopatra, chooses his grandma instead.

Two incidents show the bravery of these remarkable women. When the American troops landed at Anzio their advance was stopped by the Germans and they were hemmed in near the harbor for months. There was no fallback position for the hospitals and the Germans would hurl artillery shells over the nurses tents, sometimes coming up short sometimes overshooting, sometimes scoring a direct hit. Yet the nurses stayed and did their duty. Also, during the Battle of the Bulge, the chief nurse was told to choose five nurses to stay behind to help patients who could not be moved. This was immediately after seventy some troops had been massacred by the Germans. Yet when she asked for volunteers more than five volunteered, risking imprisonment or death.

Sixteen army nurses were killed by enemy action, 201 lost their lives due to illness or accidents. Many nurses received the DSM, the Silver Star, the DFC and the purple heart. Yet, when they returned home they were expected to return to their old roles as homemakers. Many relished this return to normalcy but for others this was just not possible. These women went on to further challenges and would become symbols to the next generation of women who fought for equal rights for their gender.

Dave Schwinghammer's unconventional mystery, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available at Amazon.com, new and used.