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We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the American Women Trapped on Bataan Paperback – October 29, 2013

by Elizabeth Norman (Author)

4.6 1,837 ratings

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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

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

About the Author

Elizabeth M. Norman, R.N., Ph.D., is a professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is the author of Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam, and co-author with Michael Norman of Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath, which made The New York Times list of top ten nonfiction books in 2009 and was named a 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Her awards include an official commendation for Military Nursing Research from the U.S. Department of the Army.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Waking Up to War

IN THE FALL of 1941, while the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy secretly stockpiled tons of materiel and readied regiments of troops to attack American and European bases in the Pacific, the officers of General Douglas MacArthur’s Far East Command in the Philippines pampered themselves with the sweet pleasures of colonial life.

For most, war was only a rumor, an argument around the bar at the officers club, an opinion offered at poolside or on the putting green: let the bellicose Japanese rattle their swords—just so much sound and fury; the little island nation would never challenge the United States, never risk arousing such a prodigious foe.

The Americans had their war plans, of course—MacArthur had stockpiled supplies and intended to train more Filipino troops to fight alongside his doughboys—but most of the officers in the Far East Command looked on the danger with desultory eyes. They were much too preoccupied with their diversions, their off-duty pastimes and pursuits, to dwell on such unpleasant business. To be sure, there were realists in the islands, plenty of them, but for the most part their alarms were lost in the roar of the surf or the late-afternoon rallies on the tennis court.

Worry about war? Not with Filipino houseboys, maids, chefs, gardeners and tailors looking after every need. And not in a place that had the look and sweet fragrance of paradise, a place of palm groves, white gardenias and purple bougainvillea, frangipani and orchids—orchids everywhere, even growing out of coconut husks. At the five army posts and one navy base there were badminton and tennis courts, bowling alleys and playing fields. At Fort Stotsenberg, where the cavalry was based, the officers held weekly polo matches. It was a halcyon life, cocktails and bridge at sunset, white jackets and long gowns at dinner, good gin and Gershwin under the stars.

WORD OF THIS good life circulated among the military bases Stateside, and women who wanted adventure and romance—self-possessed, ambitious and unattached women—signed up to sail west. After layovers in Hawaii and Guam, their ships made for Manila Bay. At the dock a crowd was often gathered, for such arrivals were big events—“boat days,” the locals called them. A band in white uniforms played the passengers down the gangplank, then, following a greeting from their commanding officer and a brief ceremony of welcome, a car with a chauffeur carried the new nurses through the teeming streets of Manila to the Army and Navy Club, where a soft lounge chair and a restorative tumbler of gin was waiting.

Most of the nurses in the Far East Command were in the army and the majority of these worked at Sternberg Hospital, a 450-bed alabaster quadrangle on the city’s south side. At the rear of the complex were the nurses quarters, elysian rooms with shell-filled windowpanes, bamboo and wicker furniture with plush cushions and mahogany ceiling fans gently turning the tropical air.

From her offices at Sternberg Hospital, Captain Maude Davison, a career officer and the chief nurse, administered the Army Nurse Corps in the Philippines. Her first deputy, Lieutenant Josephine “Josie” Nesbit of Butler, Missouri, also a “lifer,” set the work schedules and established the routines. For most of the women the work was relatively easy and uncomplicated, the usual mix of surgical, medical and obstetric patients, rarely a difficult case or an emergency, save on pay nights or when the fleet was in port and the troops, with too much time on their hands and too much liquor in their bellies, got to brawling.

For the most part one workday blended into another. Every morning a houseboy would appear with a newspaper, then over fresh-squeezed papaya juice with a twist of lime, the women would sit and chat about the day ahead, particularly what they planned to do after work: visit a Chinese tailor, perhaps, or take a Spanish class with a private tutor; maybe go for a swim in the phosphorescent waters of the beach club.

The other posts had their pleasures as well. At Fort McKinley, seven miles from Manila, a streetcar ferried people between the post pool, the bowling alley, the movie theater and the golf course. Seventy-five miles north at Fort Stotsenberg Hospital and nearby Clark Air Field, the post social life turned on the polo matches and weekend rides into the hills where monkeys chattered like children and red-and-blue toucans and parrots called to one another in the trees. Farther north was Camp John Hay, located in the shadow of the Cordillera Central Mountains near Baguio, the unofficial summer capital and retreat for wealthy Americans and Filipinos. The air was cool in Baguio, perfect for golf, and the duffers and low-handicappers who spent every day on the well-tended fairways of the local course often imagined they were playing the finest links this side of Scotland. South of Manila, a thirty-mile drive from the capital, or a short ferry ride across the bay, sat Sangley Point Air Field, the huge Cavite Navy Yard and the U.S. Naval Hospital at Canacao. The hospital, a series of white buildings connected by passageways and shaded by mahogany trees, was set at the tip of a peninsula. Across the bay at Fort Mills on Corregidor, a small hilly island of 1,735 acres, the sea breezes left the air seven degrees cooler than in the city. Fanned by gentle gusts from the sea, the men and their dates would sit on the veranda of the officers club after dark, staring at the glimmer of the lights from the capital across the bay.

Even as MacArthur’s command staff worked on a plan to defend Manila from attack, his officers joked about “fighting a war and a hangover at the same time.” A few weeks before the shooting started, nurse Eleanor Garen of Elkhart, Indiana, sent a note home to her mother: “Everything is quiet here so don’t worry. You probably hear a lot of rumors, but that is all there is about it.”

In late November of 1941, most of the eighty-seven army nurses and twelve navy nurses busied themselves buying Christmas presents and new outfits for a gala on New Year’s Eve. Then they set about lining up the right escort.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1941, just before dawn. Mary Rose “Red” Harrington was working the graveyard shift at Canacao Naval Hospital. Through the window and across the courtyard she saw lights come on in the officers quarters and heard loud voices. What, she wondered, were all those men doing up so early? And what were they yelling about? A moment later a sailor in a T-shirt burst through the doors of her ward.

They’ve bombed Honolulu!

Bombed Honolulu? What the hell was he talking about, Red thought.

Across Manila Bay, General Richard Sutherland woke his boss, General Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander in the Pacific, to tell him that the Imperial Japanese Navy had launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Later they would learn the details: nineteen American ships, including six battle wagons, the heart of the Pacific fleet, had been scuttled, and the Japanese had destroyed more than a hundred planes; through it all, several thousand soldiers and sailors had been killed or badly wounded.

After months of rumor, inference and gross miscalculation, the inconceivable, the impossible had happened. The Japanese had left the nucleus of the U.S. Pacific fleet twisted and burning. America was at war and the military was reeling.

Juanita Redmond, an army nurse at Sternberg Hospital in Manila, was just finishing her morning paperwork. Her shift would soon be over. One of her many beaus had invited her for an afternoon of golf and she planned a little breakfast and perhaps a nap beforehand. The telephone rang; it was her friend, Rosemary Hogan of Chattanooga, Oklahoma.

The Japs bombed Pearl Harbor.

“Thanks for trying to keep me awake,” Redmond said. “But that simply isn’t funny.”

“I’m not being funny,” Hogan insisted. “It’s true.”

As the reports of American mass casualties spread through the hospital that morning, a number of nurses who had close friends stationed in Honolulu broke down and wept.

“Girls! Girls!” Josie Nesbit shouted, trying to calm her staff. “Girls, you’ve got to sleep today. You can’t weep and wail over this, because you have to work tonight.”

Some slipped off alone to their rooms while others rushed to a bank to cable money home. Two women, apparently resigned to whatever fate was going to bring, shrugged their shoulders and strolled over to the Army and Navy Club to go bowling.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (October 29, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812984846
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812984842
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 0.81 x 7.93 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #89,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Philippines History
- #215 in Women in History
- #732 in World War II History (Books)

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4.6 1,837 ratings

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Elizabeth Norman

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Elizabeth M. Norman is the daughter of two World War II veterans. Her father served with the U.S. Army in Europe in 1944; her mother was in uniform with the U.S. Coast Guard. Elizabeth began her professional career as a registered nurse before turning to the study of history and writing. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Rutgers University. She earned her graduate and doctoral degrees from New York University, then joined the tenured faculty there in 1998. She currently is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Development and Education where she teaches history, writing and research design in the Department of Applied Statistics, Social Sciences and Humanities. She is married, has two grown sons, and a granddaughter, Florence. For many years she has lived in Montclair N. J.

In 1990, Elizabeth published her first book, Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam 1965-1973, (University of Pennsylvania Press). The first edition of We Band of Angels was published in 1999. Ten years later, she co-authored Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (Picador and Farrar Straus & Giroux) which made The New York Times list of top ten nonfiction books in 2009 and was named a 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Her awards include an official commendation for her research on women veterans from the U.S. Department of the Army.

She is delighted to have the opportunity to update the story of the remarkable group of women in We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Women Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese (2013) Random House paperback and ebook. This 2nd edition has been updated with a new ending titled, Last Woman Standing.

She and her co-author Michael Norman are working on a non-fiction book on Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City to be published by Henry Holt Inc /Macmillan.

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Customers find the book gripping and heartwarming. They praise the author's passion for research and writing. The writing quality is praised as solid and vivid. Readers appreciate the compelling storyline and individual profiles of the nurses. Many find the suffering endured by survivors poignant and moving. The pacing is described as riveting and quick.

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276 customers mention "Readability"276 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an engaging read about a little-known WWII story. They describe it as gripping and heart-wrenching, an exciting addition to WWII literature. The book is described as an excellent biography of the true story of the Nurses on Bataan. The topic is fascinating and little covered after the fact.

"...I cannot recommend this book enough. The story is so compelling that I would even recommend it to someone who is just dipping their toe into..." Read more

"...isn’t a good accounting until now. Elizabeth Norman does an excellent job in bringing to light the trials, tribulations the devotion to duty..." Read more

"...It is a remarkable story expertly told at the hands of a careful, thoughtful, and empathetic writer...." Read more

"great read. LKF Booksellers shipped it in excellent packaging and intact, and it arrived in a timely manner. Will opt for them again in the future." Read more

187 customers mention "Inspiration"187 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's research and writing style. They find it well-researched, with first-person interviews and actual diaries to tell the story of these brave women. The book covers an important part of history in a personal and historical manner.

"...most people have never heard of but that the author did an impeccable job in researching and portraying each person in such a way that I felt I knew..." Read more

"...For some, the military afforded them the opportunity for a good education, worthy occupational training, and to experience life outside the confines..." Read more

"...The author did an impressive job of collecting a vast amount of research and synthesizing it into a logical, engrossing and emotionally moving book...." Read more

"...The book is very well written. It's very detailed and the author took special care to make sure that the book was factual and accurate...." Read more

89 customers mention "Writing quality"81 positive8 negative

Customers find the book well-written and easy to read. They appreciate the author's passion for research and writing. The book describes events vividly, mostly from the nurses' own accounts. There are no flourishes of unnecessary poetic description, just minute-to-minute travel through the events. The author paints a clear picture of the deprivations faced by soldiers. Overall, it is an informative and empathetic account of the Angels of Bataan.

"...story expertly told at the hands of a careful, thoughtful, and empathetic writer...." Read more

"...impressive job of collecting a vast amount of research and synthesizing it into a logical, engrossing and emotionally moving book. I highly recommend!" Read more

"...The book describes in vivid detail mostly from the accounts of the nurses themselves, how they lived and survived almost three years of imprisonment..." Read more

"...book is obviously the product of a boatload of research and features solid wordsmithing...." Read more

74 customers mention "Storyline"68 positive6 negative

Customers appreciate the book's storyline. They find the individual profiles of the nurses interesting and relatable. The book provides an accurate description of life for women at Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Readers praise the remarkable service these women provided to the military and their dedication to nursing.

"...but that the author did an impeccable job in researching and portraying each person in such a way that I felt I knew each one personally...." Read more

"...After reading this I will never ever forget the story of these amazing women, thrown together by chance to endure one of the most horrific..." Read more

"An in depth look at the nurses who were part of the Philippines conflict from the beginning to end as well as how some did resuming life after their..." Read more

"I,'ll start off and say this was a great book that tells the story of the Army nurses, as well as some Navy nurses, who served on Bataan and..." Read more

23 customers mention "Heartwarming"18 positive5 negative

Customers find the book heartwarming and poignant. They appreciate the suffering endured by survivors and sacrifices made by those who did not survive. The pictures are clear and informative. Readers describe the book as an excellent, informative read that brings them to tears and hardens their resolve.

"...It brought me to tears and hardens my resolve. We must not let their supreme sacrifices go by the wayside. Keep America Great!!" Read more

"...This is their story, a story of survival under terrifying battle conditions, imprisonment and starvation...." Read more

"...The suffering endured by survivors and sacrifices of those who did not survive serve as lessons in humility for those of us who have lead easy lives..." Read more

"...It also is a story about these heroic women and the sacrifices they made caring for the wounded without regard for their own personal safety and..." Read more

12 customers mention "Pacing"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's pacing engaging. They describe the story as gripping and emotional, drawing them into the lives of brave souls. The well-researched content is described as riveting and spellbinding.

"...research and synthesizing it into a logical, engrossing and emotionally moving book. I highly recommend!" Read more

"Loved this book! Detailed & moving...." Read more

"This was not only gripping but also was well documented...." Read more

"...The book is well-researched, but it draws you into the pages like a novel. These women could be our sisters, daughters or mothers...." Read more

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Mrs Bojangles
Truly Astounding Story of an Amazing Group of Women
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2024
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As an avid reader of WWII non fiction, this book stands apart from the rest for its unique focus on a story of an amazing group of women in a truly horrific situation. It's a story that most people have never heard of but that the author did an impeccable job in researching and portraying each person in such a way that I felt I knew each one personally.

The story of the war in the Philippines is one that usually focuses on the men who were a part of the Bataan Death March or who were imprisoned in the terrible P.O.W. camps. This story follows the nurses of Bataan that worked hand in hand with the men during the battle for the Bataan peninsula. The conditions that they lived and worked in were truly terrible but they managed to survive till the surrender.

Because they were women they were put in an internment camp with a large group of international non-military prisoners. They lived with little food and few comforts till the end of the war in the Philippines. Many of them suffering from diseases from malnourishment but still nursing until the end. Their story with astound you and leave you inspired by their courage.

I cannot recommend this book enough. The story is so compelling that I would even recommend it to someone who is just dipping their toe into reading historical non fiction. This is anything but boring.

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Jeff Dawson
An excellent addition to the annuls of World War Two
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2019
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Once again, the women of the US Armed Forces are slighted.
We all know about the men who MacArthur abandoned in the Philippines and Corregidor. We know of the thousands who perished during the Bataan Death March and their confinement conditions. We know of the thousands who were sent to Burma to work on the railroad and how many of them succumbed to their captors. But what of the women who were serving and captured? What of their work ethic and sacrifice? There isn’t a good accounting until now.
Elizabeth Norman does an excellent job in bringing to light the trials, tribulations the devotion to duty the Army and Navy female nurses performed when the bombs started falling and during captivity. They never gave up and were always concerned with one driving force, the welfare of their patients, no matter their nationality. They were trained healers and loved what they did.
What is amazing is what long lives theses women lived after all the depravity and illnesses they endured, along with their male counterparts: malaria, beriberi, wet and dry, dysentery, starvation, jungle rot and who knows what else.
How many more of our men would have died if not for their selfless deeds and devotion to duty?
This is an astounding work and a must read for all students of World War Two.

Five Stars

P.S. Two years ago, after watching, “We Were Soldiers,” I came up with an idea, a book of Poetry dedicated to the women who have served in the Armed Forces or who had spouses, boyfriends that were serving. It was the scene where Colonel Moore’s wife was delivering the dreaded Wester Union Telegrams that began the formulation. The book, “Women of War” was released in November of 2018.

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Contessa
women of WWII
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2018
Verified Purchase
Mention Bataan to anyone familiar with the WWII Pacific battleground and the reaction is likely to be one of pain. Unspeakable misery was inflicted in what became known as the Bataan Death March. The much lesser known story but no less compelling is the story of the Band of Angels: the 100 Army and Navy nurses stationed in the Phillipines when it was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Army. This is the story of the military nurses who were surrendered by their government and taken prisoner in December 1941 until the Phillipines were liberated in 1945.

These women came to military nursing service from all walks of life and all parts of the country. As professionals they each embodied a passion for nurturing and protecting others. For some, the military afforded them the opportunity for a good education, worthy occupational training, and to experience life outside the confines of their humble daily existence. Life working in a tropical military hospital had its advantages. Exotic location, regular hours, and a congenial social life. Combat duty was the farthest thing from their minds. In an instant, everything changed once the bombs started flying. War is hell, and these women were suddenly tossed in the middle of it. They were there to heal, not to fight. But in order to survive while attending to the rapidly mounting casualties they had to do both.

They organized themselves into a team across the normal boundaries of Military unit command. They improvised as resources became strained. They tended to the weakest, the maimed, the injured, the suffering. They built, organized, and managed hospital units spread out on the jungle floor. They slept on bamboo cots, worked nonstop shifts, and lived by their wits. And then they were captured by (arguably surrendered by their own government to) the Japanese and sent off to prison camps. Everything gets worse!!

Eventually they are liberated and not a moment too soon. By this time the nurses are somehow still upright but just barely. They carried on their nursing duties while being imprisoned, and were subjected to the same inhumane treatment as other prisoners. At the time of their liberation they were suffering from dysentery, dengue fever, and all the other gruesome physical and mental effects of starvation and isolation. They were quickly flung back into life in the US and paraded around and, being women, objectified as fragile heroes. But when the military honors and medals were passed out, despite their remarkable resiliency and heroism and service to their country, their government could barely see fit to bestow a form of military honor below what their rank or service deserved.

We follow these women, who became known as The Band of Angels, through their reintegration into post-war life in the States right up until their last breath.

It is a remarkable story expertly told at the hands of a careful, thoughtful, and empathetic writer. It is a story that will break your heart a few dozen times and leave you in awe of what these women accomplished, and what humans are capable of doing, good and bad. After reading this I will never ever forget the story of these amazing women, thrown together by chance to endure one of the most horrific experiences in history.

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lynda alexander
WE Band Of Angels
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2024
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great read. LKF Booksellers shipped it in excellent packaging and intact, and it arrived in a timely manner. Will opt for them again in the future.

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agatha
Insightful
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2024
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An in depth look at the nurses who were part of the Philippines conflict from the beginning to end as well as how some did resuming life after their freedom. I always enjoy photos as well not just so I can put a face to the name but to see the person that I have become so interested in learning about.

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Joan T Blake
Revealing and Well Composed
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2024
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I believe the book covers important and largely unknown history. The author did an impressive job of collecting a vast amount of research and synthesizing it into a logical, engrossing and emotionally moving book. I highly recommend!

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whiteft6
Little known, women in WWII
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2025
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Hard to hear the truth. I highly recommend reading this book. I never knew of the trials some of these women had to face.
Please read this book.

2 books later and I am still thinking about this one.

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Amazon Customer
A truly interesting read
Reviewed in Canada on April 9, 2022
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I cannot remember where I heard about this interesting book but I am so glad I added it to my Amazon cart. We learn about the difficulties these nurses went through in Bataan and their imprisonment afterwards. We have all heard of the deprivations of war but, in this book we see how it affected the nurses during and after the war. Clearly we did not value their efforts as much as the soldiers which gives insight into those times. You cannot read this book without coming away in awe of their accomplishments.

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JLH
We Band of Angels
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2013
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Excellent - so interesting to read more about the American experience in the Far East. Written in 1999, the author was able to meet the nurses she is writing about, which lends authenticity and personal interest to the book. She was therefore also able to provide us with actual photos of the nurses in the book which is a real plus. These nurses really were a band of angels and I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Far East war - or indeed anyone interested in other peoples lives.

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PeterPan56
well researched
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2015
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Excellent read, as a teacher of History it helps to learn new aspects to enrich one's teaching away from ' The Syllabus'!

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Astounding Story of an Amazing Group of Women

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent addition to the annuls of World War Two

4.0 out of 5 stars women of WWII

5.0 out of 5 stars WE Band Of Angels

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing and Well Composed

5.0 out of 5 stars Little known, women in WWII

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly interesting read

5.0 out of 5 stars We Band of Angels

4.0 out of 5 stars well researched

Truly Astounding Story of an Amazing Group of Women

An excellent addition to the annuls of World War Two

women of WWII

WE Band Of Angels

Insightful

Revealing and Well Composed

Little known, women in WWII

A truly interesting read

We Band of Angels

well researched