P.G. Smith Author

Many women are now in the military, and women have always served in the capacity of nursing, officially so since Florence Nightengale walked the battlefields of Crimea and founded the profession. Yet their contributions are commonly ignored.

So, I can think of no more fitting cap for Women’s History Month than to recommend Kristin Hannah’s fine historical novel, ‘The Women.’ It is a searing account of the Vietnam War and its aftermath from the perspective of an Army nurse, who served in a front-line hospital there.

Raised in an upper middle-class home that honors military service, young Frances “Frankie” McGrath is taught to defer to men, to see her future as a wife and mother, and to view her college years as a place holder or preparation for when that time would come. This, of course, is how virtually all (middle-class) girls were raised in the US in the 1950s and 60s. Frankie pursues a nursing degree, not so much because she is committed to it, but by default. She didn’t want to be a secretary or a teacher. Nursing was the only choice left.

When her older brother, whom she worships, follows the family tradition by going off to war in Vietnam (as a lieutenant on a destroyer) Frankie decides to follow in his footsteps, hoping to be a war hero as well, by joining the Army nurse corps. She is stunned to discover that instead of being proud of her, both her parents are shocked and dismayed at her decision. In fact, they are ashamed of her for flouting what they view as her proper role. Women, if seems, cannot be war heroes (at least not then.) Frankie is hurt and confused, but her decision cannot be retracted.

What follows is a raw and vivid portrait of what it is like to serve in a front-line hospital in a brutal war, from the perspective of the nurses who go there; what it is like to be thrust into war green and uninitiated and to become skilled and expert; and finally, of finding pride, identity, and meaning in doing a worthwhile (indeed, lifesaving) job with skill, strength, and courage. The story of Frankie is an inspiring coming-of-age story, but also a story of friendship, a deep bond forged among three women who pull each other through the horror, terror, comedy, and grief of war.

But that is only half the story. War leaves its mark even after it’s over. When Frankie returns home, she not only does not receive a hero’s welcome from friends and family, but not from her country either. Instead of garnering respect, her Army uniform is spit upon. Her friends and family want to move on, to pretend nothing happened. Beset by debilitating nightmares and PTSD, she discovers that counseling is not available to her because women are not considered to be combat veterans. She finds herself alone in a self-destructive spiral that ultimately, only she can correct.

Kristin Hannah is an amazing storyteller. This is a page turner of the first order that never slackens the pace. But the reason it belongs in a tribute to Women’s History Month is that it captures so well, the power of traditional norms over women’s aspirations and attitudes in the 1950s and 60s, and the erasure of women’s contributions when they don’t fit those norms.

If you have not read this book, or if it has been a while, you should definitely pick up a copy. It illustrates how much things have changed, but also how powerful and subtle the forces of tradition are to reinforce the assumptions of privilege as if it were simply normal or inevitable.