Gone to War
Vol. Three of New Mexico Gal
by
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As days passed Emma, Jackie, and Maddie forgot about the added ship until one night they were roused from their sleep by the loud speaker blasting, “All hands on deck.”
Emma slipped out of bed and got dressed. Jackie, Maddie, along with Emma joined the Chief Nurse in the dining hall to see what was happening and if they might be needed. It wasn’t long before they heard shuffling feet along the passageway and descending below. Looking out, they saw stretchers being carried down to where the ship’s hospital was located. The Chief Nurse learned these were casualties from the explosion of the SS Yarmouth’s boiler.
Descending below, the nurses found the scene chaotic in the hospital area. Cots had been set up but not made. The injured lay sprawled on the floor. The doctor was nowhere in sight. Quickly, the Chief Nurse took charge; the cots made and the patients placed on beds. Patients were cleaned up and the most seriously burned identified for treatment.
Emma had just retrieved her scissors from her pocket to cut the cloth from around a patient’s burn, when her arm was grabbed and her scissors forcibly taken. “No, you don’t sister, I’m in charge here. Get your hands off my patient. You’ve no business here!” ordered a rum-smelling, shriveled up gray headed unshaven man wearing a torn T-shirt and brown stained denim trousers.
“Hold on there,” ordered the Chief Nurse striding over, “We’re nurses, here to help.”
“You can make beds and empty the bed pans but you’re not to touch my patients. Get out NOW until I call for you.”
Snatching her scissors from his hand, Emma followed the Chief Nurse as she signaled everyone to retreat.
“Did you see him rip the shirt off that burn victim as we left? He skinned the whole area!”
“He’s no doctor, even the old fashion barber would have had better sense.”
“Now ladies, let’s not be too critical. Probably at one time he was the best they could hire,” said the Chief Nurse.
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About the Book
Gone to War is a concisely written historical novel with a slice of romance about army nurse Emma who, after battling anti-German American prejudice, is among the first group sent to France in 1917. Surviving the “periscope pond,” she arrives in France. Briefly, she’s reunited with her fiancé, Wolfe, an army doctor who’s also part of an advanced party in Paris. Assigned to a forward aid station, Emma grapples with the wounded, knee-deep mud, biting-cold conditions, medical shortages, and unfamiliar food. Emotionally, she faces the death and disturbing mutilation of young boys crying for their mothers. A close Latino friend, Juan, visits often, bringing news of Wolfe and raising her spirits. One night, Juan brings news that Wolfe, while visiting the Allied trenches, disappeared during an enemy raid. Wolfe is rescued but suffers from shell shock. He’d been taken prisoner by a Texan German American who was forced to join the German Army. Emma’s love and a “rocking chair” regimen helps Wolfe regain his interest in medicine.
About the Author
Enid is very familiar with the Army Nurse Corps having first come in contact with army nurses when the family followed their army dentist father around camps during WW2. During the Viet Nam era war, Enid, an officer in the Women’s Army Corps, served at William Beaumont General Army Hospital in El Paso, Texas, residing in the nurses’ quarters and commanded a company of army practical nurses, and other enlisted women medical specialists. Not a nurse, Enid is a retired research librarian and teacher. She’s published a research guide with Greenwood Press as well as written and self-published six other books. Gone to War is her sixth book based on historical events.