When Lieutenant Dorothea Oliver signed up to serve her country during WWII, she had no clue of the terror she would face while providing frontline medical care as a member of the Army Nurse Corps.
Ollie and her fellow nurses, who called themselves the Fort Riley Five, braved unexpected enemy attacks as they travelled to the battlefield. They fought back terror as they disembarked from a military transport ship timed in between giant swells down a solitary ladder to the barges below.
Rendering medical care by lamplight, they had to contend with limited medicine and supplies. They lived under the path of mortar shells, the threat of sniper fire, and frequent air raids. Existing on sparse K-rations or going days without food became the norm as they performed procedures uncommon in domestic nursing.
Inspired by the experiences of M.E. Gustafson's grandmothers, this historical novel honors the service of nurses who risked their lives to provide frontline medical care. Much like Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers, Saving the Front reveals the unique bond developed among battlefield angels of mercy.
Twenty-five percent of net proceeds of Saving the Front will be donated to charities supporting military personnel and their families.
