Last November, I went to the World War II monument in Washington, DC, for the first time. I saw veterans recall their feelings, emotions, and activities from over 50 years ago. Many had their original service hats on, proudly telling family and friends their emotionally charged WWII stories. I had planned to spend less than an hour at the monument and instead spent half a day, eavesdropping on the stories they were so poignantly sharing. For me, this experience lent even greater weight to the article in I read in JONA about WWII nurses.1
Gathering and publishing stories of World War II nurses allows the reader to learn through story, recognize a history that is not often told, and honor nurses who have served our country, and the excerpts from And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II2 made me grateful for the decade of research done by the authors who produced them. Capturing the stories of our WWII nurses is so important since they are in a generation that is dying at such a fast rate, 1000 a day.
I applaud JONA for taking a risk and publishing an article outside the norm of the journal. The editor, Suzanne Smith, was right on target saying that this article is about leadership-leaders who were always "just in time" learning, demonstrating teamwork, leadership skills, humor, and clinical practice without traditional support, supplies, and procedures.
Learning through these nurses' stories did more than teach me leadership skills; it made me reflect on what true leadership really is. The article also taught me lessons in World War II history, gave me an appreciation for the nurses who served before us, and let me appreciate their role and the circumstances in which they served. The article gave me an appreciation for leaders who were not climbing a career ladder, because there was no ladder for service nurses. It also ensured that my future Memorial Days thoughts will include our nurse colleagues who served and continue to serve in combat.
Thank you for giving these nurses the honor of being in JONA. Through their stories, WWII nurses displayed their leadership skills, character, and "ways" to current leaders. I appreciate your giving readers another way to learn leadership skills through stories of nontraditional leaders and recognizing that we need to better understand and honor those nurses who went before us.
REFERENCES