The Pacif­ic The­ater was the set­ting for some of World War II’s blood­i­est bat­tles, and yet much of its his­to­ry remains untold. As the war in Europe was wind­ing down, fierce Japan­ese resis­tance and mount­ing casu­al­ties slowed the US advance toward Japan. In The Flight Nurs­es’ War: The Amer­i­can Women Who Saved Thou­sands of Lives at Iwo Jima and Oki­nawa, award-win­ning his­to­ri­an Leah Gar­rett traces the lives of a team of nurs­es, from their small-town ori­gins to the dev­as­ta­tion of Iwo Jima and Oki­nawa. They risked their lives on rick­ety, unpres­sur­ized air­craft and braved con­stant ene­my assaults. As the bat­tles inten­si­fied, Army nurs­es, such as Bet­ty Rothen­berg, were also deployed to hos­pi­tal ships and the infantry front line, where they endured dis­ease, snipers, and Kamikazes. Suc­cess­ful­ly evac­u­at­ing thou­sands of wound­ed men from dan­ger, the com­bat nurs­es freed up troops to secure both islands and help win the war. Uncov­er­ing an extra­or­di­nary sto­ry of Sec­ond World War hero­ism, The Flight Nurs­es’ War pow­er­ful­ly brings to life the remark­able women who risked every­thing to save lives and assure America’s suc­cess in the Pacif­ic campaign.