They Told the Nurses It Was Safe Behind the Lines. It Wasn't.

At Anzio in 1944, there was no safe rear — and the American Army nurses who ran the evacuation hospitals died in the same shellfire as the men they were saving. Six U.S. Army nurses were killed on that beachhead. Four of the survivors became the first women in the United States Army ever awarded the Silver Star. Most Americans have never heard one of their names. This is the story of Ellen Ainsworth, of the nurses of the 56th and 95th Evacuation Hospitals, and of "Hell's Half Acre" — the strip of open Italian field where the wounded were sent to be safe, and weren't. No invented characters, no dramatized quotes presented as real. Every person, date, and unit in this video is documented; the citation read on screen is the U.S. Army's own. Photographs are public-domain archival (U.S. Army Signal Corps / NARA); where no photograph of a specific nurse survives, we say so rather than fake one. If a woman in your family served in that war — an Army or Navy nurse, a WAC, a Red Cross volunteer — leave her name in the comments. First name is enough. We read every one. CHAPTERS 0:00 There is no rear at Anzio 1:36 A beachhead inside every gun's range 3:16 The women who volunteered for it 6:45 Hell's Half Acre 9:40 February 7: the hospital is hit 12:53 Ellen Ainsworth and the forty-two 16:21 The first women to earn the Silver Star 17:57 The cost, and the number that got mangled 20:33 Say their names 22:52 A woman in your family Sources include the U.S. Army Center of Military History ("The Army Nurse Corps"), the National WWII Museum, and the Silver Star citation (Hall of Valor). Imagery: U.S. Army Signal Corps / NARA, public domain. #WW2 #WWII #ArmyNurseCorps #Anzio #WW2History