The Fire by Night
Page 27
Finally, I thank the nurses of the Second World War. Without them and without their valor, this book would not exist—and, perhaps, neither would our country. For too long, their story has remained untold. For too long, there has been a collective consciousness that American nurses didn’t do all that much during World War II. It has been an honor to help set that record straight. These women volunteered to go to a war most men were drafted into. They signed up willingly, believing in the ideals of democracy and freedom and independence—in everything that made their country great. And when those ideals began to fade in the horror of war—when these women were nearly crushed by hard labor, by isolation, by imprisonment or starvation or the loss of everything they held dear—they kept to their posts for no other reason than that they were women, they were humans and—for as long as they could endure—they would continue to bring humanity to a world gone mad.
I love these women. I love their story. I am proud—and humbled—to offer you a glimpse of their world.
About the Author
TERESA MESSINEO is an outspoken woman whose passionate social interest and positions have been featured in documentaries, magazines, and medical journals. Teresa was alternatively schooled until her freshman year, after which she transferred to a conventional high school. An honor student there, she earned a full scholarship to DeSales University, where she ultimately won the Ross Baker Award for Excellence in Writing, that university’s highest honor for writers. She graduated with a BA in English and minors in biology and theology, and earned her ICCE and LIBSS while teaching at Pennsylvania’s premier birthing center. Teresa is highly motivated about social justice and sticking up for the underdog. She volunteers at a food bank, is a “volunteer actor” at her local hospital during disaster drills, and hopes, one day, to also give of her time and talents as a medical missionary. She is the mother of four children, whom she has exclusively home-schooled (her eldest son earned a scholarship to her own alma mater). With her children, she performs in their own Celtic band, as well as in a traditional Philippine dance troupe. Teresa’s other interests include swing dancing, travel, foreign language, poetry, philosophical debate, and personal fitness—she swims in her YMCA’s 100 Mile Club, participates in several obstacle mud runs each year, and 2016 marked her first triathlon competition. A voracious reader and lifetime learner, Teresa lives by the motto “We learn from our mistakes.”
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Credits
Cover design by Elsie Lyons
Cover photographs: © Collaboration JS / Arcangel (woman); © Richard Nixon / Arcangel (airplanes); © Tom Ang / Getty Images (sky); © Dragana Jokmanovic / Shutterstock (texture)
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE FIRE BY NIGHT. Copyright © 2017 by Teresa Messineo. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition JANUARY 2017 ISBN 9780062459121
ISBN 978-0-06-245910-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-06-266209-5 (international edition)
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