A chronicle of the experiences of a mixed group of Army hospital volunteers stationed in Bataan during World War II.

The Army nurses on Bataan need help badly, but when it arrives, it sure isn't what they expected. A motley crew, including a Southern belle, a waitress, and a stripper, show up. Many conflicts arise among these women who are thrown together in what is a desperate and ultimately hopeless situation.—<[email protected]>

At an American military field hospital in Bataan, The Philippines, Captain Alice Marsh asks civilian nurse Flo Norris, on a supply run into Mariveles, to recruit as many volunteers with first aid experience as she can to act as nurse aides with the existing medical staff overworked in dealing with the many wounded soldiers, they facing the added enemy of malaria with a limited supply of quinine. The Captain's hope is that there are a number of capable and willing American refugees who have escaped from Manila. Of the several hundred she questions, Norris is able only to bring back nine women, who will be under the direct supervision of the Captain's subordinate, Lieutenant Mary Smith, "Smitty" in more casual circumstances. Beyond that first aid knowledge, all nine are wet behind the ears when it comes to understanding the full effects of the war, and are all different in terms of their mental and emotional capacity to deal with this, their new situation. The nine, along with Norris and their civilian cook Sadie, will have to find a way not only to work under this military setting, but overcome their differences to coalesce as a team to live together in somewhat harmony and do this work effectively and with humanity. This task is made all the more difficult by the continuing conflict between Smitty and one of the nine, waitress Pat Conlin who has trouble taking orders from "a dame". That conflict is exacerbated by some secrets Smitty is keeping from the nine, one of those secrets about which Captain Marsh does not even know, they concerning her stay at this specific hospital.—Huggo