"When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps...

The true story of the lives of three U.S. Army nurses who leave San Francisco for their tour of duty in Hawaii in December 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor changes their destination, and their lives. Led by Lt. Janet Davidson, the nurses are sent to Bataan, in the Philippines. Faced with untested nurses, the group quickly become battle-weary veterans. When Bataan falls, the American forces flee to the offshore island of Corregidor, where they find...