On a chilly Sunday on the Morristown Green, veterans remembered 26 local servicemen who died in World War I, which ended one century ago to the day.
And author and historian Elizabeth M. Norman reflected on the brave nurses who have fought to save lives during America’s wars.
Video playlist by Jeff Sovelove; toggle in upper left corner to see each video:
Norman, a Rutgers-educated nurse, is the author of Women at War, about nurses who served in Vietnam; We Band of Angels, about nurses captured by the Japanese on Bataan in WWII; and Tears in the Darkness, co-authored with her husband, about the Bataan death march.
She spoke on Sunday about nurses enduring malnutrition, malaria and other hardships in Philippine jungles during the Second World War. With their lipstick, they would mark a big red “M” on wounded soldiers’ foreheads, indicating the men had received morphine, to prevent fatal overdoses.
Norman also shared some personal stories for Veterans Day, on the centennial of the Armistice that concluded ‘The War to End All Wars.’
Her husband’s grandfather served with U.S. forces as a medic in France during World War I. Exposed to poison gas, he came home and died at a young age from that exposure.
Norman’s mother, now 96, served with the Coast Guard in WWII, when women assumed men’s jobs to free them for combat duty. And her husband, Michael Norman, served with the Marines in Vietnam.
Videos by Jeff Sovelove for MorristownGreen.com:
Reciting names of local WWI dead, a century later
Nurses Go to War: Author Elizabeth M. Norman talks in Morristown
Mayor Dougherty thanks Veterans
Presentation to author Elizabeth Norman in Morristown
Taps, Veterans Day Morristown 2018
Rifle salute, Veterans Day 2018 in Morristown
Firing Squad and Taps, Veterans Day 2018 in Morristown
