You Should See Us Now - by Eleri Grace

This month's theme of strong women in literature and history is TAILOR-MADE for me and my novels! Don't misunderstand - I know so many authors are strong women and write kick-ass heroines set in all periods of history. 

But my Red Cross Girl heroines bucked tradition and normative gender roles for the era *before* they then went overseas and became larger-than-life heroines. I believed their accomplishments and bravery had gone unnoticed far too long and resolved to do my best to write novels that did justice to their amazing stories. 

The American Red Cross hired only 1 in 6 applicants for the overseas staff positions. They wanted women who had a college degree and some professional work experience. They also evaluated applicants for a host of other character and personal attributes -- ARC wanted women who were adaptable self-starters, who were resilient and able to handle long days of demanding work paired with social expectations, who could handle themselves in a male-dominated environment, and who were charming, cheerful, and classy. The typical Red Cross Girl was independent, spirited, and driven. She was also a woman who had already pushed up and around walls and boundaries her entire life and was eager to "do her bit" for the war effort in unconventional and exciting ways. 

Once they arrived overseas, they challenged assumptions and expanded their role beyond what the ARC or the military might have imagined. The Red Cross Girls served closer to the front lines overall than even the combat nurses. A history of the ARC WWII service published in 1945 notes: 

"They had a ringside seat at one of the greatest dramas of all time, moving with more freedom than many soldiers. Even war correspondents could not drive in and out of the battle lines as the Red Cross Girls did every day. In and out of the rain and mud they moved with the headlines, from hedgerow to plain, from orchard to orchard, and from bomb craters, shell holes, and crumbled towns. To the boom of artillery and the whistle of shells, they took their freshly made doughnuts and steaming coffee right to the GIs on highways, in hospitals, rest areas, gun sites, and even to the edge of foxholes." 

They thumbed their nose at danger and chafed at restrictions. The ARC definitely had not fully considered that their hiring profile was not the sort of woman who would accept anything less than independence and control over her own work and destiny. Just as any WWII veteran might tell you that his war service years were the most life-altering and memorable over his life, so too were the Red Cross Girls irrevocably changed by their war-time experiences. Many of these women left behind engaging, inspiring memoirs, and I have drawn on their experiences for my novels. One of my favorites was penned by an unknown Red Cross Girl in the form of a letter to one of her ARC instructors back in Washington. She wrote of her experiences in Normandy and Belgium in the winter of 1944 and noted that searing experiences near the battle lines had left their mark -- we're all "terribly calloused and never quite callous enough." 

"We went through Normandy like the Army went through -- fast and in the field. We spent Christmas morning diving into foxholes and serving doughnuts and coffee between alerts. . . . It's a great racket! Crawling out of the sack at seven and loading the trucks and taking off early to serve in the ruined, rubble-strewn, blasted towns and out among the snowbound gun emplacements. You wheel home, unload, race to chow, dress up and go out again. You smile and talk all day, give with the fast patter and jive around to canned music. Dance in the snow and mush and on ice, dance with the rain or sleet falling, dance in ruined old stables or in cellars or mess kitchens or on the Clubmobile among the coffee urns, doughnuts and people, or sometimes in a big hall with a good GI band. Red Cross hasn't done badly at all in picking personnel. Working here is being what you've been all your life, but disciplined and worn down smooth, so that you smile when you're dying."

She goes on to tell her former instructor that she recalls fondly how she and her classmates enjoyed their training in DC: "Strictly garrison we were. You should see us now."

Reading their memoirs and letters, looking at the photos from their wartime service, I am forever in awe of these amazing, trail-blazing women who served literally all over the globe with such distinction and courage. When I'm writing my novels, I always remind myself that they, like the men in uniform, didn't have a crystal ball. When they signed up, they didn't know how long they would be gone, where they would be sent, or whether they would return at all. Strong women all -- they are my heroines. 

You can read more about my Clubmobile Girls series on my website, on my Amazon page, and in my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.