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  • "Star-Spangled Hearts": American Women Veterans of World War II by Jeffrey S. Suchanek, with Jeanne Ontko Suchanek
  • Kelly D. Selby
"Star-Spangled Hearts": American Women Veterans of World War II. Edited by Jefrey S. Suchanek, with Jeanne Ontko Suchanek. Frankfort, KY: Broadstone Books, 2011. 480 pp. Hardbound, $49.95; Softbound, $29.95.

"Star-Spangled Hearts": American Women Veterans of World War II is a compilation of twenty edited oral histories that contributes to the social and military history of women in the US Army Nurse Corps and Women's Army Corps (WACS), Navy (WAVES), US Marine Corps Women's Reserve, and US Coast Guard SPARS. Jeffrey S. Suchanek's interviews confirm that, although American women participated in World War II in a variety of new and expanded ways, most encountered gender discrimination as they sought to contribute more to US victory than to major changes in perceived societal norms.

After viewing the World War II "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" exhibit at the Kentucky Historical Society in 1994, Suchanek, former director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, realized the need to collect and preserve interviews with female veterans. He wanted to give balance to the almost entirely male World War Two Oral History Project at the University of Kentucky (now part of the Col. Arthur L. Kelly American Veterans Oral History Collection at the Nunn Center). Suchanek decided to turn the project into a book so as to share the legacy of the interviewees with a larger audience. Additionally, he hoped "to bridge the gap between the academic community and the general public in understanding and celebrating the contribution of these women" (xviii). In this, he succeeded.

All of the women selected for the interviews had some connection to the state of Kentucky; some were born there, others moved there before or after the war. Suchanek conducted interviews over a two-year period. He started with veterans who had uniforms on display in the "Praise the Lord" exhibit and then met with women suggested by the veterans. More interviews came after a newspaper story on the project. Suchanek then contacted the local chapter of the national WAVES organization to arrange for the last interviews. Unfortunately, there are no minority women in this collection, which the author acknowledges. A total of thirty interviews were deposited as part of the Oral History Program Collection at the University of Kentucky (now the Nunn Center). [End Page 454]

Twenty of the interviews are included in this volume. Suchanek wanted the women to tell their own stories, so he edited the interviews into first-person memoirs by removing the interviewer's questions and then changing and adding words where needed for clarity. For the most part, this editing contributes to the volume's potential to interest a wide and diverse audience. For those who want or need to interpret the interviews as recorded, both the audio recordings and raw transcripts are available at the University of Kentucky.

The stories are divided by military branch. Most, not surprisingly, begin with the interviewee's recollection of December 7, 1941. They conclude with their memories of discharge from service. In addition to each woman's edited interview, there is biographical information on her life before enlistment and a picture of the interviewee right before or during her service. After each story there is a short postwar biography of the veteran. The volume includes an interpretive introduction and epilogue, both thorough and well written, which place the women's stories in the proper historical context. Also provided are a bibliography and suggested reading list. Photographs and World War II recruiting posters are included throughout the book.

The interviews, or stories, give readers a sense of how women perceived the changes, or lack thereof, to an American society that for the first time encountered significant female military participation and contributions during wartime. These are also individual accounts of women as historical actors, through which we can learn about their personal interpretations of what wartime service meant to them. We get a less clear idea of how the majority of citizens perceived these changes. In that end, there is little that is new...

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