June 29, 2010 Meeting

The New Jersey World War 2 Book Club, a Not For Profit New Jersey Corporation is pleased to announce a lecture by the distinguished author Elizabeth M. Norman, Ph.D.

The lecture will be on Tuesday June 29, 2010, from 7 to 9PM at the Millburn Library 200 Glen Avenue Millburn, New Jersey [next to the Millburn Train Station] She will discuss her acclaimed book We Band of Angels, the story of the heroic American nurses trapped on Bataan by the Japanese during the first months of World War 2, and forced to spend the entire war on Corregidor island as prisoners of the Japanese. As Stephen Ambrose said, these nurses "...were the bravest of the brave, who endured unspeakable pain and torture. Americans today should thank God we had such women."

Elizabeth Norman is the daughter of two World War 2 veterans. Her father served with the United States Army in Europe in 1944, and her mother was in uniform with the Coast Guard. Elizabeth, a registered nurse, turned after graduation to a career in writing. She earned her graduate and doctoral degrees from New York University and graduated with a Ph.D in 1986. She is also a member of the tenured faculty of New York University, where she teaches history, writing and research design in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

In addition to We Band of Angles Elizabeth Norman is the author of Women at War: the Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam in 1965-1973. These books preceded the award winning Tears in the Darkness which she co authored with her husband. Tears in the Darkness is the story of the Bataan Death March. The Normans spent ten years researching and interviewing for Tears in the Darkness, and made four trips to Asia and crossed America several times for the book.

The Normans have two grown sons, Joshua and Benjamin, and a daughter-in-law Rachel Cahn Norman. For most of their married life they have lived in Montclair, New Jersey.

This lecture concludes the first successful year of the World War 2 Book which will pick up the lecture series after the summer break with a lecture by Johathan Gumz, professor at the United States Military Academy who will discuss little known stories of the D-Day Invasion.

Admission is free for first time guests. Anyone interested in additional information can contact A. Ralph Kristeller, M.D. Chair of the event at 973-822-9288 or rkistelle@aol.com or Dr. John J. McLaughlin at the address listed above.