Laughingly labeled a BEDPAN COMMANDO by the troops, June Wandrey recorded WWII from ambulance and tent as her mobile surgical unit followed the infantry. BEDPAN COMMANDO is a nurse’s story of a man’s war from Fort Custer to Dachau and all the bloody spots in between. Across North Africa and on to Sicily, Italy, France, Germany, Allach and Dachau, these women fought death, despair, and exhaustion with humor, tears and guts. 234 Pages from her diary and letters and illustrated with 70 never-before-published photographs, BEDPAN COMMANDO chronicles Wandrey’s coming-of-age while the world learned to capitalize the word Holocaust. Hysterical, historical, funny and sad. Young, confident and energetic, she climbed the gangplank on the SS Santa Elena bound for the battlefields of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. From her diary, notes and letters, live with her the life of a surgical nurse in a Field Hospital, often operating within the sounds of the guns. Feel with her the despair and infinite sadness as she cares for and comforts the wounded soldiers. Empathize with her agonized cry from the horrors of Allach and Dachau, “Where are you, God?” What readers think: I’ve read BEDPAN COMMANDO and, as you said, “Historical, hysterical, funny and very sad.” Also, it’s so very interesting, being written from a new viewpoint and with your very special and endearing empathy. W.C.C., Watertown, WI I finished BEDPAN COMMANDO last night after a concentrated reading session of a day and a half. You were describing “my war” in a way I’ve never heard before. You made it more real than newspaper and movie descriptions. I admire you for two reasons: first, that you dared to go, and second, that you actually wrote and published your story. Thank you for your story. J.M. Kalamazoo, MI What a challenge for an actress to catch your spunk, originality, cleverness, empathy, insight, foresight and maturity. C.A. MD. PhD., Redwood City, CA No wonder your book is being sent around the world, enthusiastically read. To me it is the most realistic, tender (I shed a few tears), nostalgic and delightful report of those memorable (and forgettable) years of my life. W.R. Naples, FL Recently read BEDPAN COMMANDO Book Review in our STATE NEWSPAPER. It blew my mind! F. B. Victoria, Australia We need people like you in Search & Rescue so if you have any grandchildren or clones let me know. C.H. Bernardsville, NJ Angel of Mercy, thanks to all of you, a lot of us old goats, smell included, got a few more precious moments of life. LTC G.E.R., Boise, ID My wife and I enjoyed your book with equal intensity. It is obvious that your experiences do not require a shared background for readers to feel the horror, the poverty, and the heroism of war. The work of the Army Nurse Corps would not have been known to us without your book. You have a gift of literary expression that makes it difficult to put your book down once it is opened. D. C., Greensboro, NC June, you are our “speak-easy” written word communicator. Without you, we would have faded away over the last fifty plus years. M.L.S. White City, OR June’s book tells of visiting wounded American soldiers in a just-liberated hospital in Heppenheim, Germany. When eleven of these survivors held a reunion in Dayton, OH, she attended. A reader sent June a ticket to tour the battlefields in Belgium, Luxembourg and France with 33 other veterans. Memories of a particular crossroad, church or hill are etched in veterans’ minds; viewing the scene fifty odd years later proved highly emotional.
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