Young navy nurse Ann Bartlett somehow manages to be in the right place for adventure almost all the time. Though the series begins rather pokily, before U.S. entry into World War II, detailing newly graduated Nurse Ann's decision to join the navy and her initial training, it zooms into high gear with a breathless succession of harrowing adventures in the second book, in which Ann narrowly escapes Japanese bombs at Pearl Harbor, only to be kidnapped and eventually suffer hardships and deprivation at Bataan.

Patriotism and Propaganda in Girls' Series: Fictional Nurses of World War II All about World War II nurses in girls' series books, from Susan Merton to Nancy Naylor to Ann Bartlett. Click here to read more!

The hair-raising adventures don't stop there. Ann later manages to return to the Philippines even before General MacArthur. She's kidnapped by Japanese spies, lost in a jungle after a plane crash, stranded with a rescue party. Even after the war, she's imprisoned by German spies--in her hometown! And then there are the inevitable romantic troubles, too! But Ann manages to cope with all of it, nobly and heroically, until marriage writes finis to her adventures--or at least to the books about them.

Ann Bartlett, Navy Nurse, 1941
After graduating from nursing school, Ann decides to become a navy nurse; after training, she is stationed in the South, where she finds romance with a dashing young navy pilot.

Martha Johnson is a pseudonym of Elisabeth Lansing, who also wrote the Nancy Naylor series.

Ann Bartlett at Bataan, 1943
Ann is in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, then works in the Philippines. After she is kidnapped by a Japanese sympathizer, she eventually ends up serving with army nurses at Bataan and Corregidor.

Ann Bartlett in the South Pacific, 1944
Ann, now stationed at a hospital in Australia, embarks on a mercy mission to find her navy pilot fiance, who is missing after a plane crash.

Cherry Ames, War Nurse: Fiction Meets Reality Explore an in-depth account of Cherry Ames's experiences as a nurse during wartime. Click here to read more!

Ann Bartlett Returns to the Philippines, 1945
After a torpedo strikes, Ann joins a rescue party and spends a harrowing period at sea before being washed up on a Philippine island, where they encounter a guerrilla band.

Ann Bartlett on Stateside Duty, 1946
When visiting her home on leave after the end of the war, Ann, still serving in the navy, becomes entangled with German spies.

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