Book 4, by Helen Wells
Illustrated by Ralph Crosby Smith,
revision illustrated by Frank Vaughn
Grosset & Dunlap, 1944
"An executive's job is no bargain. Who loves an executive? Nobody!" She pulled down her helmet, pulled on her own gloves, and groaned to her nurses, "When we say we're sweating out this war in the jungle, boy, you can take that literally!"
--From Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, p. 135
Still in the Army Nurse Corps with her Spencer hospital unit, Cherry, having been promoted to chief nurse, organizes an evacuation hospital on a Pacific jungle island and is tested under fire.
Chapter 1: Jungle Christmas
Cherry arrives on Port Janeway in the Pacific to deliver a malaria serum to researchers. She meets Lieutenant Colonel Pillsbee, her new commanding officer, and receives a promotion to first lieutenant and acting chief nurse--she will be in charge of the sixty nurses from the Spencer unit, who are being brought from Panama. Major Pierce will replace Dr. Wylie as the unit's director, and new doctors and corpsmen will replace Dr. Joe, Lex, and the others previously with her unit. Cherry is told that the Spencer unit will be setting up an evacuation hospital on Island 14, on the edge of a combat area.
Chapter 2: Leapfrog
On their way to the jumping-off point for their boat trip to Island 14, Cherry and her nurses split up to hike through the Janeway island jungle and treat soldiers stationed en route. Cherry has a run-in with Colonel Pillsbee, who questions whether the nurses are too high-spirited and cheerful with patients, and suggests they behave with more decorum and formality.
Chapter 3: Island 14
Cherry and the nurses learn that a secret air base is under construction on the recently captured Island 14; Air Transport Command will be ferrying in supplies. When Cherry meets the soldiers on the island, she impulsively promises them a huge party, complete with ice cream; Colonel Pillsbee reluctantly grants permission but insists that the hospital be set up first. The party is a huge success, thanks in part to mess office Captain Wilson, who arranges to make the promised ice cream, using a stranded fighter plane that can haul the ingredients into the stratosphere to freeze.
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Chapter 4: Troubles
Cherry struggles with a shortage of nurses as she arranges schedules and copes with routine administrative details of supervising the operation of the hospital; she enjoys making daily visits to the wards and interacting with the soldier patients. Colonel Pillsbee again complains about informality in the nurses' dealings with the hospitalized soldiers and criticizes Cherry's popularity with the patients.
Chapter 5: A Plane Arrives
Cherry goes on an errand to the now-completed secret air base, and happens to be on hand when an Air Transport Command supply plane arrives with a wounded crewman, Lieutenant Gene Grant. Also aboard are Cherry's twin brother, Charlie, who is now flying with the ATC, and Bessie Flanders, a new nurse anaesthetist for the Spencer unit.
Ralph Crosby Smith's cover showing Cherry in a military uniform was quickly replaced after the war, as was his wartime cover for Army Nurse. The frontispieces for both books were also revised.
Chapter 6: Bessie
The surgeons realize Gene's unusual-appearing shoulder wound may have been caused by a new weapon. Bessie, who returned to nursing after losing her husband in the war, immediately becomes popular with the other Spencer unit nurses and patients, both because of her good-natured willingness to work and her clowning about her size--she's six feet tall and generously proportioned. Her demeanor changes when she begins an overly strict diet, but Cherry convinces her to appreciate her own beauty.
Chapter 7: The Silent Flier Charlie returns to Island 14 after flying other supply missions, and he and Cherry discuss Gene's condition; Gene's shoulder wound is healing well, but he is shell-shocked and won't talk at all. Cherry and Charlie worry about the possibility of a new enemy weapon.
Chapter 8: Monkey and Other Business
Cherry carries out some unpleasant duties, including putting down a monkey who may be the source of a soldier's malaria, disciplining the nurses, and carrying out drills. After torrential rains, patients and nurses are required to cover up in long sleeves, helmets, and gloves to keep them safe from disease-bearing insects in the intense jungle heat. Cherry watches the poignant scene as a mail boat arrives and later savors her own precious letters from home.
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Chapter 9: Danger Ahead! Charlie and Cherry discover some tiny shell fragments still embedded in his transport plane's fuselage. With therapy, Gene has begun talking again; Cherry, Charlie, and Gene discuss what happened when he was wounded. Later, Gene and Cherry deduce that Japanese enemy forces must be concealed on a nearby island. Cherry reports their theory to Colonel Pillsbee, who dismisses it, but she ends up inadvertently reporting to the intelligence officer. Later that night their island is bombed by those hidden Japanese planes.
Chapter 10: Under Fire
Cherry and the nurses are tested under fire as one of the hospital tents is hit and battle casualties begin streaming in, as the air battle rages overhead. Cherry learns that Captain Wilson is among those who have been killed and that Gene has left to join the battle. Major Pierce organizes a surgical team, including Cherry, to reach the wounded on a forward island by boat. Cherry overcomes her intense fear because she knows she has a responsibility to the wounded men.
Chapter 11: Happy Landings!
With the victory won, after several days the nurses are finally able to relax. Ann Evans's fiance, Jack Powell, who had been in the battle, arrives on Island 14, but Colonel Pillsbee won't waive the rules to allow them to marry immediately. Charlie tells Cherry that his ATC group will be moving on to another island. Cherry is commended for making her report about the concealed enemy, which helped to pinpoint the direction of the surprise attack; she is now a full-fledged chief nurse. Cherry happily realizes that she has lived up to all her ideals about nursing.
Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse
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