This Is Really War: The Incredible True Story of a Navy Nurse POW in the Occupied Philippines

Join the Pritzker Military Museum & Library and Dr. Diana Hackbarth, RN, PhD, FAAN, in conversation with Dr. Emilie LeBeau Lucchesi, author of This Is Really War: The Incredible True Story of a Navy Nurse POW in the Occupied Philippines, in recognition of National Nurses Week.

In December 1941, nurse Dorothy Still was stationed at a US navy base in the Philippines. Days after the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the military targeted the Philippines. Within weeks, Dorothy and 11 other navy nurses were taken prisoner of war. The women were transferred to a civilian concentration camp and under the direction of Chief Nurse Laura Cobb, the nurses maintained rank and provided tireless care to thousands of men, women and children. Dr. Lucchesi, in conversation with former Navy nurse Dr. Hackbarth, will share how these nurses, who considered themselves average women, rose to the challenge and survived a prison experience that many others did not.