56th Evac Hospital

Collins chronicles his experiences from training in Texas to service in Italy at Paestum, Dragoni, and worst of all, the desperate "Hell's Half Acre" of Anzio Beach, where, because of frequent shelling of the hospitals, patients were known to go AWOL to the front. His book is a rare opportunity to view WWII from the perspective of those whose task it was to treat the sick and wounded.