To simply summarize the stories of these ladies would be an injustice to their tales, but I will mention a few that really stood out to me. Alice Marble was a world class tennis champ who used her influence and relationships to act as a spy in order to gain evidence for the Nuremberg trials. OSS field operatives like Stephanie Czech Rader gathered information in hostile territory, while OSS Morale Operations member Betty Peet McIntosh crafted propaganda and used psychological warfare to turn Japanese soldiers against their own leaders. "The Limping Lady" is the moniker earned by super spy Virginia Hall, who also went by Artemis. This tall redhead was a master of disguise and gave the Germans hell during her time, even though she had lost a leg when she was a young woman, hence the nickname. Probably my favorite story was of the Cook sisters, Ida and Louise. These middle-aged British women who fervently adored and followed opera were responsible for not only helping Jews to escape Nazi Germany, but they did so as these unassuming women who were just simply attending The Berlin State Opera. Only sometimes, they would return home with an extra friend or wearing flamboyantly expensive jewelry that the Nazis just assumed was fake, only it really was someone's financial ticket to freedom.
There were stories about women like Marion Armstrong Frieswick who worked on the topographic maps for the War Department, and women like Elizabeth Bemis Robarts who helped build the Bombe, the machine that broke the Enigma codes, only they were never told what they were building, at least not for many decades. Pilots like Millie Rexroat who joined the WASPS to fight, but had her dreams yanked out from under her. The incredibly inspiring story of Katherine Flynn Nolan, a petite nurse who landed on Normandy Beach and whose medical field hospital followed the fighting all the way through to Germany, saving countless lives while working in the most miserable conditions. They were so efficient, they had a less than 4% death rate. Incredible!
Finally, there was Charity Adams Earley, a black woman who excelled in the WAC (Women's Army Corp), and was given command over the "Six Triple Eight," an all-black unit. These 855 women were tasked with clearing out the backlog of mail that had sat rotting, for months, in a rat-infested warehouse. Not only did they jump in and tackle the problem, but they single-handedly improved morale across the ranks, simply by getting these vital pieces of uplifting mail to their recipients. Of course, they were asked to do it again in a different location, and again, they exceeded expectations.
I have only just touched on some of the women whose stories are told in The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line. Many stories had me in tears as I read, while some were just incredibly inspiring. These are important stories and I am thankful to Eder for putting them to paper. If you have even a passing interest in WWII, you should read this book and see not only how these women affected the war, but also the ongoing legacies they left with their actions. Highly recommended.
