Primarily documents Rachel Brower Twiddy's experiences in nursing school in Washington, D.C., and her nursing career before and during her service in the Army Nurse Corps at Fort Ord, California, during World War II. Twiddy discusses growing up on a farm outside Greensboro, North Carolina; attending nursing school in Washington, D.C.; taking courses at Johns Hopkins University; private duty nursing in Washington; her experience sightseeing in California while working at Stanford Hospital; an aborted plan to work at Queen's Hospital in Hawaii following the attack on Pearl Harbor; and reactions in San Francisco to the Japanese attack. " Topics related to the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) include her reasons for joining the ANC; her parents' reaction when she joined; the lack of military training for nurses; the ANC uniform; common injuries and illnesses that she treated at Ford Ord; fellow ANC nurses; her work schedule at Fort Ord; her embarrassment at being saluted by enlisted men; meeting her husband in the Fort Ord hospital; meeting Hollywood stars at Fort Ord; social life, including dances and dating; the surprise of V-J Day; changes in military standards; and her opinion of women in combat positions.