NCR Davis wrote For the Boys because of a promise she made to her mother — to honor the gals that her mother Mary served with in WWII. Mary and her best friends were female combat nurses who took care of Allied and enemy soldiers just behind the front lines of Patton’s Third Army.

In 2010, Mary turned 90 years old. On that seminal birthday, she gave her war letters and service diary to her youngest daughter, the writer in the family. Davis asked her mother what she wanted her to do with her war archives. Mary said, “Well, just edit them.” Davis didn’t know what her mother meant. After all, how does one “edit” old letters? But after reading them, Davis decided that she should interview her mother. There seemed to be hints of stories behind the letters and diary entries that Mary hadn’t dared to document.

So, over a two-year period, from 2010 to 2012, the author and her mother shared almost every afternoon together, drinking coffee, eating a pastry, and talking about the war. One day, Davis asked her mother why she wanted to finally talk about those harrowing days of her youth.

Mary responded, “I guess I want more than anything for all those gals I served with to be recognized. We never really got thanked for our service.”

Toward the end of 2012, Mary’s memory faded, She died in the spring of 2020 at age 99, three years before the publication of the true story of her war service. Finally, “For the Boys —The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third Army” was released by Casemate Publishers in the fall of 2023. And even though Casemate is a small press, the author is determined to make good on that promise to her mother. She will spend every resource she has to continue to get her mother’s friends (and Mary!) the recognition and the thanks so long overdue.