There are a handful of friends who have heard me talk about this book for the last five years. And those same friends have also talked me off a ledge because of this book. Their friendship and encouragement were vital when I hit a dead end, had writer’s block, or just freaked out about anything I could think of at the time: Shellie Anders, Marshall Mitchell, Susan Fales-Hill, Shoshana Guy, Anne Simmons, Yolanda Griffin, Keli Goff, Subrata De, Gillian Miniter, and DeMarco Morgan.

I want to thank all the family and friends of Elinor and Frederick whom I met or spoke to, no matter how briefly, on this journey: Charlotte Tutsek, Hope Taylor, Alethea Felton, Anne Felton, Dina Felton, Stephen Albert, Chan Albert, Jill Williams, Edward Allen, Pamela Ballard, Piroschka Dossi, and Diana Dickson.

In particular, I want to thank Kristina Brandner, the daughter of Charlotte Tutsek, Frederick’s sister. As with Chris, I developed a friendship with Kristina, who was so generous with her time and very honest about her family’s dynamics. Whether we were on one of our long walks through Munich’s Olympic Park, sitting on her botanical-adorned terrace, or at a beer garden, she shared her family’s history and I am so grateful to her for that. Kristina also served as translator when I met with Charlotte. In her mid-nineties, always impeccably dressed, Charlotte welcomed me into her lovely Munich apartment a few times, where we sat in her living room and talked over coffee and sweets served on fine china.

With the timing of this book, sadly, most of the black nurses who served in World War II have passed on. But I managed to meet Elinor’s friend from Camp Florence, Gwyneth Blessitt Moore, and can’t thank her enough for talking to me. She had read my story about Elinor and Frederick in the New York Times and reached out to Chris, who in turn passed on my contact information. She was the only person I had found who witnessed Elinor and Frederick falling in love.

I also had several phone calls with former army nurse Dorothy Jenkins, who served at Camp Papago Park in Arizona during the war. She provided some powerful anecdotes about her time there, and I’m thankful for her openness to share with me.

A tremendous amount of research was required for this book. There are several institutions that I want to acknowledge: the National Archives at College Park in Maryland; the Library of Congress; the New York Public Library; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., and in London; Amistad Research Center at Tulane University; Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University; Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland; Fondren Library at Southern Methodist University; and the World War II Museum in New Orleans.