The statue, depicting a nurse aiding a wounded soldier, was given in 1914 by the Massachusetts Daughters of Veterans. The statue is accompanied by a painting by Edward Brodney, honoring mothers of war, featuring his mother, Sarah Brodney, as the model. Plaques behind the statue honor Clara Barton (1821-1912) and Frances Slanger (1913-44). Barton, known as the “Angel of the Battlefield,” founded the American Red Cross in 1881. Slanger, the first American nurse killed in combat in WWII, landed in Normandy on June 9, 1944. Her letter praising American GIs was published posthumously in Stars and Stripes.
