Good Night, Irene

Irene notices that as the war goes on, the soldiers’ tendency toward sexual harassment gets worse. Dorothy and Irene learn not to stand too close to the men while serving them. A few days later, Holly returns home. The Rapid City follows their unit into Germany. As they drive, the women find the beauty of the German landscape to be a shocking contrast to the evil of the Nazis. Irene receives a letter from Hans about meeting after the war ends.

At night, Dorothy goes out with the Gray Ghosts, a resistance group she joins within the unit. One night, Dorothy participates in combat for the first time. The Gray Ghosts attack a group of Germans, and Dorothy shoots a German colonel.

After her night with the Gray Ghosts, Dorothy changes. She feels guilty for killing the German colonel, and this surprises her because she thought that killing a German soldier would make her feel better. She wants to talk to Irene about her experience but does not know how to tell her. A few days later, General Patton asks for their help. He tells them that they have discovered a prison camp and that it is unlike anything they have ever seen before. He believes that the women’s presence will lift the spirits of the men who are helping the victims.

The next morning, a jeep picks the women up and takes them to the prison camp. Irene carries Dorothy’s camera around her neck as they walk into the camp. Irene sees a group of skeletal prisoners standing together, dressed in striped rags. Some of the prisoners ask Irene to take their picture, which makes Dorothy walk away. Irene walks to a large building, looking for Dorothy. Inside the building, she sees large ovens that contain the remains of human bodies. Irene has a panic attack and runs outside. She hears someone weeping and finds Garcia huddled on the ground. He confesses to her that he accidentally killed one of the prisoners by giving him chocolate. Garcia wanted to help the prisoner because he was so thin, but he did not know that the man’s starvation was so pronounced that solid food would be lethal. Irene holds Garcia as he cries and promises that she will never tell anyone.

Behind the crematorium, Dorothy finds a building that is filled with personal belongings. Inside, there are piles of shoes. Dorothy sobs. Later, she finds Irene, and they distribute coffee among the soldiers. General Patton relieves them from duty at the concentration camp because he does not think that anything will lift the spirits of the soldiers there.

Irene asks Dorothy if she wants to talk about the concentration camp. Dorothy tells Irene that she feels angry because all they did was serve coffee while people died around them.

Irene and Dorothy stop to serve the troops. Swede comes over and starts harassing them. He insults Irene, and Dorothy launches herself out of the truck and tackles Swede to the ground, punching him repeatedly. Dorothy cries as she punches Swede, and Irene gently pulls Dorothy off him and tells her that everything will be okay. Swede threatens to report Dorothy and leaves.

The next day, a group of soldiers tells Dorothy that there will be an investigation into her attack on Swede. They tell her to keep going on with her duties, but they warn her that she will face a trial soon.

A few mornings later, Dorothy wakes up looking flustered. As they start to drive, Dorothy tells Irene that Swede knows about Dorothy’s activities with the Gray Ghosts. Dorothy admits her plans to escape once they reach the mountains. She pulls over and opens a duffel bag, revealing that she has a baby inside. The baby starts to fuss, and Dorothy tells Irene that she rescued the baby the night before. As Irene takes over the driving duties, Dorothy explains that she found the baby in a boxcar and decided to save her.

This chapter relates Dorothy’s earlier activities with the Gray Ghosts. The night before Dorothy reveals her plans to Irene, the Gray Ghosts told Dorothy that they were on their way to a town where the mayor was keeping women against their will. When they arrived at the mayor’s house, they found the women locked in boxcars in the yard. In one of the cars, they discovered a dead woman with a baby wrapped in a shawl. Dorothy could not bring herself to leave the baby behind, so the men helped her to carry the baby back to camp.

Now, as it gets dark, Dorothy tapes the headlights. Irene complains that she will not be able to see anything as she drives, but Dorothy does not want to risk anyone seeing them leave. As Irene drives, she starts arguing with Dorothy about leaving and accidentally hits a bomb crater in the dark. She tries to regain control of the vehicle, but the truck launches over the side of a cliff. Dorothy protects the baby with her body, and the force of the impact flings Irene from the truck. The truck rolls down the hill and explodes.

Irene wakes up screaming in a pool of blood. American soldiers find her, and a medic wraps Irene’s wounded legs and abdomen. The men put together a make-shift sling and carry Irene up the hill.

At the field hospital, the doctors tell Irene that she is lucky to be alive. She lies in the recovery tent for weeks, hardly speaking. When she does speak, she begs the nurses for morphine because she wants to forget that she killed Dorothy.

The doctors tell Irene that she will go home once she recovers. The morphine causes Irene to hallucinate that Hans is sitting by her bed. He tells her that she must rest and kisses her wounds. She begs him not to leave her, but she falls asleep.

Irene wakes up because men are yelling that the war is over. Garcia comes to visit her. He tells Irene that he looked for Dorothy but could not find her. Garcia thanks Irene for comforting him at the concentration camp. Garcia tells her he needs to find Hans’s friend Smitty to tell him about Dorothy. Garcia says that Smitty has had a hard time after his fighter pilot friend was reported missing in action. Irene screams, knowing that Garcia is talking about Hans, and Garcia tries to comfort her.

A few days later, Irene learns that they are moving her to France. She does not feel like herself anymore, and she hates the fact that she no longer dreams about Dorothy.

The nurses tell Irene that they need her to help the burn victims in another tent. The nurses have too much to do, and the men need someone to comfort them as they die. The nurses carry Irene into the tent even though she does not want to go. She apologizes to the victims because she does not know how to comfort people anymore. Just before he dies, one of the men comforts Irene instead and tells her that she will be all right. Later, they carry Irene onto the plane to France. She has no idea how to deal with the guilt that comes with survival.