A nurse administers anesthetic with the aid of a flashlight as snipers try to pick off members of a U.S. surgical team in Algiers. One member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots tows targets for U.S. antiaircraft trainees, while another test flies repaired military aircraft in Texas. Another American woman in the Philippines smuggles food and medicine to prisoners who survived the Death March on Bataan.

In "Her War," American women tell the personal, largely unknown stories of their experiences serving their country in World War II. These are not reminiscences recalled through the 60-year...