Ruth Alice Erickson
{{Infobox military person
|name=Ruth Alice Erickson
|birth_date= {{birth date|1913|6|20}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|2008|11|25|1913|6|20}}
|birth_place= Virginia, Minnesota
|death_place= Rochester, Minnesota
|image=CAPT Ruth Alice Erickson USN.jpg
|caption=CAPT Ruth Alice Erickson, USN
|nickname=
|allegiance= United States of America
|branch= United States Navy
|serviceyears= 1936–1966
|rank=Captain
|commands=Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps, 1962–1966
|battles=World War II
Korean War
|awards=Navy Unit Commendation, American Defense Service Medal with star, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with battle star, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal with star
|laterwork=
}}
Captain Ruth Alice Erickson (1913-2008) was the Director of the United States Navy Nurse Corps, serving in that position from 1962 to 1966. As a lieutenant in the Navy Nurse Corps, she witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.[https://web.archive.org/web/19991128082349/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-3b.htm Oral History of LT Ruth Erickson]
Early life
Ruth Alice Erickson was born in 1913 in Virginia, Minnesota. She graduated from Methodist Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, Minnesota in 1934.{{cite book |last=Godson |first=Susan H. |title=Serving Proudly: A history of Women in the U.S. Navy |year=2001 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=1-55750-317-6}}
Navy Nurse Corps career
Ruth Erickson joined the Navy Nurse Corps in July 1936. During her career she served on the hospital ship Relief, witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and served on the hospital ship Haven while bringing home prisoners of war from Japan in 1945. Erickson moved through positions of increasing responsibility, including nursing supervisor, senior nurse and assistant chief of nursing services at various naval hospitals, Nurse Corps representative in the 12th Naval District and Military Sea Transport Service in Seattle, WA, and personnel officer for the Nurse Corps at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D. C. She served as chief nurse at three major naval hospitals and, on 30 April 1962 became the Director of the Navy Nurse Corps. She retired from the U. S. Navy on 1 May 1966.{{cite book |last=Sterner |first=Doris M. |title=In and Out of Harm's Way: A history of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps |year=1997 |publisher=Peanut Butter Publishing |location=Seattle, WA |isbn=0-89716-706-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/inoutofharmsway00dori }}
Education
Erickson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing Education from Indiana University in 1953.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last=Sterner |first=Doris M. |title=In and Out of Harm's Way: A history of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps |year=1997 |publisher=Peanut Butter Publishing |location=Seattle, WA |isbn=0-89716-706-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/inoutofharmsway00dori }}
- {{cite book |last=Ebbert |first=Jean and Marie-Beth Hall|title=Crossed Currents: Navy Women from WWI to Tailhook [Revised] |year=1999 |publisher=Brassey's |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-1-57488-193-6}}
- {{cite book |last=Godson |first=Susan H. |title=Serving Proudly: A history of Women in the U.S. Navy |year=2001 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=1-55750-317-6}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20000819020908/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-tpic/nurses/nurses.htm Nurses and the U.S. Navy -- Overview and Special Image Selection] Naval Historical Center
- [https://web.archive.org/web/19991128082349/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-3b.htm Oral History of LT Ruth Erickson] about the attack on Pearl Harbor
- [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202146.html Washington Post Obituary]
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{{succession box |before=Ruth Agatha Houghton|title=Director, Navy Nurse Corps |years=1962–1966 |after=Veronica Bulshefski}}
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Category:American nursing administrators
Category:Female wartime nurses
Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II
Category:United States Navy personnel of the Korean War
Category:Female United States Navy officers
Category:United States Navy Nurse Corps officers
Category:People from Virginia, Minnesota
Category:20th-century American women