Erickson, Ruth Alice, CAPT

A native of Virginia, Minn., she served 30 years in the Navy Nurse Corps, retiring in 1966. Her last assignments were in the Washington, D.C., area as chief nurse of the then Bethesda Naval Hospital before being assigned as Director of the Navy Nurse Corps from 1962 until her retirement. As director, she sought improvements in nursing service administration and nursing practices, and looked to increase opportunities for the advancement of the officers in the Nurse Corps and the expansion of nursing education programs.

On Dec. 7, 1941, she was on duty at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Pearl Harbor and witnessed the Japanese attack. Less then two weeks later she was one of three nurses selected to accompany the first war casualties, who were evacuated from the USS President Coolidge. Later, as Chief of Nursing Service aboard the USS Haven from April 1945 to March 1946, she returned to Pearl Harbor on the day U.S. hostilities with Japan ended.

Her career also included assignments at the USN hospital in San Diego, and on the hospital ship USS Relief. She served at naval hospitals and medical facilities in Corona, Calif.; Farragut, Idaho; St. Albans, N.Y.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Great Lakes, Ill. She served as the Nurse Corps Personnel Officer at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington D.C., as well as the Chief of Nursing Service at USN Hospitals in Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Portsmouth, Va.

Capt. Erickson graduated from the Methodist-Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester in 1934 and received a degree in nursing education from Indiana University in 1953. She also attended the University of California and George Washington University.

She was a member of numerous organizations, including the Methodist-Kahler Hospital School of Nursing Alumni, the National League of Nursing, the American Nurses' Association, and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. Her service awards and medals include the Navy Unit Commendation, the American Defense Service Medal with one star, the American Theater Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Medal with one star, and the World War II Victory Medal. Because of her background and witness to history, she was often sought out by authors and historians seeking primary sources of information about World War II.

She lived in Alexandria, Va., until 1990, then returned to Minnesota. She resided at Charter House in Rochester until her death. She was a member of Messiah Lutheran Church in Alexandria, and Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester.