There are no living relatives and no Shipmates listed but Helen's deceased brother from WWII and me.
After the war was over and I was married to my Chief ACMM Elvin Leavitt Rickard July 14, 1945. I am now known as Helen Anderson Glass after I married George S. Glass 8/15/1955. When we enlisted WAVES signed up for the duration of the war plus 6 months...unless we got married and he was discharged....so I qualified for early out.
Other Comments:
We had the opportunity to sign up for overseas duty. Hawaii was overseas at that time. I signed up and we were issued sea-bags and hammocks- But here I am 20 years old and I receive a "Compassionate Letter of Denial".
We were checked out when we enlisted but for this they checked again and found out my brother EM (Electricians Mate) 1/C Arthur J. Anderson had recently been KIA 9/11/1943 on the USS Savannah at Salerno, Italy and was buried off the coast of Malta and my father Arthur O. Anderson Pvt U.S. Army -gassed, wounded, suffering from shell shock,- France WW! was reported 'critical' in the VA in N.J. so that left my mother home alone- so I was turned down". I thank the good Lord that my dad live for 20 more years.
I have written a couple of poems based on my brother and his ship.
My book contains my poetry honoring men veterans. It includes my father, brother, family members back to the Civil War up to the present time. all branches of the service- all wars up to the present. My "Women in the Military" the same.
My poem Peace won my first gold medal in the National Veterans Creative Arts in 2002 and I went to Minn. MN for the show- Jane Powell presented my award. My poem Graveyards...won an award in Veterans Voices...
My very first award for my writing was in 1933 when I won the DAR Citizenship Award in Montclair, N.J. My poem "The Unknown Vietnam Soldier Speaks" won The Editor's Choice Award in the International Society of Poets in Washington, DC. in 1993 after my son died. In my book "Days End" I dedicated to Vietnam Vets and is now in the Library of Congress. I had my picture taken with Florence Henderson and the Oakridge Boys played the background music. It was great. My poem 'Battleground Love' won my 2nd gold medal in 2003 and I won a trip to Oklahoma City for the show where Bo Derick was Mistress of Ceremony.
I can not claim credit for my poetry- it is the veterans, etc that inspire me to write them. If it were not for them I couldn't do it.
I was inspired to write "Peace" when my brother was killed. "Graveyards" and "A cruiser Remembered" were written after he was killed. Battleground Love when I visited the VA in Florida to see my dad. The veteran in the beds next to him was reminiscing with his Vietnam Vet buddy- I was in tears- The Unknown Vietnam Soldier that was when they first interred the Vietnam Soldier- an then had to remove him when he was identified...so you see I owe my success to them.
I always felt I didn't do much in the Navy so I am making up for it by honoring veterans in my poetry. My dad said when I enlisted "She's not a WAVE she's a ripple" I said I may have been a ripple in the Navy but I'm making WAVES now. Another of my sayings is "Poets and writers become artists when what they write paints a picture in you minds eye". I was raised during the time we read books, listened to the radio and you had to picture what you read and heard...
.png?ixlib=java-2.3.0&w=100&s=c49280a91b79826dbff47dc198f1bbf0 "Honorable Discharge Emblem (WWII)")
