Remembering my mother and the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps

In my Memorial Day post, I listed those relatives who had passed on and were veterans of the U.S. military. I included my mother, Anna Marie Hett, who told us kids that she was trained as a U.S. Navy nurse but the war ended before she completed her training and served on active duty. My sister Eileen e-mailed me, saying that she never knew that Mom was trained as a Navy nurse. I questioned my memory, wondering if I had my stories mixed up. Memory is imperfect, after all. I Googled U.S. Navy nurses in World War II and found links to the Cadet Nurse Corps. I found a database and searched for Anna Marie Hett of Denver. I found two records on Ancestry.com. I had to sign up for a free trial and looked at the records. Sure enough, Mom had two membership cards for the corps. She signed up in her birth month of May 1944, just when she turned 18. The other card was in January of 1945. There are no other records as the war ended in August. I'll have to do more research but I do know that we have a photo of Mom is her Cadet Nurse uniform. Did she graduate as a cadet or was the program dissolved? I shall find out. Meanwhile, here is a photo of her 1944 membership card:

For those of you who didn't read my "Memorial Day roll call" post on Memorial Day, and for some reason it disappeared from my blog (What the heck, Blogger?), here it is again:

Remembering family members who served and are no longer with us:

Raymond Shay, U.S. Army and Iowa National Guard, World War I and Mexican Border Campaign, buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery with his wife, my grandmother --

Florence Green Shay, U.S. Army nurse, World War I

Thomas R. Shay, U.S. Army Signal Corps, World War II ETO

Daniel Shay, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam-era

Patrick Shay, U.S. Air Force

My mother, Anna Hett Shay, was trained as a U.S. Navy nurse but never saw active duty.

My father-in-law, Jack Schweiger, CWO4, U.S. Army, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, buried with his wife Ann in Arlington National Cemetery. They travelled the world and raised two kids in the process, Ellen Schweiger Berry, who married a 20-year Navy man, and Christine Schweiger Shay, who married me.

Thanks for your service. We miss you all.