Ruth Messick, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, June 5, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 565

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RUTH ME BECK: Let me back up a little. What made y u decid that y u want d t , fir t falL join the service, and second, join the WAVE ? RUTH: My sister, Martha, talked about joining and she wanted me to join with a fri nd of hers, and her name's Pauline Crook-she lives in Brigham now. But th n Martha changed her mind. I thought, that sounds like a pretty good thing to do. And they were asking for women to do this. You know it was right at the end of the war when they were making the big push and, well, I just decided I'd do it. BECK: You felt like you wanted to get involved, too, and do what you could? RUTH: Yes. All the guys were gone, except the 4-Fs (laughs). BECK: How did your parents feel about you joining? RUTH: I don't know. I think they thought it was all right. BECK: They were worried? RUTH: No. They had all these boys in. Women didn't usually go where it was dangerous. BECK: So they weren't worried about that. RUTH: And, you know, the discipline was very good. BECK: Right. RUTH: That has helped me a lot in my life. BECK: So you signed up in Brigham City? RUTH: No, I had to go to Ogden. BECK: And is that where you left from? Did they put you on a train? RUTH: Ogden had more trains than Salt Lake. It took me seven days to get to New York. 17