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.

[3] 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,[1] and served on the hospital ship Haven while bringing home prisoners of war from Japan in 1945.

[2] Erickson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing Education from Indiana University in 1953.