In God We Trust
On a foggy August 25, 1950, the hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13) was rammed by the commercial freighter, SS Mary Luckenbach about four miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Less than an hour later, the Benevolence had capsized with only a part of its hull and its big red cross showing above water. Twenty-three persons on the ship were dead and hundreds more were struggling to stay afloat and alive in freezing cold water. One Navy nurse, Lt. Wilma Ledbetter, lost her life in the tragedy. For more information about the USS Benevolence, go to "Stateside Tragedies" on the KWE.
Fatality
Ledbetter, Wilma - Wilma Ledbetter was born April 27, 1912 in Chillicothe, Texas. Her father, William L. "Bud" Ledbetter moved to Chillicothe with his brothers George Mitchell, Henry, Hiram and Dick Ledbetter in the early 1900s. Bud later became mayor of Chillicothe for a number of years and also served several years as a city councilman. He was the last surviving member of the original Chillicothe Volunteer Fire Department that was organized in the early 1900s. Bud also had a feed and seed store for years and was manager of the Kell Mills for years.
There were five girls in the Ledbetter family. The eldest three, Lucretia (1907-1996), Edith (1909-1982), and Wilma (1912-1950), were the daughters of William Luther "Bud" Ledbetter (died 1978) and Christina Hale Ledbetter. Christina Ledbetter died of influenza in 1918. The youngest two Ledbetter sisters, Jacqueline "Jackie" (1923-2000) and Emily, were the daughters of William and Emma Jane Powell Ledbetter (died 1961). Wilma's aunt and uncle were Davidson Victor York and Nell Pitcomb (Powell) York of Ada, Texas.
Although Emma Ledbetter was not the birth mother of Wilma, family members told the KWE that she loved Wilma as her own daughter and Wilma's death took a terrible toll on Emma. Wilma's sisters each married: Lucretia to a Wickliffe, Edith to Thurman McPherson, Jacqueline (Jackie) to Bennie Emile Reynolds, and Emily to a Shoemaker. Jacqueline had two children, Jerry William Reynolds (1947-2011) and Jane Reynolds Howard of Collinsville, Oklahoma.
According to her sister Emily, Wilma graduated from high school in Chillicothe circa 1929. Naval records show that she attended Texas State College for Women, Denton, Texas, from 1929 to 1930. She then attended Central State Teachers College, Edmond, Oklahoma in 1933 while thinking about becoming a teacher. After deciding to become a nurse, she received three years of nurses training (1936 to 1939) at the Northwest Texas Hospital School of Nursing in Amarillo, Texas. The school closed in 1985. (See also: American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 50, October 1950, page 680.)
Prior to becoming a Navy Nurse, Wilma Ledbetter was employed at Northwest Texas Hospital, Amarillo (general duties) from 1939 to 1940. She then worked at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana, where she not only had general duties from 1940 to 1942, but also took nine hours of nurses education (1942) at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. She then had general duties at Brackenridge Hospital, Austin, Texas, in 1942. She reported for a physical examination to join the Navy Nurse Corps on March 4, 1943 in Norman, Oklahoma, where it was found that Wilma was physically qualified for appointment in the USNR Nurse Corps.
Naval records show that she proceeded to active duty as Reserve Nurse, USN, on July 6, 1943. Her service number was 219499. Ensign Ledbetter had duty at the Naval Hospital, San Diego, California, before receiving orders to Hawaii. She sailed from the USA on the USS Antigua on September 9, 1944, arriving at Pearl Harbor on September 15, 1944. She served as a nurse at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Aiea Heights, Hawaii, and then at the Naval Air Station, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, until November 8, 1945. According to her income tax report for that year, her total taxable pay in 1945 was $2,137.25. Her military exclusion was $1,500.00.
She returned to the States on November 13, 1945 on the S.S. Monterey, and then traveled from San Francisco, California to the U.S. Naval Hospital in New Orleans, LA. She was released to inactive status effective May 17, 1946, but proceeded to active duty as Reserve Nurse USN again on January 14, 1947. She was assigned to a duty station at the US Naval Hospital, Houston, Texas. Records show that she was transferred from there to the dispensary at the Naval Ammunition Depot in Hawthorne, Nevada. She received permission to travel from her duty station at the US Naval Hospital, Houston, Texas, to Hawthorne, Nevada on 14 November 1947. The orders gave her permission to travel there via an automobile owned by Lt. Marie Edith Charron, NC, USN, and described the auto as a 1947 Kaiser Special, 4-door. In 1948 she received a permanent appointment to the rank of Lieutenant, NC, USN.
Wilma was also a nurse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but the dates of her service there have not yet been determined. Lieutenant Ledbetter rejoined the active Navy Nurse Corps when the Korean War broke out and was assigned to the USS Benevolence.