Joan and Ralph Earnhardt

“My father told of seeing my mother for the first time in the mess line. She was only five feet tall, with red hair. She was wearing boots and a helmet. My father asked the guy next to him ‘Are we drafting kids now?’ That “kid” turned out to be a feisty nurse from Pennsylvania. She soon noticed the tall Southern boy from Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina.

The nurses were not allowed to date the enlisted men, but some rules were meant to be broken! They began to date by going to the French opera…they didn’t speak French or like opera…but it was a place to be together. It was a retreat from the hospital and all its wounded and dying. They dated until the war ended in 1945 and they were married in 1947. Both of them are gone now but my parents definitely were the ‘greatest generation’ to me!”

– Erna Brown, ’75 and M.Ed ’87

Joan and Ralph Earnhardt, remembered by their daughter, Erna Brown

Both parents served in World War II: Joan as an Army nurse in France and Ralph as an Army medic. They worked with Allied troops and German POWs.

Both of my parents were proud of their service to their country. The Army years served them well, in that they matured as young people and found each other in the worst possible conditions. A love story that they loved to share!