HomeMy WebLinkAboutRejection Notes & Bio
A NOTE FROM MY "REJECT FILES"
I have a wonderful file of "rejects" . . .some were cutting, others are encouraging.
About thirty years ago, a former Aggie -- and senior editor of Atheneum Publishers (122
East 42 St. NY 10017) -- was on the A&M campus. During a reception for him, I
mentioned working on a manuscript titled "The Making of a WAVE." He seemed interested
and asked me to send it to him. I was quite excited, of course, because I had never
published a a book before. Several weeks later, he wrote:
The "Making of a WAVE" is a thoroughly professional memoir, told with skill,
deftness and with much lighthearted humor. But the problem I have is that I
can't envision a market for it, even among the most rabid "NOSTALGIACS." But I
urge you to continue submitting the manuscript elsewhere, it's definitely publishable
and you're likely to find someone who may not be as skeptical as I am about the
potential readership.
I enjoyed meeting you while I was at A&M and hope you'll give my best
regard to Henry and all the other Aggies.
Yours sincerely, HERMAN GOLLOB.
* * * * *
Herman Gollob returned my manuscript, and after several years, I decided to rewrite
it and change the title to "The Way of the W AVES". After several more query letters and
rejects, Henry convinced me to publish it myself. I was editor of a National WAVES
newsletter ("White Caps") for the first eight years and had access to a long W AVES
membership list. The book sold out quickly. . .and has been reprinted several times. All
remaining copies are in the WIMSA (Women In Military Service of America) gifts shop in
Washington D.C.
Biographical Sketch:
MABlE_B,ENNE.TT ALSMEYER -- U. S. Navy WAVES -- WW II
**
My World War II Navy WAVES books, papers, letters & reports are on deposit at
the Navy Yard's QpelatioIlaLAtcbj~es..Branch Washington D.C. I was also invited
to complete a detailed report for the Naval War College's Historical Collection.
**
**
*****
I was born 82 years ago in Falfurrias in deep South Texas ranching country. I graduated
from high school in 1940 and went to Texas College of Arts and Industries (now T AMU -
Kingsville) one year with help from the National Youth Administration @25 cents an hour.
My husband: Dr. Henry Alsmeyer, '47, was asso. director of TAMU Libraries in the 1970s.
Our three children -- all Aggies -- are David, BT in Ipswich, England, Charles, computers in
Atlanta, and Dr. Ann Kellett, TAMU System information specialist.
During the War, my brother was a medical doctor, 82nd Airborne Paratrooper, and set up
::lllY'l\tents in France as D-Day began. My sister was secretary, FBI in Washington D.C.
~\co-\7
I was one of the first women to enlist in the newly organized Navy W A VES-- Women
Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. A month after my 20th birthday, I boarded the
midnight train for boot camp in New York City -- and never looked back!
The Navy had taken over the Hunter College campus in the Bronx for WAVES boot camp
that lasted three weeks -- later increasing to six weeks -- with 2,000 new recruits called
"goon platoons" arriving each week. W AVES uniforms were designed by the famous
Mainbocher of New York and, with a few changes, are still , today(Mine doesn't fit now)
U5eq " <(
Actually, I wanted to be a machinist mate and mess around with pliers and greasy drills but
to please my mother, I entered the next best thing -- the medical corps as a HA Duce
(hospital apprentice, second class). Hospital corps school was at the newly constructed
Naval hospital in Long Beach CA. After three weeks of training, I was sent at Oak Knoll
Naval Hospital, across the Oakland Bay Bridge from San Francisco. The hospital grew from
600 to over 6,000 patients by the end of the War. I was secretary to the Commander in
charge of Pathology -- attending autopsies and meeting hospital ships at Pier 9 in San
Francisco -- and always carrying my pencil and notepad. It was gruesome but interesting,
duty. I am proud to have marched with our small hospital band in the Victory Parade down
Market Street i[l San Francisco. With the G.1. bill, I received a degree in journalism at u.t.,
earned a pilot's license and. . .got married. I was first to edit WHITE CAPS, the WAVES
National's newsletter and organized W AVES Unit #1 in Little Rock. There are now over
150 such Units throughout the U.S.
My first book, ThfLW..ay....o.ltb.e W A VE5.., was self-published in 1981 because no
publisher was interested in women in the military at that time. The response was great and I
received hundreds of "sea stories" which I published as QLdJllLA VES_Lales,_ My last book,
Six..Y.ear.s....AfteLD-D...ay.:....Cy..cling..tbcQu9b_EuLop,e.. was published by Univ. of North Texas
Press in 1995. I have had several articles published in magazines and newspapers.