Unintended Hero by Becky Van Vleet

Unintended Hero

The Story Behind the Story

by Becky Van Vleet

A kitchen table, a father, a daughter, and a cassette recorder. What’s so special about this? As a baby boomer, I grew up in a household occasionally hearing stories from my parents about the Great Depression and WWII. I’d always been fascinated with my father’s stories he shared about the USS Denver, the light cruiser he was on as a gunner in the South Pacific in WWII. Fearful that his stories might otherwise fade into oblivion, I pulled out my aging cassette recorder on March 19, 1990, coaxed my father to the kitchen table, and asked him to recount his WWII adventures, experiences, and battles so that his grandchildren—and the generations to follow—would know them.

For the next two hours, his stories tumbled out with pride and a remarkable remembrance. I sat spellbound, taking it all in. At the time, my plan was to simply save the cassettes as historical keepsakes for my family.

Fast forward thirty years. Covid hits, and I’m homebound with a worldwide shutdown. My children are grown up with children of their own. Time is on my hands. I pulled out those dated cassettes and listened to them again. Could I write a book? Preserve my father’s stories for others to read outside of the family?

Google and search engines became my friends, working in tandem with my fingers on my keyboard. I had a big puzzle on my hands to fit all the pieces together—my father’s stories, ship deck logs, research of the Pacific Theater, research for ammunition and guns (my father was a gunner), the battles, hundreds of other Navy ships, and the . . . well, I had a lot of pieces to fit together to formulate a story. And a well-written one. This was a story, after all, about my father. He was no longer living, and my book must honor not only him, but the other sixteen million Americans who also answered the call of duty to fight for our country. They had sacrificed school, jobs, families, homes, personal aspirations, and their very lives. My book must represent them as well.

Tap, tap, tap. My fingers flew over my keyboard faster than armor piercing shells flying from WWII battleships for more than a year as a manuscript immerged. Help came from everywhere–my husband, editors, WWII veterans, and friends. Family cheered me on. I took a couple of research trips to tour WWII ships, and I walked on Preble Field at the San Diego Naval Training Facility where my father marched for his boot camp training in 1942. And certainly, God held my hand each step of the way.

Unintended Hero, my debut historical fiction novel, finally made an inaugural appearance on Amazon in August, 2022. My book is not about sales, as that was never my intent when I wrote my father’s story. This book is about preserving a firsthand story from Walter Troyan, my father, who came from the Greatest Generation.

A few months after my book was published, God opened up doors for me to offer presentations in schools to young people, grades seven and up, about the values of the Greatest Generation—sacrifice, teamwork, and patriotism. I relate these admirable traits to my father’s experiences and those of other WWII veterans. It’s truly rewarding to witness the enthusiasm of students as they eagerly raise their hands with questions and engage in group discussions on how to incorporate sacrifice, teamwork, and patriotism in their lives today. It’s an honor to pay tribute to my father by instilling these values in today’s youth.

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/47p4k2y

Becky Van Vleet is a retired teacher and principal turned award-winning multi-genre author. Her books are the recipients of BookFest, Purple Dragonfly, Excellence in Editing, Christlit, and Angel Book awards. A contributing writer to Guideposts, The Country Register, and other publications, Becky brings both heart and history to her work. When she isn’t writing, Becky enjoys speaking to school groups and community centers about the Greatest Generation’s values, reminding audiences that stories—especially family stories—are one of the greatest gifts we can share. Through her website and monthly blog, she dedicates herself to helping families preserve their memories and celebrate the ties that bind past to present, one story at a time. You can reach her at: www.beckyvanvleet.com.