Author Guest Post + Giveaway: Becky Van Vleet -- Unintended Hero

Mar 26

4 min read

For my first author guest post, we have Becky Van Vleet talking about her story.

Becky Van Vleet is a retired teacher and principal and award-winning multi-genre author. She has been published in Guideposts, The Country Register, Christian Devotions Ministry, Lighthouse Academy, and more. Her children’s picture books are the recipients of the Excellence in Editing, Purple Dragonfly, Book Fest, and Angel Book awards. Becky is the author of Unintended Hero, a true story about her father’s battles, experiences, and adventures in WWII aboard the USS Denver. She is passionate about sharing the values from the Greatest Generation and is frequently booked as a guest speaker for school classes about patriotism. Her

debut devotional, What’s in Your Purse? is now available. A member of ACFW, Allauthor, and Shepherd for Authors, Becky has devoted her website to preserving family stories for the next generations through her monthly blogs. You can find her at: https://beckyvanvleet.com.

Now for her post!

The Story Behind the Story

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 hearing stories from my parents about the Great Depression and WWII. I’d always been fascinated with my father’s stories he shared occasionally about the USS Denver, the light cruiser he was on as a gunner in the South Pacific in WWII. Not wanting his stories to perish in oblivion, I whipped out my dated cassette recorder on March 19, 1990, corralled my father to our kitchen table, and asked him to recount his WWII adventures, experiences, and battles so I could save his stories for our children, his grandchildren.

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 later. 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, learning the facts about 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 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 these character traits in their lives today. It's an honor to pay tribute to my father by instilling these values in today's youth.

(For more information about Becky’s school, youth groups, and homeschool presentations, you may contact her at: beckyvanvleet9@gmail.com.)

Here's about her book!

When Japan suddenly and savagely attacks the United States and forces America’s entry into World War II, everyone reacts to this stunningly dramatic moment in history, including the young boys still sitting at desks in high schools. Inspired by the true story of Walter Troyan and his experiences and survival aboard the USS Denver CL58, the author takes her readers into the ugly Pacific Theater War, right along with Walter. An untried and untested teenager, skinny at age 17, this teenage sailor trains to be a gunner, learning to shoot at sea and air targets and sink enemy subs with the greatest of precision. He is tested beyond his worst horror when the Denver becomes dead in the water, in enemy territory, with a surprise torpedo hit. Will Walter have enough courage to jump overboard into the dark and murky waters when the “Abandon Ship” order comes?

Buy Now

Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a hardcover copy!

(Giveaway runs for one week. Winner will be contacted by author.)