Thomas Heggen
Thomas Heggen (December 23, 1918 – May 19, 1949) was an American author best known for his 1946 novel Mister Roberts and its adaptations to stage and screen. Heggen became an Oklahoman in 1935, when in the depths of the Depression his father's business failed and his family moved from Iowa to Oklahoma City for work. He was Wallace Stegner's cousin. Navy service After attending Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma State University, and graduating from the University of Minnesota, where he was classmate of Max Shulman, Thomas R. St. George and Norman Katkov, with a degree in journalism, Heggen moved to New York City and became an editor for Reader's Digest. He joined the U.S. Navy immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was commissioned as a lieutenant in August 1942. For the duration of the War, he served on supply vessels in the North Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Pacific, the latter as assistant communications officer on the cargo ship USS Virgo and also the USS Rotanin. During his 14 months aboard the Virgo, Heggen wrote a collection of vignettes about daily life on the ship, which he described as sailing "from Tedium to Apathy and back again, with