March 18, 2009
Giving the WASPs their due
The B-17 was named "Pistol Packin Mama."
You don’t see much bipartisanship in Washington these days, but yesterday all 17 female members of the U.S. Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, introduced a bill (S. 614) to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs. The medal, previously given to groups like the Tuskegee Airmen and the Navajo Code Talkers, is the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow. The bill would award it to all 1,102 WASPs—the 300 still living or their surviving family members.
In introducing the legislation, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas said she “wanted to raise public awareness about these military pioneers who have had a tremendous impact on the role of women in the military today.” Hutchison, who wrote about the WASPs in her 2004 book, American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country, said:
Throughout their service, these courageous women flew over 60 million miles in every type of aircraft and on every type of mission flown by Army Air Force male pilots except direct combat missions. Although they took the military oath and were promised military status when they entered training, they were never afforded Active-Duty military status, were never commissioned, and were not granted veteran status until 1977, over 30 years after they had served.
Co-sponsor Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland added:
[The WASPs] opened the door for today’s women to fly in the military in aircraft ranging from cargo and trainers, to fighters and bombers, and even the space shuttle. They inspire young girls to pursue technical fields and aviation. They are role models who deserve to be honored.
My mother is one of the WASPs still living… and very active! I have grown up on stories of the things these women did, and have always been very proud of my mother and her pioneering spirit! I hope this honor does not take as long to happen as the veteran status did… and I hope by now that male members of Congress have grown up enough to recognize the rightness of this bill, and to withhold the kind of comments that were thrown around back in the 70s [And can still be read in the Congressional Record]
Comment by Jo Meachem — March 19, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/05/still_my_fallen_hero_fly_girl.html
Mabel Rawlinson was one of the 38 WASP that made the ultimate sacrifice and she definitely deserves the congressional medal.
It was at Camp Davis on the night of August 23, 1943, that Mabel lost her life when her airplane crashed and was consumed by flames. She became one of the very special women, numbering only thirty-eight, who served and died as pilots for the Air Force in World War II.
Since WASP were technically considered volunteer civilian pilots and not Air Force pilots, no monetary compensation was available to the Rawlinson family for her funeral expenses.
The other female pilots at Camp Davis pooled their extra money and assisted in the expense of transporting Mabel’s casket back to Kalamazoo for burial.
Read the whole story about this fallen hero here:
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/05/still_my_fallen_hero_fly_girl.html
Comment by Everyday Citizen — March 24, 2009 @ 3:32 am