Obama awards WWII-era women pilots congressional medal
updated 10:13 p.m. EDT, Wed July 1, 2009
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama on Wednesday signed a measure awarding the 300 surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots from World War II the Congressional Gold Medal.
The bill passed by both chambers of Congress bestows one of the nation’s highest civilian honors on the group known as WASPs more than 60 years after they were the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft.
“The Women Airforce Service Pilots courageously answered their country’s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since,” Obama said in a statement. “Every American should be grateful for their service, and I am honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard-earned recognition they deserve.”
The Women Airforce Service Pilots was formed in 1942 to create a corps of female pilots able to fill all types of flying jobs at home, freeing male military pilots to travel to the war front.
The 1,100 members had to pay their own way to Texas for months of rigorous training.
Once assigned to military bases, they did everything from participating in ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice; to towing targets for air-to-air gunnery practice with live ammunition; to flying drones; to conducting night exercises; to testing repaired aircraft before they were used in cadet training; to serving as instructors and transporting cargo and male pilots to embarkation points.
Overall, they flew more than 60 million miles in every type of aircraft — from the PT-17 and AT-6 trainers, to fast attack planes like the A-24 and A-25 and heavy bombers such as B-17 and B-29s.
Paid $250 a month, the women were not officially part of the military — receiving no benefits, no honors.
Jane Tedeschi, who graduated in May 1944, was sent to a Selma, Alabama, base that did engineering work.
Here is the full article. Special thanks to Don Shirley for sharing this story with us.
Nice job.