My mother will be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously on March 10, 2010 in Washington D.C.  She, along with 1100 other women, were WASPs in World War II and they each will receive this commendation.  The Women Air Service Pilots were formed during WWII to assist in the war effort by filling in for male pilots who had been given assignments overseas.  The WASPs performed a variety of tasks including ferrying aircraft from one base to another, towing targets, testing repaired aircraft, and more.

If you read interviews of any of these women or read articles about them, the message is always the same:  all they ever wanted to do was fly!  My mom was raised on a farm in Iowa - and she knew from an early age that she wanted to fly.  When I was a child, she almost never talked about her service as a WASP.  In fact, she really only began discussing her time as a WASP in the early 1970’s when the WASPs were finally given Veteran’s benefits thanks to a bill backed by Senator Barry Goldwater.

Today, my family is so proud of my mother and her service in the WASPs .  We are especially honored to received this award on her behalf.  Our profound thanks to the following individuals who sponsored the bill to make the Congressional Gold Medal a reality for these women pioneers:

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (TX)
Senator Barbara Mikulski  (MD)
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen  (FL)
Representative Susan Davis  (CA)

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