WWII Female Pilots Honored With Gold Medal
WASP Deanie Parrish accepts the Congressional Gold Medal - WASP Deanie Parrish accepts the Congressional Gold Medal from House Minority Leader John Boehner, Sen. Harry Reid and House Speaker Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a ceremony at the Capitol. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
A long-overlooked group of women who flew military aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.
Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, they were the first women to fly U.S. military planes.
About 200 of these female aviators, mostly in their late 80s and early 90s and some in wheelchairs, came to the Capitol to accept the medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.
(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
In thanking them for their service, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said these female pilots went unrecognized for too long.
"Women Airforce Service Pilots, we are all your daughters; you taught us how to fly," Pelosi said.
In accepting the award, WASP Deanie Parrish said the women had volunteered to fly the planes without expectation that they would ever be thanked. The WASP mission, under the direction of the U.S. Army Air Forces, was to fly noncombat missions to free up male pilots to fly overseas.
(Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP)
"Over 65 years ago we each served our country without any expectation of recognition or glory, and we did it without compromising the values that we were taught growing up," Parrish said. "We did it because our country needed us."
Thirty-eight female pilots were killed during their World War II service. Because the WASP were not military, the American flag could not be draped over their coffins. And because the female pilots were long considered civilians, they were not entitled to the pay and benefits given to men. When their unit was disbanded in 1944, many WASP even had to pay their own bus fare home.
They were afforded veteran status in 1977 after a long fight.
It's estimated that about 300 WASP aviators are still alive.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Barbara Mikulski (D- MD), along with Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Susan Davis (D-CA), led the push in Congress to get the women recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal.
From NPR staff and wire reports
9(MDAyNzUwMDI2MDEyNTA3MTU5NzcyNTQyNA004))
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
To Capitol Hill now, and a gold medal ceremony today: the Congressional Gold Medal. It's the highest civilian honor Congress can give, and it was awarded to a group of women who, during World War II, became the first women ever to pilot U.S. military aircraft. Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, these 1,100 women flew noncombat missions to free up men to fight overseas. Thirty eight WASPs died in service. Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison called them true trailblazers.
Senator KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (Republican, Texas): Today, we right a wrong and acknowledge our debt to these great patriots, women who are so worthy of this award and this recognition.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
About 300 WASPs are thought still be alive. About 200 - some in uniform, some in wheelchairs - traveled across the country to attend today's ceremony. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented the awards, saying the WASPs prove that for women the sky was not the limit.
Representative NANCY PELOSI (Democrat, California; Speaker of the House): Women Airforce Service Pilots, we are all your daughters. You taught us how to fly. We thank you for that and for what you did in flying to make us the home of the brave and the land of the free. Thank you.
(Soundbite of applause)
SIEGEL: WASP Deanie Parrish accepted the medal for all the women. She said the WASPs volunteered not for glory, but because their country needed them.
Ms. DEANIE PARRISH (Former Women Airforce Service Pilot): All we ever asked for is that our overlooked history was some day no longer be a missing chapter in the history of World War II, in the history of the Air Force, in the history of aviation and most especially the history of America.
NORRIS: You can read essays shared by the children of these groundbreaking pilots plus take an audio tour of one pilot's rare color photos. That's all at our Web site: npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
