WASPs one step closer to Arlington

[Zack Baughman]

This is great news out of the House bringing the WASPs one step closer to military burials and honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/v...vote/82128426/

[crusty old aviator]

It would be nice if articles like these gave us the Senate Bill number so we could contact our Senators and tell them to quit obsessing about Supreme Court nominations and just do their job, like cosponsoring and voting yea on S2437.

Here's the link to all you need to know about this bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-...nate-bill/2437

Okay, go contact your Senators...well, what are you procrastinating for?

[Floatsflyer]

Great for them. These trailblazing ladies have suffered the indignity of blatant, unrelenting sexism from the U.S. Government and military over the period of 71 years since the end of their program and the war. There are only a few of them left, well into their 90's.

I personally have a special place in my mind and heart for the WASPS and your posting with that famous picture brought it all back. My career in the film and television business brought me in touch with them in the mid 1980's when I became involved in the development of a screenplay and feature film about the WASPS. The project lasted a year but I was left with an archival file that is 3 inches thick full of fantastic material including correspondence with many WASPS. Your post made me dig it out. It contains factual information, insights, remembrances and some interviews with living WASPS at the time. I also have lots of exchanged written correspondence with them.(yes Virginia, real letters(hand-written and typed by them. This was long before the Internet and email so you youngins' go ask you parents or grandparents what a "letter" is).

Just to name a few I have letters from, some of them on letterhead from the P-47 Thunderbolt Pilots Assoc, WASPS, Ninety-Nines, and P-51 Mustang Pilots Assoc.:

Betty Huyler Gillies, an original squadron commander of the WAFS prior to being the same with the WASPS.

Teresa James, who received major publicity for delivering the 10,000th P-47 from factory to airbase.

Katherine Brick, who flew B-17's and was later the Chairperson for the famous Powder Puff Derby for years.

Helen Sheffer, the only WASP to receive an official military discharge which led in big part to the government finally giving them recognition and benefits as Veterans in 1977.

Yvonne Pateman, better known as Lt. Col. Yvonne Pateman(Ret.), one of the very few WASPS to go on and serve in the USAF after the program was disbanded in 1944.

Ms. Pateman's letter to me is particularly remembered for it's unique generosity of spirit: " Better yet would be if you could visit my place here in Virginia and browse through my collection I wouldn't mind picking you up at an airport in the Washington area. You could RON[at the time I had no idea what this meant]at my place "The Overlook" or if you prefer, stay at The Inn at Montrose which has very delightful accommodations. I am going to Alabama for the holidays but will be "in residence" at The Overlook from January, 1986 until summer........If things work out satisfactorily on our initial contact, I certainly would entertain submitting your name[to the WASP convention in Sweetwater, Texas] as my guest." What a sophisticated, charming and generous lady from a bygone era who I thought at the time was of some means.

I also have a letter on EAA letterhead dated Nov. 11, 1986 signed by Henry Ogrodzinski, Director of Corporate Communications. He suggested Great interest in the project and suggested I contact WASP Sue Parrish, she being the owner and pilot of the famous "Pink" P-40 Warhawk and probably the only WASP alive still flying a warbird. She was the only WASP I contacted that never wrote me back.

Working titles for the screenplay included my favourite, "Angels of the Fifinella". Thanks for the walk done memory lane.

[crusty old aviator]

Since the END of their program and the war??? Oh, contraire, sailor! These gals were crapped upon from the get-go! My late friend, Louise Bowden (43-4), had a room mate, Margaret Oldenburg, die in a training accident. Since she knew her better than the other girls, she was assigned to accompany the corpse back home on the train. The WASP cadets had to build the pine box and pool their money to pay for the train trip. They were expressly forbidden by the Army from draping the USA flag over the coffin, as they viewed the cadet's death as no different than that of an aircraft assembly line worker, killed on the job. December 20, 1944, hundreds of WASP's were ferrying aircraft from factories and depots to their points of export. When they landed, they were told they were no longer permitted access to military facilities and escorted off base, with no means to get back home. There were many compassionate base commanders who arranged transportation for the WASP's stranded on their watch, but not all of the gals were as fortunate. The War Department and the DoD have a long history of crapping on these women. The WASP's know they did a great job of serving their country and are proud of that: something those stupid white men in the Pentagon have never been able to take away from them.

[Floatsflyer]

Crusty, you are factually and historically correct. 38 died so they passed the hat for funeral expenses 38 times. They also had to pay out of pocket for their transportation costs when they weren't flying--for example, to get to the factory to pick up aircraft and to get back to their base after delivering aircraft.

However, the WASPS knew going in about all these out of pocket and not covered expenses, they were not a surprise. As trainees they received $150 a month, when they got their wings they received either $200 or $250 a month. Every WASP I spoke with said the expenses, while not fair and being nickled and dimed, we're not of concern, all they wanted to do was fly the big iron and be of service to the country and the war effort.

The real and true injustices, discrimination and sexism towards them occurred after the program and the war were over. It took many decades to right most of these wrongs.

Crusty, why do old and young white guys in positions of power and influence and policy making within government, when faced with a choice of doing the right thing or the wrong thing, almost always choose the latter? It's usually not that they were stupid and moronic before they entered government, I believe that government service at the decision making
levels makes you stupid, ignorant and moronic to the point that you just do dumb s**t.

[Mayhemxpc]

It is, to paraphrase Senator Mikulski, absolutely stupid that it takes an act of Congress to do this. Arlington had allowed inurnment (above ground burial) since 2002. Then, last year the Administration, in the person of then-Secretary of the Army, decided that veteran status didn't apply to them as Arlington was run by the Department of the Army, not the VA. This could have been handled by Executive order or even an favorable opinion from the Department of Justice. No, it requires an Act of Congress.

To be clear, the Bill allows restoration of these inurnment privileges, which I believe to be right and proper. It is not, as widely reported in the media, full burial honors. The rules for in-ground burial at Arlington are quite specific and are, to no small degree, influenced by the limited remaining space. It is the most stringent of any national cemetery. Eligibility is limited the following:
-- died on active duty
-- retired member of the armed forces (includes medical retirement or WW2 era discharged for disability)
-- Purple heart, Silver Star or higher
-- POW
-- certain members of the US Government who had been honorably discharged from military service
-- Spouse, widow or minor child of the above

(Of course, like with so many things, Congress can make individual exceptions, and has made some that I think call into question the purpose of Arlington, but it is what it is.)

These rules will not be changed by this Bill, nor do I believe they should. (Note: If any of the 38 who died on active duty seek to be re-buried there, I believe that should be considered on a case by case basis.)

[Floatsflyer]

(Note: If any of the 38 who died on active duty seek to be re-buried there, I believe that should be considered on a case by case basis.)

There is one MIA as well. The last missing WASP is Gertrude Tompkins. She took off in Oct. 1944 in a P-51 from what is now known as LAX and was never seen again. It is widely believed she crashed into Santa Monica Bay just a few hundred yards off the coast. Searches at the time never located any body or aircraft parts. In 2009 an elite diving group was put together to try to discover the location of the wreck in about 200 feet of water. No success to date. If her remains were found, I believe she would be a prime candidate for Arlington if the surviving family desired.

[crusty old aviator]

Yeah, many of those Packard Merlins had some real reliability issues during their first few hours in the air. My friend, Louise Bowden, was assigned a P-51 in Greenville, SC to ferry up to Gander. She took off with five other Mustangs and ten minutes the later, the Packard started running rough so she informed the flight and turned back to base. Half way back, the engine seized, so she bailed out and landed in an open field, less than a hundred feet from the burning wreck. A local preacher and his wife happened to be driving by and witnessed it. They stopped and gave Louise a lift back to the airport, where she was assigned another parachute and a P-51 to ferry to Gander and told to try to catch up to the flight she'd been a part of. That one was good for about five minutes before the Packard packed it in and she had to bail again. They let her spend the night before assigning her another chute and Mustang for the Gander run...

[FlyingRon]

Correct, just access to the Columbarium. This is extended to peacetime REMFs. It's a travesty those who served the military, in uniform, during war time, risking their lives, are denied.

[Floatsflyer]

It's a travesty those who served the military, in uniform, during war time, risking their lives, are denied.

And the WASPS had to pay for their own uniforms as well.