No, we’re not talking about not insects, nor the Protestants. These are the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) who served during WWII (the first to ever do so) — right alongside the Rosies who helped build the planes in which they flew!
Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal
By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – A long-overlooked group of women who flew aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.
Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, they were the first women to fly U.S. military planes.
About 200 of these women 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.
In thanking them for their service, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said these women pilots went unrecognized for too long.
“Women Air Force Service Pilots, we are all your daughters, you taught us how to fly,” Pelosi said.
In accepting the award, WASP pilot Deanie Parrish said the women had volunteered to fly the planes without expectation that they would ever be thanked. Their mission was to fly noncombat missions to free up male pilots to fly overseas.
