Here's a World War II story featuring an unsung protagonist: Jill McCormick was piloting an A-24 dive bomber/scout plane out of Baltimore when she heard the loudest sound ever--an explosion--followed by terrifying silence. "I got on the radio and yelled, 'Dingy, dingy, I'm gonna ditch it.' Then I put it into Delaware Bay."
Her distress call summoned an ambulance, which arrived just as McCormick emerged from the drink. When the driver asked McCormick if she was okay, the flyer replied: "Sure, I always land this way."
McCormick was a WASP: one of 1,074 members of a female paramilitary air force who flew missions at home to free up more male pilots for war duty.
In their day the brave WASPs never got their due. They had to fight for recognition, and now here it is all these years later and they are still getting short-changed, even as the number of surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots dwindles to its last 100 or fewer.
The issue is whether to grant departed WASPs the honor of having their ashes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with military honors. The Army has decided to keep them out.
WASPs were not combat-trained, but they took on a combination of dangerous flying assignments and grunge work that involved just as much risk and sacrifice as many a soldier, sailor or Marine faced. They ferried fighters, bombers and VIPs across the country, flew planes towing targets for live-ammunition gunnery practice, test-flew repaired aircraft and served as instrument instructors.
If you're still not sure these WASPs earned this honor, consider Margaret Phelan Taylor, born on a farm in Emmetsburg, Iowa. She saw a Life magazine cover photo of a female pilot and joined up. While flying a transport aircraft out West, smoke appeared in the cockpit. She was trained to bail out in case of trouble, but her parachute was too big to fit, she told NPR in 2010. "I thought, 'You know what? I'm not going until I see flame. When I see actual fire, why, then I'll jump.' "
Turned out to be just a burned-out instrument. Those WASPs were some cool customers.
Editorial on 02/09/2016