A well deserved honor......

Xracer
*TFF Senior Staff*
Posts: 2310
(6/15/02 9:08:16 am)
Reply | Edit | Del All A well deserved honor......
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www.washingtonpost.com/wp...Jun14.html

polishshooter
*TFF Senior Staff*
Posts: 3571
(6/16/02 8:59:30 pm)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: A well deserved honor......
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Good post, X.

I knew WASPs were considered civilians at the time, but I thought they would get military funerals.

Some of them I think even earned DFCs for ferrying bombers to England, if I remember right, because of weather, equipment failure and the like on specific missions.

I also never knew the Merchant Marine wasn't entitled to Military honors...I had an Uncle who was in the merchant Marine in WWII...got torpedoed either two or three times, got rescued from the Atlantic each time...and when he died I swore he got military honors, I'm pretty sure he was in the American Legion at least...


I can see the point about Arlington though, they ARE running out of space, and if you were to consider say all the civilians who contributed so much during WWII, from the Manhattan project, the OSS, the various intelligence services, to even "Rosey the Riveter," I guess you have to draw a line somewhere....
"Don't hear him call you an ---hole, hear WHY he's calling you an ---hole." -------- From "A Season on the Brink"

Xracer
*TFF Senior Staff*
Posts: 2325
(6/17/02 8:26:29 am)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: A well deserved honor......
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Polish....not only did they not get a military funeral, they received no funeral at all. In fact, when they were killed in the line of duty (and many of them were), the U.S. Government wouldn't even pay to ship their bodies home to their families......the other girls had to take up a collection to pay for it.

These women flew everything in the U.S. inventory.....from PT-19s to B-29s.

When the B-29 first came out, it had a reputation as a hard-to-fly "killer aircraft". Many pilots refused to fly it, so Gen. Eaker had a couple of WASPs learn it and take it around to various training bases to demonstrate it's ability.....including "engine-out" take-offs and landings.

Can'tcha just imagine the reaction of those Macho Pilots watching a couple of 120 pound "girls" wringing out this huge bird that THEY were afraid to fly!

I'm glad to see that the WASPs are finally getting some of the recognition they deserve!