Militarization Committee Lee Wheelwright, Dr. Dora Strother, Bee Haydu, Dr. Byrd Granger, Margaret Boylan, Doris Tanner, Col. Bruce Arnold, Sen. Barry Goldwater
Many of the former WASP attempted to find flying jobs in civil aviation, but few were available to women. Some WASP became flight instructors; a few ferried planes for private industry, some flew war-weary surplus aircraft to scrapyards, and at least one of them, Marjorie Gray (43-1), opened her own FBO in Teterboro, New Jersey. Returning to civilian life, a majority of the women married and started families.
In 1949, former WASP were invited to join the newly-formed USAF Reserve (after the Air Force became its own branch, separate from the Army), but only in a non-flying role. One of the approximately 150 women who joined the USAF Reserve was Teresa James, who accepted a commission and retired in 1976 with the rank of Major.
In later years, Teresa became avidly involved in the WASP bid for militarization and in the late 1960s she began writing letters to Congressional representatives requesting that a bill be presented to militarize the WASP.
Her efforts were all but ignored, except by Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI-2) who in the early 1970s introduced H.R. 6453 – ‘A bill to amend title 10 of the U.S. Code to deem service as a member of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (sic) during World War II to be active service for purposes of computing retirement and longevity benefits’’. Unfortunately, the bill went nowhere.
At the WASP 30th anniversary reunion in Sweetwater, Texas, Col. Bruce Arnold (son of the late USAAF Commanding Gen. Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold) was the guest speaker and he promised to do whatever he could to help obtain veteran status for the WASP in order to fulfill his late father’s wishes and because he had a deep admiration and respect for the WASP.
It was around this time in 1973 that the USAF announced that it would begin to accept women for pilot training. The media reported the news as though it would be the first time women would fly for the military. Needless to say, the WASP who had kept silent about their service, that had been forgotten over the course of three decades, stepped up to demand recognition.
In 1975, at the WASP reunion in Reno, Nevada, Bernice ‘Bee’ Falk Haydu (Class 44-7) was elected president of the WASP organization and it was during her term that a concerted effort to gain veteran status from Congress escalated. Understanding that Congress would require technical information a militarization committee was tasked in three parts with: Dora Dougherty Strother (43-3) assembling a list of all WASP accomplishments; Byrd Granger (43-1) providing documentation proving that WASP were treated as military; Doris Tanner (44-4) providing a comparison of WASP training and monetary compensation with cadets and officers.
Additionally, serving on the Board of Directors who devoted infinite hours toward the effort, were Betty Nicholas, Leoti Deaton, Sara Hayden, Marty Wyall, and Betty Cross as the WASP newsletter editor.
In March 1975, SR 1345 to recognize WASP as veterans was introduced to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee by Sen. Barry Goldwater. The matter was close to Goldwater’s heart, as he had been a pilot with the ATC and had flown with the WASP of the 2nd Ferrying Division at New Castle, Delaware during the war. But the chair of Veterans Affairs, Sen. Vance Harke, would not allow the bill out of committee, nor would he allow a hearing on the matter.
Bee Haydu penned a petition which was distributed to WASP all over the U.S. for them to gather signatures requesting that the undersigned request the passage of House and Senate bills to grant the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II military status. WASP canvassed for signatures on the petition. On September 20, 1977, on the steps of the Capitol where the House of Reps Vets Affairs Committee heard promised testimony, Bee presented the signatures of over 22,000 people from all over the country favoring recognition of the WASP. Congresswoman Lindy Boggs and Margaret Heckler introduced identically worded bills (as was in the petition) and convinced every woman member of Congress to do the same. It became the only piece of legislation to be cosponsored by every woman member of Congress. At the 1977 hearing, WASP arrived in Washington, many in their Santiago Blue uniforms, to show solidarity. Congress was inundated with letters, telegrams and telephone calls to representatives in support of the legislation.
As a last minute measure, Bruce Arnold sent a packet of written documentation to each member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee just prior to the hearing with documentation that proved that the intent had been to militarize the WASP during the war. One of the documents attributed to tipping the scales in favor of the WASP was an honorable discharge given to WASP Helen Porter (43-5) by her commanding officer at Strother Field, Kansas. It read: ‘This is to certify that Helen Porter honorably served in active Federal Service in the Army of the United States.” After a multi-year-long battle, the House and Senate passed the bill granting the WASP veteran status on November 3rd and 4th, 1977, respectively. Finally, on November 23, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law #95-202, Section 401 the G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977 awarding the WASP their long overdue recognition and richly deserved veteran status.
Written by: Julia Lauria-Blum
About Julia Lauria-Blum:
Julia Lauria-Blum earned a degree in the Visual Arts at SUNY New Paltz. An early interest in women aviation pioneers led her to research the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII. In 2001 she curated the permanent WASP exhibit at the American Airpower Museum (AAM) in Farmingdale, NY, and later curated ‘Women Who Brought the War Home, Women War Correspondents, WWII’ at the AAM. She is the former curatorial assistant & collections registrar at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island and is currently editor-in-chief for Metropolitan Airport News.