On Shifting Ground: the Women Airforce Service Pilots

Home , Blue discharge, Bobbi Trout, Flying Easy Loving Crazy, Hazel Ying Lee, Jacqueline Cochran, Ladies Courageous

ON SHIFTING GROUND: THE WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS

OF WWII - PUBLIC IMAGES, PRIVATE REALITIES, AND THE

BURDENS OF LASTING PROGRESS

______

A Thesis

Presented to the

Faculty of

San Diego State University

______

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

Women’s Studies

______

Kimberly Ann Enderle

Summer 2018

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to the 1,102 Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, who demonstrated unselfish passion, resiliency, courage, and commitment while accomplishing something no women had been allowed to do before – fly U.S. military aircraft. This thesis celebrates these courageous female aviators who volunteered to serve their nation during World War II, and to risk it all: their lives, their personal and professional reputations, simply for the opportunity to become the United States’ first women military aviators. This thesis is specifically dedicated to the five women that opened their hearts and their homes to me, who willingly shared their intimate life stories with me, and trusted me to tell their unvarnished stories: Beverly Loyola (Beesie) Beesemyer, Florence “Shutsy” Reynolds, Barbara (Bobbi) Willis Heinrich, Millicent (Millie) Amanda Peterson Young and Jean Landis. Without their generosity, patience, and kindness none of this would have been possible. In the 1940s these women bravely challenged prevailing notion that women were second class citizens, informed by patriarchy and were ultimately deemed “unnecessary and undesirable” by Congressman Robert C.W. Ramspeck (D-GA) who sought to discredit them. Some in society labeled them unfeminine, promiscuous, perverse or immoral, and some defied heterosexual norms simply because they chose to pursue their love of flight which was perceived to transgress gender roles and eschew societal norms. Yet, in spite of these socially constructed barriers, the WASP flourished, they formed homosocial bonds of sisterhood with likeminded women, and they amassed a formidable legacy of accomplishments that would be hidden from the public eye for more than thirty-three years. Arguably without their groundbreaking work during WWII: ferrying aircraft from production plants to the ports of debarkation, serving as flight instructors for male pilots, performing maintenance and engineering test flights, towing targets for B-17 air-to-air gunnery practice, and their success in convincing Doolittle’s Raiders that the B-29 “Superfortress” (the aircraft used to dropped

v bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) were safe to fly, the allies might have lost the War. Furthermore, future generations of women aviators might have never been given the opportunity to pursue their passion for flight. I am humbled by your sacrifices, and offer my personal thanks. To those brave women who risked it all, you are role models, and you embody Army Aviation’s motto, “Above the Best!”

No it was not the novelty, and it was not the danger and the adventure (although these had their charm). It was certainly not a passing whim (if it had been the hard work would have dispelled it in a very short time)! I think there were three chief reasons for my choice of career: First, a real love for, and interest in aviation; Secondly, a determination to earn my own money and to make my career a paying proposition; and, Thirdly, a conviction that aviation was a profession of the future and therefore had room to welcome its new followers. - Pauline Gower, Director, Women’s Auxiliary of the British Air Transport Auxiliary World War II

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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

On Shifting Grounds: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII – Public Images, Private Realities, and the Burdens of Lasting Progress by Kimberly Ann Enderle Masters of Arts in Women’s Studies San Diego State University, 2018

This interdisciplinary thesis explores the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II from a social constructionist epistemology and the theoretical framework of a feminist historian. It examines the public images Mrs. Jacqueline Cochran-Odlum, (Director of Women Pilots, U.S. Army Air Forces) and Nancy Harkness Love (Director of Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) created and portrayed in the media, in contrast to the private lived experiences of individual WASP veterans. This thesis adds to existing literature by providing new insights into the WASP’s experiences within the cultural and gender norms of the WWII era. The arguments presented in this study are supported by analysis of primary source documents including: media reports, videos and motion picture films, military accessions policies, recruiting correspondence, official military reports, attrition rates, Congressional testimony, personal correspondence, and WASP autobiographies. In addition, five oral history interviews were conducted with WASP veterans living in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania provided first person testimony to support the researcher’s findings regarding the WASPs complicity in or resistance to several forms of oppression prevalent during the WWII era: sexism, racism, classism, and heteronormativity. By examining the WASPs wartime military service, additional insights were gained into their gender non-conformity based on their decisions to pursue careers as pilots in a field heretofore deemed masculine or “men’s work.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

ABSTRACT ...... vii LIST OF FIGURES ...... xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... xv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 Methodology & Why this Work is Important ...... 4 Major Research Questions ...... 4 Mixed Methods Approach ...... 5 Conducting Research with Human Subjects ...... 6 The Researcher’s Standpoint ...... 7 Primary and Secondary Source Analysis ...... 9 2 HISTORY ...... 22 Introduction ...... 22 Gender Roles and the Right to Full Citizenship ...... 24 America’s First Women in Aviation ...... 26 History of the U.S. Air Forces ...... 29 Civilian Aviation Firsts ...... 30 The Civilian Pilot Training Program ...... 32 Establishment of the Women’s Programs in the Army Air Forces ...... 33 Shifting Ground ...... 37 3 PUBLIC IMAGES – THE LEADERS OF THE WAFS, WFTD AND THE WASP ...... 44 Introduction ...... 44 Cochran’s Motivation ...... 45 Tomboyism and Resistance to Gender Norms...... 46

Three Sides to Every Story: Yours, Mine and the Truth ...... 47 Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics ...... 53 Transgressing Gender - Cochran’s Disarming Mix of Feminine Masculinity ...... 59 Reinforcing Gender Normativity ...... 62 Winners and Losers the Fallout and Backlash ...... 63 Nancy Harkness Love ...... 65 Selection of Applicants for the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron ...... 69 Socioeconomic Class ...... 72 Selection of Applicants for the Women’s Flying Training Detachment and the WASP Program ...... 74 Reinforcing and Maintaining Gender Conformity ...... 78 Media Coverage and Societal Perceptions of Women’s Military Service ...... 79 Creating the Public Image of the WASP ...... 84 Cochran’s Convent – Do What I Say Not What I Do ...... 85 Commonalities and Differences ...... 88 4 PRIVATE REALITIES: THE WASP’S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS ...... 90 Introduction ...... 90 Part One – The Women...... 92 Barbara Willis Heinrich ...... 93 Millicent Amanda Peterson Young ...... 102 Florence G. “Shutsy” Reynolds ...... 113 Beverly Loyola Beesemyer ...... 126 Jean Landis...... 139 Deafening Silences...... 146 Part Two – Common Themes ...... 147 The WASP’s understandings of Socioeconomic Class ...... 148 Tomboyism and Resistance to Gender Norms...... 151 Homosocial Friendships...... 155 Women’s Work and Sexism in Aviation ...... 158 Gender Discrimination ...... 166 Political Views, Politics and Religion ...... 168

Summary ...... 170 5 RACE, RACISM AND SEGREGATION IN THE ERA OF JIM CROW ...... 172 Racial Context in America from 1920 to 1930 ...... 172 The “Negro Problem” ...... 174 World War II ...... 175 Opportunities for Women of Color ...... 179 Racial Understandings and the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots ...... 181 Racism: If it doesn’t affect me, does it really exist? ...... 184 Segregation Ends in the Military ...... 189 6 SEXUAL ORIENTATION, COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY AND HOMOPHOBIA ...... 192 The Pathologization of Homosexuality ...... 192 The Lasting Impacts of World War II ...... 194 The WASPs’ Understandings of Same-Sex Desire in the 1940s ...... 198 Blue Discharges, the Era of Conformity and The Government Purge of Homosexuals ...... 204 Counter Narrative Ignored by U.S. Government ...... 208 The Governments War on Homosexuals during the Era of Conformity ...... 209 Surprises, Secrets and Promises Kept ...... 213 7 CONCLUSION ...... 215 Fight for Militarization ...... 215 Contributing Factors Leading to the Demise of the WASP Program ...... 218 A Failure to Engender the Support of Allies ...... 218 The Civil Aeronautics Administration and Congressional Resistance ...... 220 The Power of the Press ...... 222 The Final Moments ...... 223 Post War – A New Normal ...... 224 WASP Legacy ...... 227 Final Thoughts On Women in Combat ...... 231 8 EPILOGUE ...... 232 After World War II ...... 232 Transition Out of the Military ...... 240 Final Thoughts ...... 242

Areas for Future Inquiry ...... 244 REFERENCES ...... 245 APPENDICES A WOMEN’S AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOT DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE ...... 260 B ORAL HISTORY SCRIPT ...... 264 C SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY - CONSENT TO ACT AS A RESEARCH SUBJECT - WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS FROM 1942-1944 ...... 271 D BIOGRAPHIES OF BLACK WOMEN WHO APPLIED TO THE WASP PROGRAM ...... 274 E BIOGRAPHIES OF THE WASP OF COLOR ...... 279 F THE LEADERS OF THE WASP PROGRAM AFTER WORLD WAR II ...... 285

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LIST OF FIGURES

PAGE

Figure 1. Jacqueline Cochran photo as a foster child/orphan...... 49 Figure 2. Bessie Lee Pittman circa 1910 photograph taken with her two older biological sisters...... 50 Figure 3. Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics – the “Wings” logo...... 53 Figure 4. Cochran and Odlum...... 54 Figure 5. Cochran's Mascara...... 56 Figure 6. Cochran Cosmetics eye shadow...... 56 Figure 7. Pancake makeup...... 57 Figure 8. Leg makeup...... 57 Figure 9. Cochran's "Perk Up Stick."...... 58 Figure 10. Cochran applying makeup after the Bendix Race in 1935...... 61 Figure 11. WASP applying makeup using aircraft as a mirror...... 62 Figure 12. Cochran in her British ATA uniform...... 63 Figure 13. Cochran and Vincent Bendix after winning the 1938 Bendix Race...... 65 Figure 14. Nancy Harkness Love...... 66 Figure 15. The Flying Freshman...... 66 Figure 16. Nancy and Major Robert Love...... 68 Figure 17. Love at New Castle Delaware circa 1942...... 71 Figure 18. Nancy Love “Trooping the Line” of WAFS recruits...... 71 Figure 19. Love P-51 aircraft circa 1943...... 72 Figure 20. Mrs. Ethel Sheehy...... 76 Figure 21. Film "Ladies Courageous." ...... 82 Figure 22. "Women Trainees Only" sign...... 86 Figure 23. Barbara Willis riding horseback...... 93 Figure 24. Barbara Willis climbing a tree...... 94 Figure 25. Barbara Willis dressed as a tomboy...... 94

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Figure 26. Heinrich class 43-W-4 photo...... 96 Figure 27. Heinrich Flight line Sweetwater...... 98 Figure 28. Marion Carlstrom, Connie Kafka and Bobbi Heinrich and all of their children circa 1960...... 101 Figure 29. Millicent A. Peterson flight line...... 103 Figure 30. Millicent Amanda Peterson's Class 44-W-10 graduation photo...... 103 Figure 31. Millicent A. Peterson Young circa 2010...... 104 Figure 32. Class 44-W-10 graduation, December 7, 1944, Sweetwater, Texas (Photo courtesy of Texas Women’s University)...... 111 Figure 33. Florence Shutsy (Reynolds)...... 114 Figure 34. Florence Shutsy (Reynolds) Flight line Sweetwater, TX...... 115 Figure 35. Class 44-W-5 graduation...... 115 Figure 36. Arizona Rep. Martha McSally, center, and former WASP Shutsy Reynolds, 93, right, watch a flyover before Harmon's services. (Photo Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)...... 126 Figure 37. Beverly Beesemyer Class 44-W-6 photo...... 127 Figure 38. Beverly Beesemyer heading to Flight Line...... 128 Figure 39. Beverly Beesemyer October 2017...... 129 Figure 40. Clelland & Murrell pilots circa 1949...... 133 Figure 41. Josephine Seely (Front)...... 134 Figure 42. Beesemyer and Cross at Josephine Seely Employment Agency circa 1955...... 134 Figure 43. Announcement of Beverly Cross Employment Agency LA Times, July 20, 1959...... 135 Figure 44. Patricia Cross, Miggs and Beverly Beesemyer...... 138 Figure 45. Landis class photo 43-W-4...... 141 Figure 46. Landis Circa 1943...... 142 Figure 47. Landis Airacobra circa 1944...... 143 Figure 48. Landis in a converted P-51 Mustang during a flight 2009...... 144 Figure 49. Jean Landis 2015 Monty Award...... 145 Figure 50. World War II Victory Medal...... 237 Figure 51. American Campaign Medal...... 237 Figure 52. President Obama authorizing award of the Congressional Gold Medal...... 237 Figure 53. WASP Congressional Gold Medal...... 238

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Figure 54. WASP Congressional Gold Medal Award Ceremony with hundreds of WASP in attendance...... 238 Figure 55. Deannie Parrish receiving Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the WASP...... 238 Figure 56. Elaine Harmon funeral Arlington National Cemetery...... 239 Figure 57. Elaine Danforth Harmon columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery...... 239 Figure 58. Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg...... 274 Figure 59. Dorothy Layne McIntyre...... 276 Figure 60. Rose Agnes Rolls (cousins)...... 277 Figure 61. Mildred Hemmons Carter...... 278 Figure 62. Hazel An Ying Lee...... 279 Figure 63. Maggie Gee...... 282 Figure 64. Ola Mildred Rexroat...... 283

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis is dedicated first and foremost to my mother, Juanita Lynn Vaughn, for being a model of independence, strength, and resiliency. She alone raised me, taught me the value of hard work, encouraged me to believe I could be anything and do anything I wanted if I just worked hard enough. She also instilled in me the belief that failure was never an option. Thank you for your unconditional love, unwavering support and for inspiring me to achieve the unattainable. I thank my sisters Terri and Barbara for their love, support, and encouragement. I am eternally grateful to my uncle Sherod Mallow for his encouragement, for being my father figure, for his prayers and for modeling what “right” looks like. He persuaded me to go to college and to never look back. I am eternally grateful. I especially want to thank my friend Leigh Ann Kidd for her kindness, generosity, enduring friendship, encouragement to pursue my passions, a Master’s in Women’s Studies and for her interest in the WASPs. I do not know how I would have completed this thesis without the assistance of two other very important friends. First, Janice Higuera for reading my entire thesis, and for acting as a sounding board and for providing a ton of encouragement. Thank you for truly “getting me,” for helping me laugh and telling me to “just do it.” Secondly, Tina Casola thank you for providing me with tools to overcome adversity and for reminding me the importance of patience, resiliency, and mindfulness. Thank you for encouraging me to find joy, recognize the beautiful and humorous aspects of life and for reminding me I do not have to have all the answers to life’s countless mysteries. Most importantly to Professor Susan E. Cayleff, my friend, mentor, and coach for this process, thank you for cultivating my love of women’s history and encouraging me to live life authentically, to find peace, quiet, stillness and most importantly to breathe. Absolutely none of this would have been possible without your steadfast encouragement and support. Professor Esther D. Rothblum for your interest in women’s and lesbians’ experiences in the military, and for sending me out into the community to share women’s and LGBT military

xvi history. Professor Andrew Wiese thank you for your knowledge of women’s participation in World War II, your guidance, for seeing the possibilities and for helping me narrow my historical interests into something that achievable in a master’s thesis. Professor Huma Ghosh thank you for seeing my potential, encouraging me to pursue a different path, and insisting I never give up on my dreams, ever! Professor Doreen Mattingly for being an activist, and for teaching me the importance of finding one’s voice. Professor Anne Donadey for your kindness, encouragement and for introducing me to Suzanne Pharr. Professors David P. Cline for your sharing your love of history, your inclusivity, and intersectional approach to teaching the decade of the sixties. Professor Walter Penrose for understanding that courage is not only the domain of men, your love of Amazon warriors, and for teaching me about “female masculinity.” Lastly, I would be extremely remiss if I failed to thank Kimberly Johnson, Sheila Bickle, and Corynthia Dorgan, the amazing curators at Texas Women’s University’s Bragg Huey Library, who oversee both the Women’s Collection and the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots archives. Thank you for your hospitality, kindness, and assistance in researching and answering a multitude of questions and for pointing me in the right direction. I would also like to thank Ann Haub, curator of the National WASP World War II Museum, who opened the Museum archives in Sweetwater, Texas for me to peruse the WASP Archives’ ephemera. Thank you for your kindness, compassion and generosity. I am forever grateful.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In June of 1972 several hundred former Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II reunited at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the historic all-female military aviator training program. According to historian Doris Brinker Tanner over dinner that evening, “a spontaneous movement was begun, to win the status promised but denied by Congress in 1944.”1 What was initially begun by the attendees mushroomed into a larger movement after David Brinkley reported on the NBC Nightly News on June 28, 1976 that the first class of women had entered the United States Air Force Academy, and within the next four years it would have its first female military aviators. The WASP were both proud and angered by the news. Not only was the reporting inaccurate, but it was a textbook case of historical amnesia.2 During World War II, the Army Air Forces had trained 1,074 women military aviators between 1942 and 1944 and employed another 28 in the Air Transport Command’s Ferrying Division. However, most

1 Doris Brinker Tanner, "Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator, Part II," Tennessee Historical Quarterly 41, no. 1 (1982): 79. 2 The concept of historical amnesia as I chose to use it in this document is the practice of selective cultural or societal forgetfulness of a segment of society, or a social injustice, a denial of historical facts or details that don’t conveniently fit into the society’s collective memory. Historical amnesia is often used to deny non- normative individuals or groups’ human rights or to claim ignorance, repress memories, ignore social injustices or circumstances; or, the kind of forgetting that comes from a society’s change in interests. Some of the ways to counter historical amnesia are: folklore, nostalgia, protest, and individual, collective or local memory. Additional information on this topic can be found in Mark Goodale, Human Rights at the Crossroads (London: Oxford University Press, 2014).

U.S. citizens under the age of 40 were not aware the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) had even existed during World War II. The WASP experiment began in September of 1942 and lasted for twenty-six months. The 1,102 WASP had volunteered to serve initially as contracted civilians with the Army Air Forces, based on a belief they would eventually be militarized during the War. However, the WASP experiment was terminated on December 20, 1944, five months before the victory in Europe and nine months prior to victory in Japan. Adding to their disappointment at the program’s demise and the premature termination of their services, the WASP were forced to return home at their own expense – as civilians, not as veterans. To add insult to injury, they were forced to return all but one of their WASP uniforms, whose original purchase price had been deducted from their meager $150.00 a month pilot trainee paychecks. They were not afforded severance pay, transportation, or GI Bill benefits, and without discharge papers there was no proof they had served. Employers were disinclined to believe that women flew for the Army Air Forces and refused to hire them. The WASP official records were classified SECRET, and placed in the National Archives; their legacy and accomplishments forgotten. Shortly thereafter in September 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, which established the U.S. Air Force as a separate service equal to the Army and Navy. In 1947, neither the U.S. Army nor U.S. Air Force laid claim to ownership to the WASP WWII legacy. For over 33 years the records of their accomplishments were classified and their wartime military service made invisible. However, beginning in 1975, several of the WASP publicly articulated their frustration that their WWII contributions had been so easily forgotten.3 The battle to obtain official recognition of their service took two more years. On November 23, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 95–202, The G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977 that added Title IV – Women Airforce Service Pilots, Section 401,

3 Molly Merryman, Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II (New York: NYU Press, 2001), 138.

3 which stated the WASP service during WWII was “active duty” (as defined in 38 USC 106) for the purposes of programs administered by the Veterans Administration.4 The recognition of the WASP held great meaning for me. When I returned from active duty with the U.S. Army in Germany in 2001 and was assigned to the Army Staff at the Pentagon, one of my female aviator friends invited me to join the Women Military Aviators (WMA), an organization that promotes the advancement and development of women military pilots. I had learned about the WASP earlier in my career while working as Assistant Professor of Military Science at the Virginia Military Institute. I had been asked to brief the Defense Advisory’s Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) on the plan for integrating women at the all-male college. There I learned about the WASP for the first time. I had the opportunity to meet and interact with several WASP during the annual Women Military Aviator Convention in 2003 in Alexandria, Virginia. To this day, I remember how inspired I felt by their passion for Army and Air Force Aviation. The WASP I met were intelligent, articulate, direct, energetic and quite a lively group of aviators. They loved flying and enjoyed the company of other women who shared their love of flight. We bonded with them over our shared patriotism and pride in serving our nation. At the Flight Suit Social5 event many wore their original Santiago Blue WASP uniforms. I remember saying to several attendees something to the effect of: “Wow! Someone really needs to write a book about these ladies’ experiences during World War II, so future generations can learn about them in history classes.” As I reflect back on my career, I am grateful to the WASP for

4 The Veterans Administration programs available to “active duty” persons are described in An Act to Amend Title 38, United States Code to increase the rates of vocational rehabilitation, educational assistance and special training allowance paid to eligible veterans and persons, to make improvements in the educational assistance programs, and for other purposes, H.R. 8701, 95th Cong. (1977). 5 The Flight Suit Social is an event where the Women Military Aviators socialize in their flight suits or the uniform typically worn while performing flight duties.

4 their military service during WWII, and for their resiliency, persistence, and groundbreaking work that blazed a trail for me and other women like me to follow.

METHODOLOGY & WHY THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT This interdisciplinary thesis explores the WASP of WWII from a social constructionist epistemology and the theoretical framework of a feminist historian. It examines the public images Mrs. Jacqueline Cochran-Odlum (Director of Women Pilots, U.S. Army Air Forces) and Nancy Harkness Love (Director of Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) created and portrayed in the media, in contrast to the private lived experiences of individual WASP veterans. This thesis adds to existing literature by providing new insights into the WASP’s experiences within the cultural and gender norms of the WWII era. The arguments presented in this study are supported by analysis of primary source documents including, media reports, videos and films, military accessions policies, recruiting correspondence, official military reports, attrition rates, Congressional testimony, personal correspondence, and WASP autobiographies. In addition, I conducted five oral history interviews with WASP veterans living in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania. These oral histories provided first person testimony to support my research findings regarding the WASPs complicity in, or resistance to, several forms of oppression prevalent during the WWII era: sexism, racism, classism, and heteronormativity. By examining the WASP’s wartime military service, I gained additional insights into their gender non-conformity based on their decisions to pursue careers as pilots in a field heretofore deemed masculine or “men’s work.”

MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTIONS Within this complex and contentious cultural context, I analyze the WASP’s gender normativity and awareness of racism, sexism, classism, and heteronormativity amidst the shifting social and cultural landscape present in U.S. society between 1930 and 1980. I also identify in what ways the WASP resisted social and cultural norms. Through the IRB- approved demographic intake survey and the oral history interviews I answered these questions:

1. What were the public images Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Love sought to create for the WASP and what were their motivations? 2. What were the WASP’s demographics? 3. How did they differ from other women of the era? 4. Why did they pursue the opportunity to fly military aircraft and serve in the Armed Forces during WWII? 5. How aware were they of gendered role expectations for women and men of the era? 6. What was their awareness of gender norms, sexual orientation and sexism? 7. How conscious were they of socioeconomic class differences during the era? 8. How conscious were they of racial discrimination before, during and after the War? 9. Lastly, I sought to understand if their wartime experiences permanently changed them, and if so, how?

MIXED METHODS APPROACH My research employed a mixed methods approach that combined oral history interviews with an analysis of primary and secondary sources. My approach yielded invaluable insights that allow me to locate detailed facts and identify themes to frame my argument within the historical context. The semi-scripted oral history interviews allowed the WASP to discuss topics they found most memorable and relatable. More importantly this thesis enabled interviewees to leave a legacy of their contributions to U.S. history that future generations can use to learn about women’s historical roles during times of war and national emergency. Although much has been written about the WASP the historical narrative is incomplete. The preponderance of the primary sources repeat histories of the WASP program, their aerial exploits and Jacqueline Cochran’s fictional personal narrative. Even the most often cited sources reiterate inaccurate information. The most accurate and reliable information has been published by WASP themselves. Several have published different versions of the history of the program while others have written autobiographies and biographies of their years and experiences in the program. But little academic or scholarly research has examined the WASP’s pre-War and post-War private lives or the lived

6 experiences of these first generation female military aviators. My results address these gaps in academic scholarship.

CONDUCTING RESEARCH WITH HUMAN SUBJECTS In May of 2017, I developed a draft survey to capture demographic data, an oral history script, and other documents necessary for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. I received IRB approval to conduct Human Subject Research on several WASP. During the Annual WASP Homecoming in Sweetwater, Texas from May 25-29, 2017, I solicited WASP participation in my research. I asked the eleven WASP attendees to complete a demographic survey questionaire (Appendix A) and identified four WASP willing to participate in oral history interviews. During my primary source research at Texas Women’s University I identified two additional California WASP willing to participate. I also received IRB approval to conduct semi-structured oral history interviews (Appendix B). In total I conducted five interviews: three with WASP residing in California, and one each from Colorado and Pennsylvania. The oldest WASP interviewed was 101 and the youngest was 94 years old. My primary sources are based largely on oral history interviews that are instrumental to my study of the WASPs. According to historian Susan E. Cayleff, “Oral histories, [have been] acknowledged by feminist historians as an invaluable tool for exploring the experiences of oppressed or ignored groups.”6 Many of the details of the WASP’s lived experiences cannot be corroborated or dismissed simply by crosschecking with primary and secondary sources, because few researchers have sought to study the WASPs themselves and because they have not previously shared this information. By recording and documenting the WASP narratives/oral histories, I have captured their lived experiences that serve as primary source documents for my research.

6 Susan E. Cayleff, Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 6.

According to Hesse-Biber and Leavy in Feminist Research Practice (2007), when conducting oral history interviews: “The researcher is encouraged to openly acknowledge, and even to draw from, her situated perspective in the course of her research project.” 7 I used my insider status as a female Army aviator to create connections with all four of the women I interviewed. Hesse-Biber and Leavy argue: “Oral history is generally employed by feminists as a way of bridging the personal biography of women with the social context in which the biography is written. Oral history explicitly allows for the politicizing of individual experience and thus has a deep connection with the project of feminism.”8 In this regard I employed my own position, knowledge and experience to connect with each of the WASP on a personal level based on shared knowledge and similar experiences. This insider perspective enabled me to elicit information about their social and cultural understandings before, during and after their military service that otherwise might not have been accessible to me.

THE RESEARCHER’S STANDPOINT In an effort to provide the reader full transparency into my epistemological standpoint, it may be useful to know that I approached this research project from the position of a middle-class, Caucasian, cisgender, liberal feminist, as a social historian, and lesbian. I am also a veteran, a retired Army commissioned officer, and someone who spent twenty-five years serving my nation as an aviator and maintenance test pilot. All of these aspects of my identity led to my interest in researching the WASP. I began my study with an understanding that the WASP blazed a trail that enabled me and countless other military women in the U.S. to pursue our passion for flight. It is important to acknowledge how my experiences inform my interpretation of the WASP. I rely on my personal experiences as a female pilot in the U.S. Army from 1986-

7 Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Lina Leavy, eds., Feminist Research Practice: A Primer (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2007), 155. 8 Hesse-Biber and Leavy, Feminist Research Practice, 155.

2011, in a male-dominated, combat arms branch (Aviation), military occupational specialty (pilot) and as a closeted lesbian serving in the military under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”9 policy to inform my analysis. In several important ways the WASP I interviewed for this project and I share similar life experiences. Some of those common experiences include: self- identify as a tomboy, gender non-conformity, athleticism, and a passion for flight at an early age. Our mothers were housewives during our childhoods, then worked outside the home when we were teenagers. Our fathers’ work often made them absent from the home. Our parents expected us to conform to gender norms, including heterosexual marriage and children. We grew up racially privileged, in predominantly white neighborhoods, in multi-child households. Like many of my interviewees, I lived in a rural area on a farm as a young child and moved into a suburban area as a teen. I experienced life in the working and middle class as a child and the privileges of upper-middle class status as an adult. We worked for pay at an early age, were financially independent and self-reliant in our early twenties. We were born and raised during a time of war, and served in the military during an international conflict. We joined the military with the reluctant support of our parents. We ignored the inherent sexism in the military and fought discrimination not directly, but by excelling at our duties and responsibilities, and allowing our actions to speak louder than words. During our military tenure, we developed life-long intimate relationships with other women, and remained close to our “Band of Sisters” throughout our military careers and for years after our service ended. For those of us who were lesbians, although out to our family members, we chose to hide our sexuality and intimate relationships from society and the military, remaining closeted10 throughout our military careers and for years beyond. Other

9 The “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” (DADT) policy was instituted by the Clinton administration on February 28, 1994, 90 days after the release of Qualification Standards for Enlistment, Appointment, and Induction. Department of Defense Directive § 1304.26, (1993). 10 “In the jargon of contemporary homosexual culture, those who hide their sexual identities are referred to as either closeted or said to be in the closet. Revealing one’s homosexuality is referred to as coming out.”

9 unexpected commonalities emerged during this project including, an agnostic view of religion, and liberal social and political views. By examining the private lives of these five women and describing their lived experiences, I hope to contribute to the larger historical narrative and to provide scholars with new understandings of cultural and social norms and the ways these social constructs effect women, people of color and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans*11 communities.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCE ANALYSIS My second method of analysis is historical interpretation of primary and secondary sources. I have consulted the primary sources located in the bibliography at the end of this thesis, the majority of which are WASP autobiographies, military reports, Congressional testimony, and historical films. I have also consulted several oral history interviews from Texas Women’s University’s WASP collection. I use the findings of secondary sources to help frame the larger historical context and supplement primary source data. My secondary literature review investigates four basic mid twentieth-century themes: women’s assigned gender roles, sexism, and gender non-conformity; socioeconomic class and classism; racism and segregation in the Armed Forces (1941-1945); and heterosexism and the pathologization of homosexuality as a mental illness during WWII. Primary source literature investigates these themes and three others: women’s gendered experiences in the military; the creation of women’s collectives/communities; and women’s experiences in civilian and military aviation. I approach these issues from an intersectional approach12

Source: Jack Drescher, “The Closet: Psychological Issues of Being In and Coming Out,” Psychiatric Times 21, no. 12 (2004): 2, http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/cultural-psychiatry/closet-psychological-issues-being-and- coming-out. When an individual’s homosexual identity is made public by someone else it is typically referred to as being “outed.” 11 Trans* - in this form the word is meant to represent transgender, transsexual, transmen, transwomen, intersex individuals and other individuals that identify as gender non-conforming and non-binary. 12 “Intersectionality” is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Crenshaw is a legal scholar/activist

10 analyzing several overlapping systems of oppression and privilege that create identity. A synopsis of some of the extant literature is provided below. In the History of Warfare (2011)13 military historian John Keegan reinforces gender roles arguing that war is inherently “men’s work” and that women are innately pacifist, a prevailing belief in the U.S. even today. This thesis goes beyond existing scholarship on women’s roles during World War II including Cott’s No Small Courage (2004)14 that discusses women’s roles on the before and during the War, Ware’s Modern American Women (1997)15 that explores women’s roles on the Homefront in the military industrial complex during WWII, and May’s Homeward Bound (2008)16 that illuminates women’s post WWII roles and the backlash women experienced after transgressing gender and social norms during wartime. It also expands on Treadwell’s The History of The Women’s Army Corps (1954) by adding relevant details about the WASPs’ lived experience as female members of the Army Air Forces during WWII.17 Far more scholars have explored women’s contributions to national defense as stateside war workers through industry, politics and social policy during WWII. Donna B. Knaff’s Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women of World War II in American Popular Graphic Art

and Professor of Law at University of California Los Angeles and Columbia Schools of Law. According to Crenshaw, intersectionality is the theory that individuals and their unique experiences have often been marginalized, discriminated against or made invisible based on multiple, overlapping or intersecting systems of oppression. 13 John Keegan, A History of Warfare (New York: Random House, 2011), 76. 14 Nancy F. Cott, ed., No Small Courage: A History of Women in the United States (London: Oxford University Press, 2004), 476-84. 15 Susan Ware, ed., Modern American Women: A Documentary History (New York: McGraw-Hill College, 1997), 143-234. 16 Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York: Basic Books, 2008), 19-152. 17 Mattie E. Treadwell, The Women's Army Corps: Special Studies (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1954), 281-95, 602-30, 784-85. This research adds to existing information in Chapter XVI, Chapter XXXI, and Appendix D.

(2013)18 focuses on “Rosie the Riveter,” the industrial woman worker of the 1940s depicted in WWII propaganda films19 that stressed women’s work in wartime industries and the opportunities available to Euro-American nurses. Women’s decisions to join the military during WWII were not typically based on socioeconomic class. Quite the opposite: women that joined were often college graduates who came from middle and upper-middle class families. Their economic rewards were nil: their military salaries were significantly less than that of their male counterparts for the same work. Most women joined out of a shared sense of patriotic duty, or a moral responsibility to society.

Researching the cultural and gendered norms regarding women of color and their participation during WWII was instructive to my research of the WASPs. The most detailed resource on race, gender, social class and work during the first half of the twentieth century was Amott and Matthaei’s Race, Gender, and Work: A Multi-cultural Economic History of Women in the United States (1996).20 It provides insights on the cultural and social norms as well as hierarchies and interaction between women of different races during WWII.

Prior to the WASP program there were opportunities for women and men of color, even though racism and segregation were widespread and routinely practiced during the War. Understanding the other experiments the Army conducted between 1942 and 1947 with race-

18 Donna B. Knaff, Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women of World War II in American Popular Graphic Art (Kansas City: University Press of Kansas, 2012), 22-162. 19 Women in WWII, (Renton, WA: Topics Entertainment, 2013), DVD, 158 min. Includes several films which have been digitized. “Women in Defense,” Produced by the Office of Emergency Management Film Office (1941), “Women Power,” Produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces Motion Picture Branch (1942), “Night Shift,” Produced by the British Ministry of Information (1942), “Training Women for War Productions,” Produced by the National Youth Administration (1942), “Glamour Girls of 1943,” Produced by the Office of War Information Bureau of Motion Pictures (1943), “It’s Your War Too” Produced by the War Department Signal Branch (1944), “The Hidden Army,” Produced by the Army Pictorial Service (1944). 20 Teresa L. Amott and Julie A. Matthaei, Race, Gender, and Work: A Multi-cultural Economic History of Women in the United States (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1996).

12 units helped contextualize the parallels that existed in policies between each of the marginalized groups. In The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History (2011),21 Caver, Ennels and Haulman provide insights on Black aviation pioneers and the history of the Tuskegee Airmen experiment. They also provide useful information regarding a some of the Black women aviators that sought to become WASP. Gubert, Sawyer and Fannin have written about accomplished Black American pilots and the barriers they faced in Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science (2002)22 and Maranzani details activities of several famed Black fliers for the History Channel.23 In addition, at least two films or documentaries address the Tuskegee Airmen’s experiences during WWII.24 Other scholars such as Estes I Am a Man! Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement (2005),25 Scott and Womac’s the Double V: The Civil Rights Struggle of the Tuskegee Airmen (1998),26 and Mullenbach’s Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II (2013)27 have described the Tuskegee Airmen’s accomplishments amidst the racial discrimination and the “Double V

21 Joseph Caver, Jerome A. Ennels, and Daniel Lee Haulman, The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History, 1939-1949 (Montgomery, AL: NewSouth Books, 2011), 11-102. 22 Betty Kaplan Gubert, Miriam Sawyer, and Caroline M. Fannin, Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002), x, 8-16, 50-188. 23“Unlikely World War II Soldiers Awarded Nations Highest Honor,” Barbara Maranzani, History, History Stories, last modified November 3, 2011, http://www.history.com/news/unlikely-world-war-ii-soldiers- awarded-nations-highest-honor. 24 Red Tails: The Real Story of the Tuskegee Airmen (Renton, WA: Topics Entertainment, 2012), DVD, 55 min; Silver Wings and Civil Rights: The Fight to Fly, directed by Jon Timothy Anderson (Renton, WA: Topics Entertainment, 2005), DVD, 55 min. 25 Steve Estes, I Am a Man! Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2005), 39-60. 26 Lawrence P. Scott and William M. Womack, Double V: The Civil Rights Struggle of the Tuskegee Airmen (Lansing, MI: MSU Press, 1998), 77-262. 27 Cheryl Mullenbach, Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013), 1-140.

Campaigns,” which sought to achieve victory abroad during WWII and at home against racism. Far less has been written about the Black women who participated during World War II. Putney’s When the Nation Was in Need: Blacks in the Women's Army Corps during World War II,28 Kathryn Sheldon’s article entitled “A Brief History of Black Women in the Military,”29 and the documentary Sweet Georgia Brown: Impact, Courage, Sacrifice and Will (2015),30 provide the most detailed historical insights about Black women’s service in the Armed Forces Nurse Corps during WWI and the Army’s experiment with Black women in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and later Women’s Auxiliary Corps (WAC). These detailed sources provide valuable insights on the racial segregation, assignment and utilization policies for Black female officers and enlisted personnel in the Army stationed in the United States and overseas. Other ethnic groups’ experiences during the War have also received attention. Researchers such as Foner and Rosenberg31 and Wakatski Houston and Houston,32 have addressed systematic racism and chronicled abuses against Japanese and Chinese immigrants and their descendants. These culminated with governmental redress for survivors of the Japanese evacuation and internment during WWII. The historic achievements of the USMC

28 Martha S. Putney, When the Nation Was in Need: Blacks in the Women's Army Corps during World War II (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1992), 1-141. 29 Katherine Sheldon, “A Brief History of Black Women in the Military,” The Women’s Memorial Foundation, Women in Military Service for America Memorial, World War II, accessed September 12, 2017, https://www.womensmemorial.org/history-of-black-women#4. 30 Sweet Georgia Brown: Impact, Courage, Sacrifice and Will, directed by Lawrence A. Walker (New York: PureHistory, 2015), DVD, 91 min. 31 Philip Sheldon Foner and Daniel Rosenberg, eds., Racism, Dissent, and Asian Americans from 1850 to the Present: A Documentary History (Santa Monica, CA: Praeger, 1993), 311. 32 Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, Farewell to Manzanar (New York: Random House, 2012), 1-47.

Native American Code talkers have been contextualized by Aaseng33, Paul34 and Nez35 who discuss their experiences of racism. Far less researched or written about is the racial discrimination faced by Mexican Americans, who during the War were classified as white and therefore were assumed to be immune to racial barriers. Rivas-Rodriguez36 argues that “up to 750,000 Mexican American men served in World War II earning more Medals of Honor and other decorations in proportion to their numbers than any other ethnic group.” (312) Yet their narratives are often excluded. With the exception of Escobedo’s From Coveralls to Zoot Suits (2013)37, and Rivas-Rodriguez’s Mexican Americans and World War II (2005), few authors, academic scholars, or military historians include Mexican-American women’s roles or contributions during the War. A fourth cultural context that situates this thesis is sexuality and sexual orientation. Historians such as John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, in Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (1988),38 and philosopher Michel Foucault, in The History of Sexuality (1990),39 note the pathologizing and medicalization of same-sex desire in the late nineteenth century continued to impact the mid-20th century U.S. Historians Lillian Faderman,40 Allen

33 Nathan Aaseng, Navajo Code Talkers (New York: Walker and Company, 2002), 1-65. 34 Doris A. Paul, The Navajo Code Talkers (Pittsburg, PA: Dorrance Publishing, 1973), 52-102. 35 Chester Nez and Judith Schiess Avila, Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII (London: Penguin, 2011), 83-227. 36 Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, ed., Mexican Americans and World War II (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005), 1-220. 37 Elizabeth Rachel Escobedo, From Coveralls to Zoot Suits: The Lives of Mexican American Women on the World War II Home Front (Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press, 2013). 38 John D'emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), 239-300. 39 Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, translated by Robert Hurley, vol. 1 (New York: Vintage, 1990). 40 Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 118-86; Lillian Faderman, To Believe in Women: What

Berubé, 41 Bert Archer42 along with Mattie Treadwell,43 a military historian, have documented the evolution of policies related to same-sex relationships during WWII. In the 1940s homosexual acts between consenting adult service members both male and female were deemed to violate military law and were judged inconsistent with military service. Treadwell’s The Women’s Army Corps: Special Studies (1954), describes the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and its successor the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) policies for “managing” lesbianism during WWII: they also prove the homophobic context in which the WASP served. This thesis also builds upon and adds to Berubé’s Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (2010) that centers on gay men’s lived experiences during the War. My work also enhances research by D’Emilio and Freedman’s Intimate Matters (1988), and Faderman’s two works Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (1991) and To Believe in Women (2000), because it focuses on a community of female military aviators who were perceived as gender non-conforming and transgressing societal norms regardless of their actual sexual orientations. WASP historiography and primary sources used to illuminate the WASPs’ unique experiences fall into six categories: media reporting; official military reports; legislative activity; biographies; autobiographies; and artistic works. Historians have also collected several oral history interviews, some of which are available on-line and others in print. Media reporting includes numerous articles published in the Washington Post newspaper from 1942 to 1944; “All American Women 1942 vs. 1941.” Look, (1942); Life

Lesbians have done for America-a History (Cucamonga, CA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000), 306-47; Lillian Faderman, The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015), 27- 90. 41 Allan Berubé, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 139-41. 42 Bert Archer, The End of Gay: (and the Death of Heterosexuality) (London: Fusion Press, 2012), 96-149. 43 Treadwell, The Women’s Army Corps, 281-95.

16 magazine’s “Girl Pilots: Air Force Trains Them at Avenger Field” (1943)44 and “Human Resources for a Total War” (1942); Kumler’s article “They’ve Done It Again” in Ladies Home Journal (1944)45, Fort’s article “At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming” in Women’s Home Companion (1943); and Time magazine’s “Unnecessary and Undesirable” (1944), “Battle of the Sexes” (1944)46 and “Hobby’s Army” (1944),47 helped gauge public opinion on women in the military during WWII. More recent reporting recognizes individual WASP in their local communities on occasions such as Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day and during Women’s History Month celebrations. Several scholarly articles published in academic journals were informative as well. These include: Lyle’s “The Ladies of Cochran’s Convent” (2011)48 published in Voces Novae Chapman University Historical Review; Cornelson’s “Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II” (2005) in The Journal of Women’s History; and Tanner’s two-part article entitled “Cornelia Fort: A WASP in World War II Part 1 and Part 2” (1981)49 in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly. Official Records that proved helpful include: Cochran’s “Final Report on Women Pilot Program” (1945); War Department Official Press Releases: “General Henry H. Arnold Speech, Final WASP Graduation” (1944) and “Jacqueline Cochran Speech, Final WASP Graduation” (1944). Copies of Cochran’s personal correspondence obtained from the Eisenhower Library and National Archives in Abilene, Kanas, proved useful to understanding historical timelines, programmatic elements, and personal motivations.

44 “Girl Pilots: Air Force Trains Them at Avenger Field, Texas,” Life, July 19, 1943. 45 Marjorie Kumler, “They’ve Done It Again,” Ladies Home Journal, March 1944. 46 “Battle of the Sexes,” Time, May 8, 1944. 47 “Hobby’s Army,” Time, January 17, 1944. 48 Cari Lyle, "The Ladies of Cochran's Convent: The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of WWII,” Voces Nova: Chapman University Historical Review 3, no. 1 (2011): 183-202. 49 Doris Brinker Tanner, “Cornelia Fort: A WASP in World War II, Part I,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 40, no. 4 (1981): 381-94; Tanner, "Cornelia Fort,” 67-80.

Legislative activity that informed this thesis includes Jacqueline Cochran’s and General Henry H. Arnold’s Congressional testimony between 1942-1944 seeking militarization of the WASP and those opposed to it. Congressional testimony from Colonel Bruce Arnold (son of General Arnold) and Senator Barry Goldwater in 1977 during the efforts to re-categorize the WASP military service as Active Duty was also useful. The WASP’s 1982 testimony before the Veterans Affairs Committee provided insights into the public and legislative resistance and support for the WASP pursuit of benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Lastly, five House Resolutions and one Senate Resolution and the enactment of two Public Laws: one signed by President Carter (1977) retroactively reclassified their military service active duty and eventually led to the award of veteran’s benefits in 1982, and the second signed by President Obama (2009) awarded the Congressional Gold Medal50 and provided useful insights on social and cultural responses to inequality. Biographies of WASP that proved relevant and helpful to this thesis include Ayers and Dees’ Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran: Family Memories about the Famous Pilot (2001). Co-written by Jacqueline Cochran’s niece, it provides an historical account of Cochran’s family history. Tanner’s Women Airforce Service Pilots, WWII - Arnold, Cochran, Deaton (Nd) provides the historical contributions of General Henry H. Arnold, Director of Army Air Forces, Jacqueline Cochran, Director of Women Pilots, and Dedie Deaton, Chief of Staff of the WASP training program in Sweetwater, Texas. Kay Gott’s Hazel Ah Ying Lee (1996)51, contains multiple stories of the women’s recollections of serving with the first Chinese-American WASP, who was killed as the result of a mid-air collision with another

50 The two public laws impacting the WASP: To Award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (“WASP”), 123 U.S.C. § 1958 (2009); The G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-202, Title IV, Section 401 (1977). 51 Kay Gott, Hazel Ah Ying Lee: Women Airforce Service Pilot World War II A Portrait (Eureka, CA: Veterans Quality Printing, 1996).

18 aircraft. Bartles’ Sharpie: The Life Story of Evelyn Sharp (1996)52 provides insight into one of the first Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying pilot’s life and death while serving in the WASP and Robinson and Beesemyer’s We Love to Fly (2014)53 provides a series of letters Beesemyer sent home to her father while serving as a WASP. Several WASP have published or self-published autobiographies and personal accounts of their experiences with the WASP. These are valuable because they include diary entries, personal letters, correspondence, official military documents, and first-person experiences during WWII. They include: Cochran’s The Stars at Noon (1954) and Cochran and Brinley’s Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History (1987). Although both are autobiographies, both had co-authors. Other works include Gott’s Women in Pursuit (1993); Beesemyer’s The WASP (Nd); Daily’s Silver Wings, Santiago Blue (1984); Sharr’s Sisters in the Sky (Volume’s I and II) (1986)54; Keil’s Those Wonderful Women in their Flying Machines (1990); Granger’s On Final Approach: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII (1991); Hodgson’s Winning My Wings (1996)55; Ringenberg’s Girls Can’t Be Pilots (1998); Roher’s Girls of Avenger Field (2002)56; Haydu’s Letters Home 1944-1945 (2003)57; and Wood’s We Were WASPS (1978)58. Two of these are vital works on the WASP program. Granger’s On Final Approach: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII (1991) is the only known document that

52 Diane Ruth Armour Bartles, Sharpie: The Life Story of Evelyn Sharp (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1996). 53 Nancy Robinson, We Love to Fly, illustrated by Beverly Beesemyer (self-pub., 2014). 54 Adela Riek Scharr, Sisters in the Sky vol. 1, The WAFS (Tuscon, AZ: Patrice Press, 1986); Adela Riek Scharr, Sisters in the Sky vol. 2, The WASP (Tucson, AZ: Patrice Press, 1988). 55 Marion Stegeman Hodgson, Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II (Annapolis, MD: self-pub., 1996). 56 Alyce Stevens Rohrer, Girls of Avenger Field (Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corp, 2002). 57 Bernice Falk Haydu, Letters Home 1944-1945: Women Airforce Service Pilots (Riviera Beach, FL: Topline Printing and Graphics, 2003). 58 Winifred Wood, We Were WASPS (self-pub., 1978).

19 attempts to capture the entire history of the WASP program from its origins to its end. Despite its value it does not discuss Jacqueline Cochran’s past, the militarization of the WASP in 1977, or the award of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. Turner’s Out of the Blue and Into History (2001)59 also stands out amongst the various WASP publications for its historical accounts and short autobiographies describing the post-War experiences of over 600 (of the original 1074) WASP plus most of the 28 Women Auxiliary Ferrying Service (WAFS) alive at the time. It is considered the most comprehensive collection of information on the WASP program to date. But the brevity of the autobiographies (less than a page or two) fail to capture significant details of their lives. Three additional works proved useful in detailing the history of women in aviation and the WASP program. Schaffter’s What Comes of Training Women for War? (1948) provides extensive insight into the U.S. response to women’s military service during WWII and is the first government source to recognize that the WASP wartime service was military in all aspects but name; Oakes’ United States Women in Aviation 1930-1939 (1985), which provides the historiography of women’s prewar aviation accomplishments; and Graves’ A View from the Doghouse (2004)60 that contains the biographies of the first four Women’s Flying Training Detachment Classes at Houston, Texas. It is the only publication that captures biographies of the instructor pilots and program administrators. The most prolific individual writer on the WASPs, Deborah Douglas, has written four publications on women in flight from 1940-2000, American Women and Flight Since 1940 (2015), “Nancy Harkness Love: Female Pilot and First to Fly for U.S. Military” Aviation History Magazine (2006), United States Women in Aviation 1940-1985 (1990), and “WASPs of War,” for Military History.com (2018). The singular most prolific writer on the Women’s

59 Betty Stagg Turner, Out of the Blue and Into History (Arlington Heights, IL: Aviatrix Publishing, 2001). 60 Celeste Graves, A View from the Doghouse of the 391th AAFWFTD (Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse, 2005).

Auxiliary Ferrying Service (WAFS),61 the organization that proceeded the WASPs, is Sarah Byrn Rickman, who has published six books, including Finding Dorothy Scott: Letters of a WASP Pilot (2016), WASP of the Ferry Command: Women Pilots, Uncommon Deeds (2016)62, Flight to Destiny (2014)63, Nancy Batson Crews, Alabama’s First Lady of Flight (2009)64, Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II (2008)65, and The Originals: The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of World War II (2001) that provided extensive insight into the WAFS program and Nancy Harkness Love. Artistic/illustrated books by WASP include Ann L. Cooper and Dorothy Swain Lewis’ How High She Flies (1999)66 that contains Lewis’ original art work; Anne Noggle’s For God, Country and the Thrill of It (1990)67 that contains photographic portraits of the WASP; and Nancy Robinson and Beverly Beesemyer’s We Love to Fly (2014)68 that offers both diary entries written by and graphic illustrations by Beesemyer. Finally, Darr’s St. Ann’s Gut (1971)69 and Flying the Zuni Mountains (1994) are collections of poetry that recall WASP lives.

61 The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) were a predecessor unit established by Nancy Love, days before the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) was established by Jacqueline Cochran. In August of 1943 the two programs merged to become the Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program. 62 Sarah Byrn Rickman, WASP of the Ferry Command: Women Pilots, Uncommon Deeds (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2016). 63 Sarah Byrn Rickman, Flight to Destiny (Moraine, OH: Greyden Press, 2014). 64 Sarah Byrn Rickman, Nancy Batson Crews, Alabama’s First Lady of Flight (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2009). 65 Sarah Byrn Rickman, Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2008). 66 Ann L. Cooper, How High She Flies: Dorothy Swain Lewis, WASP of WWII, Horsewoman, Artist, Teacher, illustrated by Dorothy Swain Lewis (Arlington Heights, IL: Aviatrix Publishing, 1999). 67 Chester Nez, and Judith Schiess Avila, For God, Country, and the Thrill of It: Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II Photographic Portraits and Text (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1990). 68 Robinson, We Love to Fly. 69 Janet Dailey, St. Ann’s Gut (New York: William and Morrow, 1971).

The intent of this thesis is to reclaim a portion of women’s history by adding to existing scholarly conversations about women’s military service during WWII. In addition, it will increase historical understandings of the paradoxes associated with mandating gender conformity and sexual behavior, while actively recruiting gender non-conforming women to perform traditionally masculine work in gender segregated units. It is my hope that this work makes the prevalence of lesbianism and gender non-conformity during WWII visible. In doing so it provides an accurate historical account and encourages future generations to pursue their dream of flight and service in the armed forces regardless of gender, gender identity, race, class, or sexual orientation.

CHAPTER 2

HISTORY

Flying is the great equalizer. The plane doesn’t know or care about your gender as a pilot, nor do the ground troops who need your support. You just have to perform. That’s all anyone cares about when you’re up there – that you can do your job, and that you did it exceptionally well. -Lieutenant Colonel Christine Mau, 33rd Fighter Winn Operations, Group Deputy Commander on being the first female to fly the F-35

INTRODUCTION In order to understand the cultural milieu in which the WASPs emerged it is vital to know one popular narrative or public image that pervades U.S. society: the concept of “American Exceptionalism”70 that thrived in twentieth century America (and prior to and since that time). It is a belief that the United States of America is a nation built on equality and egalitarianism or a belief that everyone regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class or sexual orientation has an equal opportunity to succeed and join in the Nation’s prosperity, if they just work hard enough. But, in reality this is an idealistic goal that has yet to be achieved in the United States.

70 I have chosen to define “American Exceptionalism” as a belief in the special character of the United States that sets it apart from all others as a uniquely free nation, based on democratic ideals and personal liberty. It is a revisionist view of history that ignores America’s systemic genocide of the indigenous population of North America, the enslavement of the African American peoples, and the inherent sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other forms of oppression that pervade U.S. society and its culture. It also claims the possibility of social mobility and that assimilation of immigrants is tied to U.S. material prosperity.

Another popular narrative is that prior to and during World War II the United States was a country that collectively railed against communism, fascist dictators, and the evil Empire of Japan for its unprovoked attack on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor. Public images portrayed in media, discussed in history books, and reiterated by politicians alike portray the U.S. as a peaceful democratic nation. But both narratives ignore the systemic sexism, racism, xenophobia, heterosexism, and socioeconomic classism that undergirds U.S. social and cultural norms. Even today, the hegemonic narrative is that Americans remain united behind President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s four freedoms articulated in his 1941 State of the Union address: the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and the freedom from fear. But even prior to the U.S. participation in WWII fractures were visible in the concept of American Exceptionalism. There were U.S. anti-Asian immigration laws that denied Japanese and Chinese immigrants and residents citizenship starting as early as 1884. Those laws were further strengthened in 1924. During the Depression Mexican-American migrant workers were the scapegoats for the lack of employment opportunities in the Southwestern portion of the U.S. After war broke out in Europe in 1939, the U.S. refused to increase immigration quotas or to grant asylum to Jews seeking refuge from Nazi tyranny. Furthermore, during the War the Roosevelt administration authorized the detainment and internment of over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans following the Empire of Japan’s surprise attack at Pearl Harbor. In addition, Americans of German and Italian descent were also imprisoned based on suspicion of their ties to fascist governments abroad. But over the past 100 years there have been glimpses of progress, where those who have traditionally been relegated to the margins by white hegemonic masculinity and patriarchy have felt a glimmer of hope and enfranchisement. One of those times was during WWII, when some women, some people of color, and those that did not fit the typical “norms” were called upon to participate in a great experiment. It was a time where the full resources of the Nation were invested towards a singular goal – defeating Nazi Germany, the Japanese and fascism abroad. It was a time when Americans agreed it was the patriotic duty of every citizen to serve in the defense of the nation by serving in the Armed Forces or by contributing to the War effort through industry or purchasing War bonds. Some contributed

24 to essential duties to maintain the homeland. During WWII over 16.5 million U.S. men and women mobilized in support of the War as members of the armed forces – more than at any other time in U.S. history. After the War; however, when the services of these previously marginalized populations – women, Blacks, Mexican-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native-Americans, Jews, lesbians, and gay men were no longer needed, America’s true colors re-emerged. Gender roles were strictly enforced, women were relegated to normative roles as wives and mothers; misogyny and sexism again pervaded work spaces; and racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism gave rise to a fortified Klu Klux Klan leading to lynchings, segregation and the reinforcement of Jim Crow. Furthermore, the expansion of capitalism as a result of the vast War production job opportunities would eventually privilege white, educated, cisgender, and heterosexual males, while disenfranchising those who found themselves outside the patriarchal norm or those who were relegated to the working class. Ours is a history of progress, but at a cost. For every giant step forward there seem to be two steps back. This thesis is the story of 1,102 women, mostly Euro-Americans, middle to upper-class and educated, who along with other disenfranchised populations believed in the concept of American Exceptionalism and for a moment were able to realize it.

GENDER ROLES AND THE RIGHT TO FULL CITIZENSHIP A fundamental right of citizenship is the ability to serve in the Nation’s defense. Women by virtue of their gender have never been legally compelled to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Throughout history, women’s desire to serve has been problematized and viewed as subverting patriarchal values and perverting social and cultural norms. Yet, women’s inability to participate equally with men in the nation’s defense also reduces their claim to full-citizenship. Western cultural traditions of masculinity and femininity associated with the gender binary have reinforced patriarchal beliefs that women are not physically or psychologically suited to be warriors. Military historian John Keegan in A History of Warfare (1993) argues women are innately pacifist: Half of human nature – the female half – is in any case highly ambivalent about war making…Warfare is…one human activity from which women, with the most insignificant exceptions, have always and everywhere stood apart. Women look to

men to protect them from danger…Women have followed the drum, nursed the wounded, tended to the fields, and herded the flocks when the man of the family has followed his leader, have even dug the trenches for men to defend and labored in the workshops to send them their weapons. Women, however, do not fight…warfare is as old as history and…an entirely masculine activity.71 As Keegan indicates, historical tales of women’s wartime work often involve gendered stereotypes of one or more tropes that portray women either as wives, mothers and producers of future warriors; as keepers and transmitters of the Nation’s values, culture, and traditions; or as camp followers, comfort women or prostitutes. Reiteration of this perspective makes women’s warfighting contributions invisible or freakish -- including the WASPs. It invalidates their experiences and silences their legacy. Western cultures rely on patriarchal myths to define appropriate gender roles based on hegemonic masculinity and nationalistic themes that define women’s value based on their relationships to men and motherhood. These narratives reaffirm women’s gender appropriate societal roles as wives and mothers. Even today, organizations such as Elaine Donnelly’s Center for Military Readiness72 reinforce patriarchal values, resist the expansion of women’s roles in combat and seek to prevent LGBT individuals from serving. Despite these barriers, women have always volunteered to serve in our Nation’s Armed Forces. For example women who served as nurses, those that took up arms when their husbands fell in battle, those who performed logistical functions during the American Revolution or those women who cross-dressed as men to fight in the Civil War and were later awarded pensions.

71 Keegan, A History of Warfare, 76. 72 Elaine Donnelly is founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness, is an independent, non- partisan, public policy organization with a unique mission: reporting on and analyzing military/social issues. CMR promotes high standards and sound priorities in the making of military personnel policies, and takes the lead in defending elements of military culture that are essential for morale and readiness in the All-Volunteer Force. Since its founding in 1993, CMR has advocated for high, uncompromised standards in all forms of military training and sound priorities in the making of military/social policies. The CMR advocates against expanding women’s roles in combat, and homosexuals and transgender individuals serving in the military. For additional information visit the CMR website at: https://www.cmrlink.org/about.

Women’s official service in the U.S. military began in 1901 when Congress created the Army Nurse Corps. But participation was limited to white women and excluded women of color. It would take another forty years and U.S. involvement in WWII for women’s participation to expand to other areas. Even then the work offered was considered traditional “women’s work.” One of the few areas where women were able to break through the gender barrier was aviation, where WASP pilots occupied space in what was considered traditional “men’s work.”

AMERICA’S FIRST WOMEN IN AVIATION The birth of modern aviation began when Orville and Wilber Wright realized humankind’s dream of powered flight on the beaches of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. However, none of their accomplishments would have been possible without the assistance of their younger sister Katherine Wright.73 Katherine was a college graduate who managed her brothers’ business financial affairs and wrote their speeches. So important was her work that the French Government called her the third Wright Brother and awarded her the French Legion of Honor. 74 Yet her participation is rarely mentioned in the dominant historical narrative. Most pilots agree that the act of human flight is liberating, but women’s participation in aviation endeavors during the Golden Age of Aviation (1918-1939) was for many of them the ultimate freedom from assigned gender roles. Historians Mitchell and House argue: “As the century ushered in the age of flight, women reached decisively for the controls of the airplanes – and of their own lives.”75 Notable firsts that occurred during this period are

73 “Katharine Wright,” Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company, accessed January 3, 2018, http://www.wright_brothers.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Wright_Family/Katharine_Wright/Katharine _Wright.htm. 74 Karen Bush Gibson, Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneering Flights, Daring Missions, and Record Setting Journeys (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013), 1. 75 Charles R. Mitchell and Kirk W. House, Images of Aviation: Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation (Mt. Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002), 7.

27 instructive because they demonstrate women were equally as capable of flight as men. However, women’s experiences and achievements were often impeded by sexism and racism. Women pilots faced not only gender discrimination for entering the sacred male domain of aviation, but also mockery for breaching social and cultural norms. Worse yet, women of color had to battle racism as well as segregation to earn their pilot’s licenses. Early exhibition pilots such as Blanche Stuart Scott (1884-1970), an unabashed tomboy, became a member of the famous Curtiss exhibition team. Glenn Curtiss himself declared her American’s first aviatrix in1910, although she never earned a license.76 Scott billed herself as “the Tomboy of the Air,”77 but in 1916 she ceased flying because crowds became luridly interested in seeing women crash. Women were not viewed as serious pilots or given the opportunity to work as engineers or mechanics. But in 1910, Wisconsin born, Bessica Faith Raiche (1875-1932) built her own plane in her drawing room, flew it and became the first woman aircraft designer, engineer and builder. She also became the first U.S. woman to fly solo. Later, Raiche became a successful businesswoman, dentist and physician.78 In 1911 Harriett Quimbly (1875-1912) became the first U.S. woman to earn her pilot’s license and in 1912 she was the first woman to fly across the English Channel.79 Julia Clark (1880-1912) was the third woman to earn her pilots license, despite the Wright Brothers’ refused to enroll her in their training program because she was female.80 Clark was the first female aviation fatality, but aircraft mishaps and fatalities were typical in the early days of flight for both men and women. Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), a biracial woman, became the first licensed Black American and the first Native American female to earn her

76 Gene Nora Jessen, Powder Puff Derby of 1929 (Naperville, IL: Source Books, 2002), xiii. 77 Mitchell and House, Flying High, 15. 78 Jessen, Powder Puff Derby of 1929, xiii. 79 Gibson, Women Aviators, 7. 80 Mitchell and House, Flying High, 45.

28 pilot’s license in 1920. So great was her desire to fly that when she couldn’t find an instructor willing to train her she learned French and traveled to France to earn her pilot’s license there. Women like Coleman and Quimbly proved women were just as capable of flying as men, yet structural barriers prevented women from being treated as equals. Katherine Stinson (1891- 1977), a petite woman who many men thought did not have the necessary physical strength to fly, became the fourth and Ruth Law (1887-1970) became the sixth woman to earn their licenses in 1914.81 Stinson and her mother later formed Stinson Aviation.82 Law toured the U.S. with her own Flying Circus and became the first to fly a loop.83 Law tried to join the U.S. Air Service during World War I, but she was prohibited from serving as a pilot on the basis of her biological sex; instead the military asked her to sell Liberty Bonds.84 After the War, Law set the woman’s altitude record of 14,700 feet and flew to China, Japan and the Philippines. Upon her return her husband unceremoniously announced her retirement without consulting her.85 But other women continued to be drawn to the expanding field of aviation. During WWI large numbers of women worked in aircraft manufacturing plants as machinist, drafters, and seamstresses.86 Thousands of other women served as nurses, telephone operators (i.e. the “Hello Girls”), clerical workers, typists, stenographers, dietitians and in the quartermaster corps as cooks and laundresses and in the American Expeditionary Force in France. Some women served as contractors and were promised military status, but the promise went unfulfilled. In August of 1920 women were granted suffrage by the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Their involvement in WWI hastened its passage.

81 Mitchell and House, 7; 63. 82 Jessen, Powder Puff Derby of 1929, xii-xiv. 83 Mitchell and House, Flying High, 55. 84 Mitchell and House, 60. 85 Mitchell and House, 61. 86 Mitchell and House, 73-84.

More aviation opportunities emerged for women of color between WWI and WWII. In 1932 Katherine Sui Fun Cheung became the first Asian American woman to earn her pilot’s license. She raced, performed aerial aerobatics, and participated in air shows.87 In 1939 Black aviatrix Willa Brown formed the National Negro Airmen Association of America. Amidst all this progress flying was still considered unfeminine. Women had a difficult time finding instructors and persistence proved essential to obtaining a pilot’s license throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Breaking with cultural and gender norms women flew as wing walkers and aerial circus performers. Others found employment with airplane manufacturers who sponsored them to participate in air races and flight demonstrations.

HISTORY OF THE U.S. AIR FORCES The history of military aviation began in “1909 with the U.S. Army’s acquisition of its first heavier-than-air aircraft…built…by the Wright brothers.”88 Military aviation originated as the aeronautics branch, a sub-section of the Air Services division of the Army’s Signal Corps. Between 1911 and 1918 the Air Services changed names several times; eventually it became the Air Service of the National Army (ASNA). During WWI, the Army’s aircraft strength grew from a few dozen to more than 11,000 planes and the number of aviation personnel grew to more than 190,000.89 Brigadier General William (Billy) Lendrum Mitchell (1879-1936) commanded the U.S. combat aviation units in France during the War, and is widely regarded as the father of the Air Force. Mitchell saw the potential for air warfare in future conflicts and recommended that the ASNA become a separate military service. His persistence so antagonized Army leadership that in 1925 he was court martialed

87 Gibson, Women Aviators, 79 88 “Origins of Army Aviation,” U.S. Army, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker, accessed January 22, 2018, http://www.rucker.army.mil/history/. 89 U.S. Army, “Origins of Army Aviation.”

30 for insubordination90 because he went directly to Congress seeking to create a separate service. Mitchell was later demoted to Colonel and resigned his commission shortly thereafter. Like many Air Corps officers, Henry H. (Hap) Arnold supported Mitchell during his court martial and was almost court martialed himself. In 1927 the ASNA was renamed the Army Air Corps. In 1936 General Arnold was named the Chief of the Army Air Corps which in June of 1939 became the Army Air Forces.

CIVILIAN AVIATION FIRSTS Aviation endeavors also flourished in the civilian world during the Golden Age of Aviation. In May of 1927 Charles Lindberg completed the first solo flight across the Atlantic, landing in France. In June of 1928, a little known woman named Amelia Earhart was selected to accompany pilots Wilber Stultz and mechanic Louis Gordon across the Atlantic.91 By January of 1929 thirty-one women held pilot’s licenses, but nearly two years later the proliferation of aircraft and flying schools made that number grow to over 300; an additional 600 were taking flight lessons.92 In August of 1929 the first women’s Air Derby started in Santa Monica, California ending eight-days later in Cleveland, Ohio.93 Participants included several notable aviators of the era, including: Amelia Earhart, Phoebe Omelie, Florence (Pancho) Barnes, Marvel Crosson, Evelyn (Bobbi) Trout, Ruth Nichols, Blanche Noyes, Elinor Smith, and Louise Thaden. Sadly Crosson died in a plane crash on the second day when her aircraft engine failed. Afterwards one newspaper headline pronounced

90 Originally quoted as “incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration by the War and Navy departments” from an interview given by General Mitchell in San Antonio, Texas and published in the New York Times (September 7, 1925) p.4 according to Harold S. Sharp, “The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1925),” in Footnotes to American History (Metuchen, N.J: The Scarecrow Press, 1977), 430–33. 91 Charles Paul May, Women in Aeronautics (New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1962), 113-14. 92 Claudia M. Oakes, United States Women in Aviation 1930-1939: Smithsonian Air and Space Studies Number 6 (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1985), 4. 93 Leslie Haynsworth and David M. Toomey, Amelia Earhart's Daughters: The Wild and Glorious Story of American Women Aviators from World War II to the Dawn of the Space Age (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1998), 14.

“Women Have Proven They Cannot Fly.”94 On another day several women found contaminants in their fuel tanks indicating sabotage. Ultimately Thaden won the race, and Earhart came in third. After the race Earhart, Thaden, Omelie, Barnes, Trout, Nichols, Noyes, and Smith decided to form a women’s flying club to further women’s interests in aviation. They called their flying club “The Ninety-Nines,” a tribute to the number of women that initially applied for membership. The women were acutely aware of their minority status; approximately 150 of the nation’s 9,800 licensed pilots were women. By the 1930s the Ninety-Nines was established and the ranks of women pilots began to swell. The girls and young women who would later become Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron and WASPs in the 1940s began to take notice of the opportunities available to women in the skies.95 On May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart made her first solo flight across the Atlantic landing in Londonderry, Ireland. Shortly thereafter she became friends with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Roosevelt became so captivated by aviation that in 1933 she applied for a student pilot permit, 96 but her husband Franklin vetoed her pursuit of a pilot’s license.97 Both Roosevelts were enamored with the burgeoning aviation industry. Eleanor was especially saddened when Earhart disappeared in 1937. Due to the cost and barriers that prohibited women from flying, few U.S. women were issued Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) licenses between 1930 and 1940. Those that earned them did so through private instruction using small, low-powered, single engine aircraft. A few women from affluent families were able to fly larger – and in rare cases – multi-engine, aircraft. That changed with the advent of the Civilian Pilot Training Program.

94 Haynsworth and Toomey, Amelia Earhart's Daughters, 14. 95 May, Women in Aeronautics, 116. 96 A copy of Eleanor Roosevelt’s student pilot application can be found in Muriel Earhart Morrissey and Carol L. Osborne, Amelia My Courageous Sister: Biography of Amelia Earhart (Springfield, MO: Osborne Publishing, 1987), 174. 97 Morrissey and Osborne, Amelia My Courageous Sister ,174.

THE CIVILIAN PILOT TRAINING PROGRAM Most of the college-aged women who learned to fly during World War II earned their wings through the CAA’s Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program conceived by its Administrator, Robert H. Hinckley, in 1938. 98 President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled the new program during a White House press conference on December 27, 1938 as part of the New Deal. Roosevelt said the program would provide pilot training to 20,000 college students per year and boost the economy through aircraft sales that had been hurt by the lengthy Depression.99 The secondary benefit of the program was that it increased the pool of qualified pilots available for national defense purposes. The CPT program is historically important because it expanded opportunities for women and Black men. When the War broke out in Europe in 1939 the U.S. Army had approximately 4,500 pilots, but less than half were on active duty. More than 2,500 were serving in the Army Reserves and National Guard. Between 1939 and 1944 the CPT program expanded from 435 to 1,132 colleges and universities including, women’s and historically Black colleges and universities, plus an additional 1,460 commercial flight schools. As a result of the CPT program 435,165 pilots were trained between 1938 and 1944.100 The largest producer of Black pilots was Tuskegee Institute in Alabama that produced 2,000 aviators. Women wondered if they would have the opportunity to participate in the program and the answer was yes! Coeducational colleges and universities taking part in the program enrolled students at a ten-to-one ratio of men-to-women. Four women’s colleges made the list, which allowed

98 “Hinckley, decided that college classrooms and local flying schools could combine to offer the new government subsidized program. The CPT program began in 1939, with a two-fold purpose: economic recovery and war preparedness.” To convince an isolationist congress to fund the program it was billed as a civilian program open to both young women and men and as a way of stimulating aircraft sales in the faltering U.S. aviation industry. Source: Debora G. Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940 (Washington, DC: American University Press, 2004), 20-21. 99 Lois K. Merry, Women Military Pilots of World War II: A History with Biographies of American, British, Russian and German Aviators (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010), 19. 100 Merry, Women Military Pilots of World War II, 20.

33 the entire class to be filled by women.101 At the end of the CPT program’s first year there were 980 new women pilots.102 By 1940, Civil Aeronautics Administration records show there were 78,063 male and 2,733 female pilots with private licenses in the U.S.103 In addition, there were 12,420 men and 154 women with commercial pilot ratings.104 Even though large numbers of women were able to obtain their pilot’s licenses through the CPT program, by 1942 there were fewer than 3,000 qualified female pilots in the U.S., and even fewer with a commercial rating. Furthermore, several hundred of those who possessed a pilot’s license were either over 35 old or were younger than 21, which disqualified them from military service.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE WOMEN’S PROGRAMS IN THE ARMY AIR FORCES Several times between 1939 and 1940 the idea of using women pilots to ferry aircraft surfaced. Each time the purpose of freeing male pilots up for more hazardous combat duties was invoked. Experienced male aviators who had been flying since the 1930s knew how good some of the female pilots were because they had competed against them in races. Still the leadership of the Army Air Corps was reluctant to envision the possibilities of such a radical idea. Colonel Olds didn’t immediately reject the idea; he felt it was better to wait until the need was greater. After Germany invaded Poland on September 3, 1939 marking the beginning of WWII, the U.S. seriously began considering the use of women as pilots in the military. Jacqueline Cochran, the most celebrated aviatrix in the U.S., had been thinking about the

101 The four Women’s colleges included: Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio; Adelphi College, Garden City, New York; Mills College, Oakland, California; and, Florida State College, Tallahassee, Florida. 102 Merry, 20; Sarah Byrn Rickman, Finding Dorothy Scott: Letters of a WASP Pilot (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2016), 14. 103 Doris B. Tanner, Arnold, Cochran, Deaton: Women Airforce Service Pilots World War II (self-pub., n.d.), 48. 104 Tanner, Arnold, Cochran, Deaton, 48.

34 possibility of using women as pilots to perform missions at home so that men could be freed up for the War. When Poland surrendered to Germany on September 27th, the next day Cochran wrote to her friend First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and urged President Roosevelt to consider the use of women to “release men pilots for combat duty should the need arise, by ‘flying ambulance planes, courier planes…and transport planes.’ Some 650 women fliers would need training to be useful, and, if they had official standing or patriotic objective…there would be thousands more.’”105 Cochran was committed to the creation of a separate corps of women pilots to fly military aircraft domestically. A central feature of this plan was the establishment of a training school. Cochran wanted desperately to be in charge of this program. Both Eleanor and President Roosevelt favored using women in some way if the U.S. entered the War.106 They encouraged Cochran to meet with General Henry “Hap” Arnold, Commander of the Army Air Corps, to articulate her plan. Arnold was initially skeptical that women could handle multiengine military aircraft.107 However, Clayton Knight, the acting head of the U.S. recruiting committee for the British Ferry Command suggested Cochran recruit U.S. women to serve in Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Knight also suggested Cochran ferry a Lockheed Hudson bomber from the U.S. to Great Britain. In May of 1940 President Roosevelt asked aircraft manufacturers to produce 50,000 airplanes and, later in the month, Hinckley announced plans to train 45,000 elementary and 9,000 secondary flight students. 108

105 Byrd Howell Granger, On Final Approach: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII (Scottsdale, AZ: Falconer Publishing Company, 1991), 1. 106 Merry, Women Pilots of World War II, 25. 107 Merry, 25. 108 Rickman, Finding Dorothy Scott, 12-13.

The organization known as the Air Transport Command (ATC) was born on May 29, 1941.109 “President Franklin D. Roosevelt had just told his Secretary of War that something needed to be done to speed up the number of deliveries of bombers to England via the Lend Lease, which had been in existence for just two months.”110 Colonel Robert Olds and Lieutenant Colonel William H. Tunner created the ATC’s domestic ferrying division and through it an efficient means of delivering airplanes from one point to another. The mission of the ATC ferrying pilots was to move planes along toward their ultimate destination. For many those were active combat sites. Ferry pilots were not supposed to risk their lives or their aircraft but skillfully and safely deliver planes in good condition. Tunner said, “The ferry pilot was not expected to be a hero, but to just do his [or her] job.”111 In June of 1941 Cochran departed from Canada en route to London. Once in London, she met with Pauline Gower, the Director of the Women’s Contingent of the British ATA.112 Gower informed Cochran the British had approximately fifty women ferrying planes113 and that they could use additional experienced U.S. women pilots to supplement their force. When Cochran returned to the U.S. on July 1, 1941 she was summoned to the White House to meet with President Roosevelt and the First Lady. Based on her proposal Roosevelt directed Robert Lovett, the Assistant Secretary of War for Air, to arrange for Cochran to be officially appointed to work (without pay) for the Air Transport Command under the direction of Colonel Olds. Her mission was to conduct an analysis of pilots and available aircraft to perform the ferrying mission. General Olds dispatched a letter to “All women

109 Sarah Byrn Rickman, The Originals: The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of WWII (Sarasota, FL: Disc-Us Books, 2001), 11. 110 Rickman, The Originals, 11. 111 Rickman, 11. 112 Merry, Women Pilots of World War II, 26. 113 Granger, On Final Approach, 3.

36 holders of licenses,”114 seeking their interest in participating in the ferrying mission for the Army. Cochran then combed the Civil Aeronautics Administration records to identify all women that held a commercial rating. Her assignment was to evaluate the feasibility of using women pilots to replace men ferrying aircraft from production plants to ports of embarkation. Using the data from returned questionnaires as well as information about military aircraft, Cochran was able to demonstrate that even without training, there were women pilots capable of flying any aircraft in the military inventory. Cochran reviewed the medical and flying records of over 3,000 licensed pilots but concluded that not more than 100 were usable without additional training (even they would require transition training). In addition Cochran’s report concluded that there was not only a shortage of male pilots, but also a shortage of aircraft. 115 The results of Cochran’s findings were given to Olds who was by then a general. He was interested in using women pilots, but he disagreed with Cochran’s proposal for a training program and the creation of an all-female corps. Tensions mounted until Olds flat-out refused to even forward her proposal to General Arnold. Cochran was enraged and resigned. However she presented her findings to Arnold before she left. From the beginning Cochran wanted the women’s program to be militarized and placed under the control of the Army Air Forces. Cochran’s plan proposed that the Army Air Forces conduct an experiment to “determine the capabilities, limitations, strengths, and weaknesses of women as pilots, and this could be done only by having them carefully selected, assigned, checked, and

114 On July 29, 1941 Robert Olds of the Air Corps Ferrying Command sent a letter and survey addressed to “All Women Holders of Licenses,” Source: “Jacqueline Cochran and the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs),” Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home, accessed December 11, 2017, https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/jacqueline_cochran.html, explaining that the Army was conducting a survey to determine the feasibility of forming under Government auspices, an auxiliary organization of women pilots for the purpose of ferrying of certain categories of airplanes. 115 Jacqueline Cochran, Final Report on Women Pilot Program (Washington, DC: War Department, 1945). Available at the National Archives.

37 supervised” 116 by the staff of the Army Air Forces. Arnold rejected Cochran’s plan because he believed there were enough male pilots to fly the existing planes in the inventory. General Arnold wanted to salvage a truce for fear that Cochran would go ranting to Roosevelt. He promised that if there was any change in the future concerning the use of women pilots she would be the first to know. Having heard Arnold’s promise Cochran turned all her energies toward recruiting a group of women pilots to send to Great Britain. Similar to Cochran, in 1940 Nancy Harkness Love, another skilled aviator working on the staff of the Ferrying Command, had a similar idea. Love was a member of the Massachusetts wing of the Civil Air Patrol, and had ferried airplanes from the United States to the Canadian border for onward shipment to France. She answered a query from Lt. Col. Robert Olds of the Ferry Command (later known as the Air Transport Command) about how many women pilots might be capable of flying military aircraft. Love told him she personally knew 100 experienced female aviators that would be extremely interested in ferrying planes for the Air Transportation Command. Olds passed on the idea of employing experienced women pilots to help ferry military aircraft to General Arnold. Again Arnold rejected the idea, arguing that it would be better to hire qualified women as copilots for domestic airlines and thereby release those men for military service should the need arise.

SHIFTING GROUND Things changed quickly after the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor. In January of 1942 the CPT program converted to the War Training Service (WTS) program. It required men to enlist in the Army Reserves in exchange for training, a move that effectively excluded women from participation. Fortunately, some fifty women, including future WASP, became instructor pilots and found employment teaching male flight cadets to fly through the WTS program.

116 Cochran, Final Report on Women Pilot Program.

While the U.S. didn’t yet want the service of women pilots the United Kingdom did. So in March of 1942 Cochran deployed to England with a contingent of 25 women pilots (22 U.S., two Canadians, and herself).117 The women volunteers signed contracts with the British ATA to serve for 18 months. 118 Unlike the others, Cochran’s contract was for $1 a year and it allowed her to return to the U.S. should the need arise. On May 28, 1941 Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA) introduced House Resolution (H.R.) 6293, a bill “To establish a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) for service with the Army of the United States” 119 into Congress. But the legislation languished in Congress until after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Then there was an urgent need for womanpower in both the civilian and military sectors. The bill was signed into law on May 14, 1942,120 and later that day Lieutenant Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby was sworn in as director. The other service followed suit quickly thereafter. The Navy’s Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES) was authorized in July 1942; the Marine Corps’ Women’s Reserve (MCWR) was created in February 1943. Then in July of 1943, the Army WAAC became an official branch of the U.S. Army and was renamed the

117 Deborah G. Douglas, United States Women in Aviation 1940-1985: Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space, Number 7 (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1990), 115. 118 Kay Gott, Women in Pursuit: Flying Fighters for the Air Transport Command Ferrying Division during World War II (McKinleyville, CA: self-pub., 1993), 25. After their 18-month contract with the ATA came to an end 5 of the 25 women returned to the U.S. and became WASP: Helen Richey (43-W-5), Hazel Raines (44-W- 3), Myrtle Allen (44-W-8), Emily Chapin (44-W-10), and Katherine Van Doozer who was over the age limit of 35 by the time she returned from England, so she served as a Staff Advisor for the Women’s Flying Training Detachment. One of the twenty-five women, Mary Webb Nicholson, Cochran’s personal secretary before the War, was the only woman to die in the service. She was killed when her propeller separated from her aircraft in flight, resulting in an aircraft crash. 119 Edith Norse Rogers Introduced the resolution to the Committee on Military Affairs. A Bill to Establish the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps for Service with the Army of the United States, H.R. Rep. No. 1705, (1942). Available at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4397811 and https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/artifact/hr-6293-bill-establish-womens-army-auxiliary-corps- january-28-1942. 120 Vote count on HR 6293 bill took place May 14, 1942. Source: “To Pass H.R. 6293, a Bill to Establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.,” Govtrack, accessed January 22, 2018, https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/77-1942/s128.

Women’s Army Corps (WAC).121 The Women's Reserve of the Coast Guard (SPARS) was created by an Act of Congress and signed into law on 23 November 1942. Each of the women’s service groups had different entry requirements. The WAVES accepted women between the ages of 20-35, but the Army accepted women beginning at 19 and up to age 50. In What Comes of Training Women for War (1948) Dr. Dorothy Schaffter argues that women’s participation in the Armed Forces during WWII was relatively small in comparison to the available womanpower pool. Most of the women in the services [during WWII] were relatively young and there were in the nation, some thirteen million women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight, six million of them unmarried, to serve as a pool for all civilian and military war purposes.122 At its peak strength in 1944 the combined military organizations utilized approximately 300,000 women in military service. Due to the prohibitions regarding women’s service in the military, the rigid gender binary and the perceived masculine nature of combat, of those who had the opportunity to serve, relatively few chose to do so.123 But by June 1942 the Army and Navy had both committed to the idea of using women as pilots. The administrative officers of the newly reorganized Air Transport Command (ATC) had changed when Robert Olds left to head the Second Air Force; General Harold George and Colonel William Tunner were put in charge. The pilot supply situation was exceptionally bleak when one morning Tunner chanced to meet the newly arrived ATC deputy chief of staff, Robert Love, at the water cooler. In the conversation, Love mentioned that his wife was making a daily commute by air between Washington and Baltimore to her

121 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 67. 122 Dorothy Schaffter, What Comes of Training Women for War? (Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 1948), 6. 123 Treadwell, The Women’s Army Corps, 281-83. Among the various commands, Army Air Forces (AAF) had been the first to employ the WACs. Some 40,000 Air WACS of the eventual 100,000 WACs would serve in the Army Air Corps. However, unlike ground commands the AAF struggled to manage Air Commands that were functional in nature, scattered throughout the U.S. Major Betty Bandel was appointed the director of the Air WACS.

40 job and that the weather that day had delayed her. Tunner had not been part of the earlier discussions concerning women pilots and had never considered using them. Tunner quickly arranged to meet with Nancy Love who outlined her ideas for recruiting outstanding women pilots. Tunner forwarded a report of his meeting with Love to General George. Unlike Cochran, Love recognized the need for flexibility and compromise. She acted on the belief that experienced women pilots could offer modest assistance to the War effort, but that they could not do so as long as the top brass squabbled over the details. In her mind it was far better to get the flying started and then work out the details. This attitude reveals one of the fundamental distinctions between Cochran and Love. Cochran wanted to administer a training program that produced women pilots for the military; Love knew she and others already had an exceptionally high level of flying experience and that this might be useful to the military. To ensure the women would be above scrutiny Tunner suggested abandoning the idea of identical standards for men and women. Love wholeheartedly agreed and increased the admissions requirements for women. Love proposed that women be required to have a minimum of 500 hours of flight time (50 in the past year), be a high school graduate and be between 21 and 35 years old. Male candidates only had to have 200 hours, three years of high school, and be 19-45 years old. Both Tunner and Love thought the women would be hired as civilians for a 90-day trial period and then commissioned through the WAAC. Lieutenant Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby offered enthusiastic support for the idea. Unfortunately the legislation already under consideration by Congress concerning WAAC pay did not authorize additional flight pay and when Hobby became aware of this it was too late to amend the legislation. In light of the legislative quagmire Love argued that it would be pragmatic to abandon, albeit temporarily, the idea of commissioning women. She gambled that it would be easier to win Congressional support after its members were able to see the results of the women’s service. To further convince Tunner and Olds that she was serious, Love stiffened the entrance requirements yet again, requiring women to also have a 200-horsepower (HP) rating and two letters of recommendation. Reinforcing hegemonic masculine gender norms Love recommended women’s flight duties be limited to flying only the smaller class of

41 military planes. She suggested their salary be set at $250 a month -- $150 less than their male civilian counterparts received. George forwarded the revised proposal to Arnold on July 18, 1942. Arnold wanted more up-to-date information on women pilots based on any new data that might exist from CAA and the Civil Air Patrol. It was not an outright letter of rejection, but it was clearly a stalling tactic. Unbeknownst to George, Arnold had met with Cochran during a visit to England earlier that month and he knew how keen she was to be part of the U.S. program. Love, dejected, went back to the files. She sensed an intense dislike of Cochran by the ATC and thought her plan would get lost in a bitter battle between Arnold, Cochran and George. By the fall of 1942, all indications were that the Allies were losing the War. Something drastic needed to happen, and it appeared as though the need was more pressing to use women. Eleanor Roosevelt was an early proponent for women’s service in the Armed Forces. On September 1, 1942, Roosevelt in her “My Day” newspaper column wrote: It seems to me that in the Civil Air Patrol and in our own ferry command, women, if they can pass the tests imposed upon men, should have an equal opportunity for non-combat service…this is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a War and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used…‘I think it is time you women spoke up for yourselves and undertook a campaign to see that our 3,500 women fliers, every one of whom is anxious to do something in the War, be given a chance to do it.’124 The one factor Love had forgotten to consider in the summer of 1942 was the effect of the pilot shortage on General George’s disposition. George genuinely needed the women pilots that Love offered so he took a chance, resubmitted the plan (with up-to-date statistics) on September 3, 1942, and told Love to prepare telegrams to go out to potential candidates. Two days later George told Love he believed Arnold had given him the go-ahead to activate the plan. Nancy Love sent telegraphs to eighty-three U.S. women age 21 to 35, who had

124 “My Day, September 1, 1942,” Eleanor Roosevelt, The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Digital Edition, accessed January 3, 2018, http://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1942&_f=md056279.

42 logged at least 500 hours in the air, held a commercial license, a 200-horse power engine rating, and with recent cross-country experience. The telegram read: “Advise if you are immediately available to join a group of women pilots under the Air Transport Command to perform domestic ferrying duties.”125 The group would be called the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and it initially consisted of 25 members. Love was named director by Secretary of War Henry Stinson and on September 10th the media published a press release announcing the intent of the Army Air Forces to organize, recruit and train “lady pilots to ferry light military aircraft.”126 The previous evening Cochran had returned to New York following her mission with the British ATA in London. She awoke to learn from the newspaper about the establishment of the WAFS.127 She was caught off guard – there had been no communication between the women, and the Air Staff had failed to notify either of the competing programs. Cochran immediately confronted General Arnold with the news, who claimed to be equally surprised.128 Arnold agreed to meet with Cochran and shortly thereafter a plan was worked out for both programs – the WAFS and the Women’s Flight Training Detachment (WFTD) – to proceed in parallel. Within days the WAFS program was established at New Castle Army Air Base, Delaware. On September 14, 1942, Arnold issued a press release announcing establishment of the WFTD with a goal of training 500 female pilots (ultimately this number more than doubled before the end of the War). According to Jacqueline Cochran’s “Final Report on Women Pilot Program” the stated purpose of the experiment was threefold: “determine if women could serve as military pilots and if so, form a nucleus that could be rapidly

125 Rickman, The Originals, 13. 126 Granger, On Final Approach, 29. 127 Granger, 33. 128 Granger, 29.

43 expanded; release male pilots for combat; and, decrease the Air Forces’ total demand on the cream of the manpower pool.”129 The WFTD was established at the Houston Airport in Texas (in March 1943 it moved to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas). For command and control purposes and standardization in August of 1943 the two programs (WAFS and WFTD) were merged into a single Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program. Cochran was appointed special assistant to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Operations, Commitments, and Requirements, with the title of Director of Women Pilots. Simultaneously, Love became the WASP executive with the staff of the Ferrying Division of the Air Transport Command.

129 Cochran, Final Report on Women Pilot Program, 10.

CHAPTER 3

PUBLIC IMAGES – THE LEADERS OF THE WAFS, WFTD AND THE WASP

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn't have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don't have what it takes.” - Clare Boothe Luce, first female U.S. Ambassador

INTRODUCTION To understand the WASP program and its participants I began by examining the personalities and motivations of the women that fought for the creation of the two distinct women’s military aviation Programs: Jacqueline Cochran Odlum (1906-1980), Director of the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and Nancy Harkness Love (1914-1976), Squadron Commander of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Their complicated relationship and differing personalities overshadowed the eventual merger of the two organizations into a single Women’s Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program. I focused my analysis primarily on the public images Cochran created not only of herself, but also of the women she selected for her program. How did Cochran choose just 1,830 women out of the 25,000 women that applied for her program? How did she market the program to the U.S. population within the existing gender norms of the 1940s, while simultaneously challenging those same gender norms? Cochran is the most decorated aviator (male or female – living or dead) in U.S. history and set more records than anyone else. How did her own self-created image and of those other first women military pilots differ from their authentic / actual lived experiences? I also explored Nancy Love’s background and demographics to see how the two women differed. I further examined their collective understandings of gender, race, socioeconomic class and sexual orientation for similarities. I

45 discovered the two women were vastly different, and the disparities between the WASP public image and private realities were palpable and tangible.

COCHRAN’S MOTIVATION In the making of her public image, Jacqueline Cochran created an autobiographical script that suited the woman she wanted to become, and after she had repeated the narrative so many times, she seems to have lost the ability to know her own truth. The fictional narrative (half-truth and half lie) Cochran constructed for herself erased her impoverished past, her alarmingly young marriage, and the accidental death of her son. Furthermore, Cochran went to great lengths to obscure her past, out of shame and a deep seated fear she would be identified as an imposter. I argue that this fear drove her to distance herself from other potential powerful women allies (such as the leaders of the other women’s military programs). Her desire to escape the trappings of her early life was so strong that she became driven in her desire to achieve countless aviation records. She hoped these achievements, along with her self-constructed image, would obscure from the public eye what she viewed as personal failings. Although Cochran was a significantly more accomplished aviator than her good friend Amelia Earhart, her legacy remains largely invisible. I attribute this inconsistency to two major factors. First, Cochran’s leadership style and personality (fiercely direct, confrontational and unyielding) were perceived as masculine; therefore, she transgressed gender norms and was viewed as a threat to both hegemonic masculinity and femininity. To be viewed as less threatening she reinforced rigid gender norms and argued against women’s equal opportunity in the field of aviation. She claimed women’s admittance would somehow limit men’s. As a result, she was viewed as an outlier and dismissed as a historical anomaly or as anti-equality. Secondly, the fame and notoriety Cochran so highly coveted throughout her life eluded her because she was unwilling to serve as an advocate for women’s movement into the fields of aviation and space. Cochran became the ultimate anti-hero of the feminist movement. While she transgressed gender norms herself, she publically agreed with the dominant narrative that women were less serious about their careers and encouraged women

46 to pursue their natural roles as wives and mothers. Cochran remains an historical enigma because despite her own personal inroads she failed to advocate for the advancement of other women including women of color, gender non-conforming women and lesbians. Instead, she focused on her own self-interests. Had she focused her efforts more broadly, Cochran may have been memorialized as a leader of the women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s.

TOMBOYISM AND RESISTANCE TO GENDER NORMS Cochran was a paradox: partial to dolls130 and yet still a tomboy who professed to climb trees, roam the woods and get dirty.131 She described herself as precocious, and said she had a desire to join the circus.132 As a young woman she demonstrated qualities or attributes typically ascribed to young men. She was aggressive, tenacious, resourceful, bold, brassy, and outspoken. In Female Masculinity (1998), queer theorist Judith Halberstam defines tomboyism as an “extended childhood period of female masculinity.”133 She explains that the acceptance of tomboyism in girls is short lived. “We could say tomboyism is tolerated as long as the child remains prepubescent; as soon as puberty begins, however, the full force of gender conformity descends on the girl.”134 Furthermore, tomboyism according to Halberstam demonstrates resistance to adulthood rather than femininity.135 In the U.S. there has often been a tense love-hate relationship with female masculinity and tomboyism. Perhaps one of the best examples of “tomboyism” in aviation is Cochran’s colleague famed

130 Billie Pittman Ayers and Beth Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran: Family Memories about the Famous Pilot, Patriot, Wife & Businesswoman (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2001), 17. 131 Jacqueline Cochran and MaryAnn Bucknum Brinley, Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History (New York: Bantam, 1987), 27-28. 132 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 26. 133 Judith Halberstam, Female Masculinity (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), 5. 134 Halberstam, Female Masculinity, 6. 135 Halberstam, 7.

47 aviatrix Amelia Earhart, who was described as having “poise and a boyish but patrician beauty,” which enabled Earhart to “capture the imagination of America.”136

THREE SIDES TO EVERY STORY: YOURS, MINE AND THE TRUTH What surprised me most about Cochran was the frequency with which erroneous information continues to be perpetuated about her murky past. Around 1930 Jacqueline Cochran carefully crafted a fictional narrative of the first twenty years of her life. The facts of her actual childhood story were radically different from the image she portrayed. The truth is no less compelling than her lie, the details differed only slightly, but her skillfully edited version excludes significant facts. She painted a portrait of herself as virtuous, pious, pure, and unworldly, and at the same time, as a resilient, savvy young businesswoman. The spiel Cochran touted to the media and twice recollected in her autobiographies The Stars at Noon (1954) and Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History (1987), are detailed below followed by a version of events her biological niece Billie Pittman Ayers co-authored with Beth Dees entitled Superwoman: Jacqueline Cochran (1999). Ayers and Dees describe similar versions of events, but with richer details and irrefutable facts. Had the public known the facts in the 1930s and 1940s they may have painted Cochran in a less favorable light and her rise to glory might have been less attainable. The title of Cochran’s second autobiography paints a realistic picture of how she wanted to be remembered. In it she claimed to be “a refugee of a sawdust road.”137 In her retelling of childhood events, she recounts sleeping on the floor because her “foster sister” was dirty. Cochran recalls stories of independence and tenacity in her youth. She claimed to have a cleanliness fetish and wrote that she took ice baths as a child. Purportedly she was

136 Haynsworth and Toomey, Amelia Earhart’s Daughters, 13. 137 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 7.

48 forced to forage for food in the woods, yet there is no evidence this ever happened. She described wearing dresses made from “cast off flour sacks.”138 Millicent Amanda Peterson Young, (class 44-W-10), who was born ten years later and also into poverty, described wearing clothes made out of flour sacks,139 which was typical during the post-WWI and Great Depression eras when cloth was rationed or out of reach for poor families. Cochran recalls her intense desire to escape poverty, “I lose myself in a fantasy of all the things I’ll buy when I can buy whatever I want.”140 In her first autobiography, The Stars at Noon (1954), Cochran claims to have had no shoes until she was eight years old141 and even when she saved up enough money to buy tickets for an opportunity to win a doll, her foster parents forced her to give the doll away to her older stepsister’s newborn child. Cochran touts her resilience: “It was bleak and bitter and harsh. But it taught me independence and the necessity of fending for myself.”142 She also claims to have been adopted (Figure 1) but not to have known that fact. Undoubtedly her experiences with poverty and hunger associated with living in the deep-South during the first three decades of the twentieth century were agonizing. She claims to have left home at age eight, to have worked in the garment industry, as a nanny, midwife, and nurse all with less than a third grade education and without the support or knowledge of her biological family. Cochran’s sanitized and reimagined version of her life conveniently omits unflattering facts and heart wrenching events she wasn’t willing to make public. Yet these clearly shaped the trajectory of her early life.

138 Cochran and Brinley, 7. 139 Millicent Amanda Peterson Young (WASP) interview with author, September 2, 2017. “We made our clothes out of wheat bags that feed and wheat and flour came in. When you went to buy flour or chicken feed or cow feed or anything like that in bags, you did that, the person who was buying always took a sample of the kind of bags you wanted so that you’d have enough to make a dress out of” (12). Hereafter Young, September 2, 2017. 140 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 10. 141 Jacqueline Cochran and Floyd B. Odlum, Stars at Noon (New York: Little Brown, 1954), 3. 142 Ayers and Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran, 2-3.

Ayers’ version of events differs. She reveals that Bessie Lee Pittman, (the woman that would come to be known as Jacqueline Cochran Odlum) was born on May 11, 1906, as the fifth and final child (Figure 2) to Mary Grant and Ira Pittman.143 Cochran was born and raised in the rural community of Muscogee about twenty miles east of Pensacola, Florida. Her father worked as a millwright for Southern States Lumber Company, and her mother was a homemaker and housewife who raised five children (two boys and three girls).144

Figure 1. Jacqueline Cochran photo as a foster child/orphan.

143 Ayers and Dees, 6. 144 Ayers and Dees, 6.

Figure 2. Bessie Lee Pittman circa 1910 photograph taken with her two older biological sisters.

It is likely she didn’t receive a lot of attention from her parents who were busy working, raising children and sustaining a large family amidst the Depression. In her youth she probably had plenty of time for adventure and getting into trouble. Ayers described Cochran as rebellious, headstrong, and determined to get her own way.145 These character traits would remain important qualities throughout her life. Although both of her autobiographies and her niece’s book detail similar versions of her childhood, the facts of other aspects of her life differ significantly beginning around age twelve. Cochran’s desire to overcome poverty remained a consistent theme throughout her life. What is obvious is that as early as twelve Cochran grew to despise the poverty in which she lived, and by fourteen she was married to a man ten years her senior. Robert Cochran, her husband “was a machinist by trade. He was from Noma, another small town.”146 Four months after they wed, at age14 or 15 Cochran gave birth to her first and only son, Robert Cochran,

145 Ayers and Dees, 15. 146 Ayers and Dees, 21.

Jr. Shortly after the birth of their son the couple moved almost 600 miles away from her birth family to Miami, Florida.147 When Cochran was 18 she learned that Robert had an affair with a woman named Ethel May Mathis.148 Cochran left her husband and moved to De Funiak Springs, Florida to be near her family and she brought four-year old Robert Jr. with her. As a single woman with a child, living in a boarding house in the South in the 1920s, Cochran must have raised a few eyebrows. She brought attention to herself in other ways as well. She smoked, she was loud, pretty and smart, and she knew it. Cochran rented a room from the owner of a local store, a man named Will Meigs. When the unemployed Cochran acquired a new red Ford Convertible it was rumored throughout town she was having an affair with the married Meigs.149 One day Robert Jr., alone in the backyard playing with matches, set some paper on fire and within moments his clothes were ablaze. He was badly burned and died from his injuries later that day, just shy of his fifth birthday. 150 Cochran purchased a plot and buried her son in De Funiak Springs.151 Cochran later claimed she had never married and was childless. Ayers speculates this was perhaps because the loss of her only son was simply too painful for her to recall.152 A year and a half later, Cochran divorced and moved west to Mobile, Alabama to start life anew. It was there that her mother’s sister, Aunt Amanda Grant-Smith, sent her to the Eloise McAndrews Beauty Parlor to receive formal training as a beautician.153 Cochran’s

147 Ayers and Dees, 23. 148 Ayers and Dees, 24 149 Ayers and Dees, 33. 150 Ayers and Dees, 39. 151 Jacqueline Cochran’s receipt for the purchase of grave for a Robert H. Cochran, Jr. was located in the Jacqueline Cochran file located at the WASP Collection at the Blagg-Huey Library at Texas Women’s University in Denton, TX. 152 Ayers and Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran, 40. 153 Ayers and Dees, 41.

52 version of her history ignores these facts. Instead she claims that by 1929 she was living in Pensacola, Florida and the co-owner of a beauty salon. While living in Pensacola her niece says she learned to dance and dated student pilots from the nearby Naval Flight School.154 Ayers speculates Cochran used her feminine wiles to learn more than just dancing while in Pensacola. She alleges Cochran may have had the opportunity to fly through her personal relationships with several Naval Aviators.155 For unknown reasons in 1929 after the stock market crash, Cochran relocated to New York City. Cochran writes “Though others…look back on ’29 as the year of the great crash, it was a year of great growth for me.”156 She knew Manhattan was the place to make a name in the beauty business not just locally but nationally. This was around 1929, when Cochran was 24. Perhaps it was during her move to New York that she became “Jacqueline” Cochran – a name she claimed to have picked out of a phone book.157 What no one in her family, not even her mother, would imagine was that Bessie Lee Cochran “would one day tell the world she was an orphan and deny the thing her mother held most dear – family.”158 Ayers writes: “At the time, it just wasn’t a big deal what she said, and even if it had been, none of us would have ever come out and contradicted her publically.”159 “Her ambition was so strong, it included an image, which once built, had to be maintained, no matter how high the cost to her relationship with her family.”160 My mother believed Aunt Jackie created her early life for [Cochran’s future husband] Floyd’s sake. Mother felt Jackie might have (thought) if Floyd knew the truth in the early delicate stage of their relationship he might reject her. In those

154 Haynsworth and Toomey, Amelia Earhart’s Daughters, 16. 155 Ayers and Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran, 43. 156 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 55. 157 Cochran and Brinley, 6. 158 Cochran and Brinley, 7. 159 Ayers and Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran, 49. 160 Ayers and Dees, 151.

years her divorce, and the affair with a married man would have been frowned on.161

JACQUELINE COCHRAN COSMETICS In New York, Cochran conceived of the idea of owning her own cosmetics company. She decided “Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics” (Figure 3) had a nice ring to it. 162 Initially she worked at Antoine’s Salon at Saks Fifth Avenue. She claimed her customers asked her to follow them to Miami when the season or a reason demanded it.163 She also claimed her skills as a beautician bought her “a one-way ticket out of poverty.”164 But I suspect that was just a reimagining of the truth Cochran sought to publically portray. In New York City Cochran had a lot of rich clients and in 1929 she decided to winter in Florida and work out of Antoine’s shop located there.

Figure 3. Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics – the “Wings” logo.

It was in Miami where Cochran claimed to have by chance met her second husband, Floyd Bostwick Odlum. Cochran alleges when they met, she was unaware Odlum was wealthy. Cochran writes, “I met Floyd at a party in Miami given by Stanton Griffis…That night I felt sure I had met up with destiny.”165 Over dinner he listened to her dreams of

161 Ayers and Dees, 152. 162 Haynsworth and Toomey, Amelia Earhart’s Daughters, 16. 163 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 55. 164 Cochran and Brinley, 57. 165 Cochran and Odlum, The Stars at Noon, 39.

54 owning her own cosmetics company and having clients from coast-to-coast. He told her “If you are going to cover the territory you need to cover in order to make money in this kind of economic climate, you‘ll need wings.”166 By the end of dinner she learned Odlum was married and one of the richest men in the U.S. She would see him twice that week, and not again for two months until they met in New York City.167 The two kept in touch, occasionally dining together in the city; eventually he bet her the cost of the lessons that she couldn’t earn her pilots’ license in six weeks. But she did! After three hours of flight instruction she soloed and within three weeks she earned her license. Later Cochran moved out to California where the weather was more conducive to flying, and enrolled in the Ryan School of flight in San Diego. In 1933 using the money she had saved to open her cosmetics business, she bought her first plane.

Figure 4. Cochran and Odlum.

By 1935, Odlum had divorced and in 1936 Cochran and Odlum wed in a quiet ceremony in Kingman, Arizona. Cochran claims she gave him two letters in a sealed

166 Cochran and Odlum, 40. 167 Cochran and Odlum, 40-41.

55 envelope attesting to her upbringing as an orphan.168 Odlum apparently chose not to read them; instead he gave them back to her. Private investigators researching Cochran’s origins in the 1940s and 1950s would never have been able to uncover her childhood truth because she changed her first name and U.S. law didn’t require birth certificates until 1915. This enabled Cochran to reinvent herself and conceal her true family history even from her husband. The only parts of Cochran’s legacy that are indisputable are tied to her vast aviation legacy and her cosmetics company. Early on in life Cochran had learned her looks were a marketable commodity and she used them to her advantage. In 1935, the same year Cochran entered her first Bendix race, she created a cosmetics firm and called it Jacqueline Cochran – Wings. She would say: “Looking back, I’ve got to say: If you are planning to start a cosmetics company, don’t try to mix it with the demands of air racing.” Cochran’s line of cosmetics covered the full gamut including: eyeshadow (Figure 5), pancake makeup (Figure 6), mascara (Figure 7), and even leg make up (used to paint lines on a woman’s leg to resemble the seam that existed when women wore silk hose) (Figure 8). “A popular item with Cochran herself and eventually the WASPs was the “Perk-Up” cylinder, a container holding enough makeup for any woman included traveling light. (Figure 9), Cochran claimed, “I would take one on all my trips, all my races.” In fact, the item seemed to be made just for women pilots.

168 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 15.

Figure 5. Cochran's Mascara.

Figure 6. Cochran Cosmetics eye shadow.

Figure 7. Pancake makeup.

Figure 8. Leg makeup.

Figure 9. Cochran's "Perk Up Stick."

During the era, Cochran was counted amongst the handful of founders and manufacturers of the cosmetic industry in the 1930s, including Dorothy Gray, Helena Rubenstein, and Elizabeth Arden, but she did not want to be known as a cosmetics queen.169 “I told Floyd that I wanted my own beauty business so I could end up at the top. I had started at the bottom and supervising shampoos and permanents was not for me anymore.”170 In her autobiography one of her employees says: “The aviation accomplishments were for herself and her country, but the beauty business…that’s what she did for other women.”171 So perceptive was Cochran of gender norms that she created her own cosmetic company, which

169 Cochran and Brinley, 117. 170 Cochran and Brinley, 120. 171 Cochran and Brinley, 118.

59 demonstrated that she understood more than most about the importance of a woman’s public image, and the value U.S. society places on women’s appearances.

TRANSGRESSING GENDER - COCHRAN’S DISARMING MIX OF FEMININE MASCULINITY As a pilot, business woman and leader Cochran presented a fascinating mix of femininity, feminine wiles, and female masculinity. Cochran’s assertive, outspoken and unapologetic style were not attributes commonly associated with femininity or women of her era, nor were her aviation and business accomplishments typical for U.S. housewives in the 1940s. Cochran was also fiercely independent, extremely competitive and determined to win her battles regardless of the cost. In Female Masculinity (1998) queer theorist Judith Halberstam asserts, “Although we seem to have a difficult time defining masculinity, as a society we have little trouble recognizing it”172 when we see it. Furthermore, Halberstam argues women and female bodies can claim ownership to masculinity. She writes, “far from being an imitation of maleness, female masculinity actually affords us” an opportunity to see that it is socially constructed.173 At its basic root, the concept of masculinity is tied to power, privilege and legitimacy.174 Cochran sought to possess all of these attributes. Despite vast evidence to the contrary “few popular renditions of female masculinity understand the masculine woman as a historical fixture, a character who has challenged gender systems for at least two centuries.”175 Despite the feminine image Cochran’s ownership of a cosmetics line presented, her unique personality, drive and ambition were traits associated with masculinity. Senator Stuart

172 Halberstam, Female Maculinity, 1. 173 Halberstam, 1. 174 Halberstam, 2. 175 Halberstam, 45.

Symington (D-MO) described Cochran as a disarming mix of masculinity and femininity.176 “She was right there up front. Tremendously competitive. She had to win, but that’s what made her so great.”177 Recalling their first meeting Symington said, “I had heard about her…I anticipated a tomboy, so when she walked in I was surprised. Attractive and very well dressed, she was obviously proud of her physique. She could be a seducer.”178 “Indeed, Jackie’s balance between feminine charm and hard-driving “masculine” ambition was such that she would push her aircraft relentlessly through air races and competitions…but refused to emerge victorious from the cockpit until she had carefully checked and reapplied her makeup!”179 She often would step out of an airplane after a race looking as if she had just stepped out of a beauty parlor. On more than one occasion she kept the press waiting on the runway, while she touched up her makeup or changed out of her flight suit into a stylish dress or other fresh outfit before emerging for photographs (Figure 9).180 She encouraged the women of the WASP program to do the same (Figure 10). The best description of Cochran I found was: “a steel hand in a velvet glove.”181 To many she was an interesting chameleon of sorts, one minute a beautifully feminine woman and the next exuding male privilege and raw masculinity. Air Force Major General Fred Ascanti said, “She could be very soft, very feminine, but that some women resented Jackie. Because she was a man’s woman…she could be very, very feminine and she could be very hard and critical” all at the same time.182 Many women admired her beauty and tenacity. Journalist Adela Rogers St. John described Cochran as: “one of the prettiest women I ever saw…those

176 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter, accessed January 3, 2018, http://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/cochran-jacqueline/. 177 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter, accessed January 3, 2018. 178 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter, accessed January 3, 2018. 179 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter, accessed January 3, 2018. 180 Ayers and Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran, 73. 181 Marvin Miles, “Grounded or Not, Flier Lives with the Wind,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1974. 182 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter.

61 big, soft brown eyes, the shimmering hair…”183 Los Angeles Times Aerospace Writer Marvin Miles called Cochran both “A slim, dark eyed, golden-haired girl…[and]… out flying many renowned male pilots…setting more records than anyone living to become a legend that aviation is not likely to see equaled.”184 Despite Cochran’s good looks and stunning figure, she was an anomaly, unconventional, tenacious and unstoppable – a confusing mix of gender non-conformity. Cochran tried to have it both ways: “I was running my business because I liked doing it, [making herself an exception to the rule], not because I think all women should necessarily be doing such a thing. I honestly think women have the right to stay in their own homes raising children or playing bridge if they’d prefer that.”185 Cochran understood that it was a risky endeavor to challenge established gender norms. Yet she vigorously reinforced gender norms on other women.

Figure 10. Cochran applying makeup after the Bendix Race in 1935.

183 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter, accessed January 3, 2018. 184 Miles, “Grounded or Not, Flier Lives with the Wind,” 22. 185 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 120.

Figure 11. WASP applying makeup using aircraft as a mirror.

REINFORCING GENDER NORMATIVITY Historian Lois K. Merry argues that current societal values should never be applied to those who lived in a different time and that doing so is an error of historiography, a pitfall that should be avoided at all costs.186 However, it would be fair to argue that Cochran was truly her own woman, and, as such, she unconsciously modeled a different version of idealized womanhood. She never felt the need to champion any cause that was not distinctly of her own choosing. Cochran “remained at all times freely and unapologetically herself.”187 Although Cochran was a trailblazer, she often posited that women’s natural roles as wives and mothers would detract from their professional careers. So even though Cochran had gone to London in 1942 to fly missions for the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) (Figure 12), some of which involved combat, she was not a proponent of women’s participation in war. She only wanted women to replace men on the Homefront to free men up for battle. In 1947 when the Air Force became a separate service, Cochran was asked

186 Merry, Women Military Pilots of World War II, 4. 187 Merry, 4.

63 whether or not women should be placed on flight status in the Regular Air Force, and she argued against it saying it would be a waste of money.188 In her later years for similar reasons, when asked about women going into space, she again failed to advocate for women astronauts in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) program because she felt allowing women to become astronauts would reduce men’s opportunities.

Figure 12. Cochran in her British ATA uniform.

WINNERS AND LOSERS THE FALLOUT AND BACKLASH During her lifetime Cochran earned three Bendix Air Race Awards (Figure 13) and fifteen Clifford Burke Harmon Trophies for Aviation excellence. She set numerous speed, altitude, and distance records. She also served as the chairman or president of several aviation organizations including: the Ninety-Nines, the International Aviation Federation, the National Aeronautics Administration, and others.189 Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier in an F-86 Sabre Jet in 1953, and to set a world speed record of 1,429

188 Ayers and Dees, Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran, 112. 189 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 352-54.

64 mph in 1964. Cochran officially retired from the Air Force at the rank of colonel in 1970 and became the first woman to be inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame a year later.190 She was so successful in her professional life; she hoped it would endear her to the public and provide the social acceptance she so dearly craved. I believe she was driven to be a success and she hoped these various achievements would eliminate any unwanted scrutiny of her personal life and perceived failings. Although Cochran was a significantly more accomplished aviator than Amelia Earhart, her legacy remains largely unknown. It is overshadowed in historical fame by Earhart’s disappearance and assumed death in 1937. I believe that the fame and notoriety Cochran so highly coveted was undermined by her own unwillingness to serve as an advocate for women in the fields of aviation and space. Ayers agrees: “Politically adept and cause-oriented, Jackie made tremendous breakthroughs for women, but she also avoided identifying with women’s rights groups and did not consider herself a feminist.” Had she advocated for the advancement of other women instead of furthering her own interests she might have come to be viewed favorably as a feminist leader during the 1960s and 70s.

190 “Jacqueline Cochran,” National Aviation Hall of Fame, Record Setter.

Figure 13. Cochran and Vincent Bendix after winning the 1938 Bendix Race.

NANCY HARKNESS LOVE No two women could have been more different than Jacqueline Cochran Odlum and Nancy Love; the contrasts were evident to all who knew them. Hanna Lincoln Harkness was born February 14, 1914, in Houghton, Michigan to parents Alice Chadbourne and Dr. Robert Bruce Harkness.191 Love was named after her mother’s sister, whom her father Robert detested, so he called his daughter “Nancy.”192 Love’s father was a physician, the family was affluent, and the Harkness children grew up in a privileged environment.

191 Rickman, The Originals, 16. 192 Rickman, 16.

Figure 14. Nancy Harkness Love.

Figure 15. The Flying Freshman.

In 1927, Love spent a year abroad traveling and studying in Europe.193 Love was among the multitudes who witnessed Charles Lindbergh’s triumphant landing at Le Bourget,

193 “Nancy Harkness Love: Female Pilot and First to Fly for the U.S. Military,” Deborah G. Douglas, Aviation History, last modified June 12, 2006, http://www.historynet.com/nancy-harkness-love-female-pilot- and-first-to-fly-for-the-us-military.htm.

France after his successful trans-Atlantic solo flight. But it wasn’t Lindbergh’s achievement that inspired Love to earn her pilots license, it was a pair of intrepid barnstorming pilots who made their way to Houghton in the summer of 1930 who really captured her attention. Her parents weren’t fans of her new hobby but they didn’t stand in her way. On November 7, 1930, at 16 years of age Love earned her private pilot’s license. Dr. and Mrs. Harkness insisted their daughter attend exclusive educational institutions including Milton Academy, a Massachusetts boarding school, and Vassar College in New York. During her freshman year at Vassar in 1931, Love became known as the “Flying Freshman” after she organized a collegiate flying club.194 At the end of the fall semester of her third year, as a result of the Depression Love was forced to leave college permanently. In the 1930s women’s career options in aviation were limited to sales, marketing, racing, barnstorming or being an instructor pilot. Initially Love worked for Beechcraft and later Waco in the promotion and sales of aircraft. Like other women of her generation, she was hired to use her gender to persuade reluctant buyers to purchase airplanes. The premise was to shame men in to buying an aircraft based on a sexist belief that if a petite young woman could handle the aircraft, surely any man could do the same. Later Love took a position at Inner-City Airlines, a fledgling aviation company owned by a Princeton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Robert Love. During the Depression aircraft companies struggled to stay in business. In 1935 famed aviator Phoebe Omelie hired Love and four other outstanding women pilots to staff the Bureau of Air Commerce’s National Air Marking Program. Later that year Love’s mother became ill, so she resigned, and she returned home to care for her. By this time she was engaged to Robert Love who was now a Reserve officer in the Army Air Corps.195

194 “Nancy Harkness,” The National Aviation Hall of Fame, Military Strategist, accessed January 1, 2018, http://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/love-nancy-harkness/. 195 Douglas, “Nancy Harkness Love: Female Pilot and First to Fly for the U.S. Military,” last modified June 12, 2006

The couple wed in January of 1936 and Love returned to Inner-City Airlines. Later that year, the couple flew to Los Angeles to attend the National Air Races. Unbeknownst to Love, Beechcraft entered her in the Amelia Earhart Trophy race and without any training Love placed fifth overall. She later entered a second air race but found she did not enjoy competing; she was more pragmatic and preferred aviation technical work. Love became a test pilot for Gwinn Aircar Company in Buffalo, New York. While working for Gwinn she helped design tricycle landing gear.196

Figure 16. Nancy and Major Robert Love.

In 1938 Love returned to Boston and joined the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) where she assisted in ferrying aircraft from U.S. factories to Canada for onward movement to France as part of the Lend-Lease program.197 This mission so intrigued Love that in May of 1940 she wrote Lieutenant Colonel Robert Olds, the Commander of the newly established Ferrying Command, recommending establishment of a women’s auxiliary. In her letter, Love boasted she knew 100 women pilots that had over 1,000 hours of flight time who would be willing to

196 Douglas, “Nancy Harkness Love: Female Pilot and First to Fly for the U.S. Military,” last modified June 12, 2006. 197 Douglas, “Nancy Harkness Love: Female Pilot and First to Fly for the U.S. Military,” last modified June 12, 2006.

69 help transport planes from factories to air bases.198 Love was only twenty-eight years old when the War Department made its official announcement of her appointment as the Executive Director of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Love’s flying credentials were impeccable, and she came from a socioeconomic background similar to those of the other women’s corps leaders (Oveta Culp Hobby (Army), Mildred McAfee (Navy), Ruth Cheney Streeter (Marines) and Dorothy Constance Stratton (Coast Guard)).

SELECTION OF APPLICANTS FOR THE WOMEN’S AUXILIARY FERRYING SQUADRON Both Love and Cochran created organizations comprised of female aviators that mirrored their own personas. The WAFS had a singular mission – to ferry production aircraft from factories to ports of embarkation. Love’s initial induction criteria differed from Cochran’s in that she focused on recruitment of highly experienced female aviators. In addition to the higher standards Colonel Tunner and Love instituted for the induction of WAFS applicants, Love also personally interviewed each woman to ensure she was of impeccable background, character and personal conduct before she offered her a contract.199 A total of thirty women met her initial selection criteria and were inducted into the WAFS. Twenty-eight counting Love were placed on contract, one woman left due to a family commitment and the other was released for flight deficiencies.200 All of Love’s original WAFS inductees were upper-middle or upper-class social elites as well as highly experienced professional pilots; their individual flight experience exceeded 1,400 hours. Eighteen of the women were flight instructors, one owned an aircraft company, another was a test pilot, and one was an Olympic athlete. Her initial batch of WAFS pilots were the cream of the female

198 Douglas, “Nancy Harkness Love: Female Pilot and First to Fly for the U.S. Military,” last modified June 12, 2006. 199 Tanner, “Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator, Part II,” 67. 200 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 82.

70 aviator population in the U.S. in 1942. They were educated (sixteen of the twenty-eight women had college or business school experience), and most fit the heterosexual norm as married with children. However, it is also instructive to note Love did not induct any women of color into the WAFS regardless of their socioeconomic class standing or aviation expertise.201 Furthermore, Love had no intention of expanding her organization’s strength beyond the small pool of qualified women she personally knew. However, as Cochran’s WFTD program expanded and produced more and more qualified aviators, Love’s organization eventually swelled to an end strength of 300 pilots and six squadrons spread across the United States. At that point Love had the leadership of the Air Transport Command inform Cochran no additional personnel would be accepted. I suspect this was because Love did not want to accept less-qualified aviators, who might introduce unnecessary risk and inexperience into her highly efficient and talented pool of aviators. To ensure the program was viewed as legitimate in the eyes of the public, Love insisted that her pilots refrain from dating or associating with any of the male pilots or instructors assigned to New Castle Army Air Field in Delaware. Another aspect that set her apart from Cochran was that Love focused on the tactical aspects of the program and flying ferry missions. She was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the overall WASP program management, its recruiting program, or interactions with the leadership of the Army Air Forces or its staff. Unlike Cochran, Love was a quiet and confident leader. Love led from the front and never asked her WAFS to perform any mission or take any risk she herself was not willing to take. Furthermore, from the onset of the WAFS program Love’s interaction with the media was minimal and she avoided the spotlight. As a

201 Hazel Ying Lee was a Chinese-American woman who graduated with class 43-W-4 and was assigned to the WAFS from 1943-1944. Sadly, Lee was killed November 25, 1944 in a mid-air collision in Great Falls, Montana when a P-63 aircraft piloted by a male pursuit pilot (without an operational radio) collided with her P- 63 on final descent. Both aircraft were attempting to land when the mishap occurred.

71 result, Love was universally respected and admired by both her aviators and the leadership of the Air Transport Command.

Figure 17. Love at New Castle Delaware circa 1942.

Figure 18. Nancy Love “Trooping the Line” of WAFS recruits.

Figure 19. Love P-51 aircraft circa 1943.

SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS To understand the WASPs’ socioeconomic class I examined two factors: familial wealth and educational level. In the early twentieth century, the aviation organizations and events in which women were involved were small, characterized by an economically and often intellectually elite membership. WWII changed that by institutionalizing female participation in two centers of power in the U.S.: war industries and the military.202 During WWII institutions were forced to hire women because male employees were off fighting the War. The WASP program broke down class barriers during WWII. For the first time in U.S. history well-to-do white women worked alongside working class women and women of color. In addition Black women were hired into positions in industry and the military that previously had been closed to them. Yet looking at the leaders of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilot programs, one obvious distinction between Cochran and Love could be described as pedigree. Cochran by

202 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 102.

73 her own admission didn’t have a formal education past the third grade. Cochran was ashamed of this but sought to overcome the deficiency by overachieving in other aspects of her life. She writes: “For me, a passion for facts, some important and some not, has had to substitute for that formal education. I never lived a day I didn’t regret my lack of schooling...”203 There is no doubt that Cochran sought fame and fortune, but wealth and prestige cannot hide one’s lack of education, which is a distinct marker of socioeconomic class. As she noted: “Every orphan dreams of marrying a millionaire, but I had no idea at first that Floyd Odlum was worth so much money.”204 Odlum was everything Cochran dreamed of being: successful, rich and a leader people admired. Their chance meeting changed the entire trajectory of her life and brought her out of relative obscurity and poverty into wealth and notoriety.205 Cochran had an acute sense of what it meant to be powerless in U.S. society. In her mind, power was derived from economic class. In The Forgotten Pilots (1971), British bomber pilot and Air Transport Auxiliary historian Lettice Curtis describes Cochran as an odd duck during her tenure with the Air Transport Auxiliary in London in 1942. She so ostentatiously and inappropriately displayed her wealth that “Our main memories of her are of someone who lived at the Savoy Hotel, wore a fur coat, and arrived at White Waltham Air Field in a Rolls-Royce, both noticeable because by now we had clothes as well as petrol and food rationing.”206 Cochran’s wartime accomplishments were mind-boggling for any woman, but

203 Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran, 57. 204 Cochran and Brinley, 57. 205 Cochran and Brinley, 67. According to the Titans of Fortune by 1929 the Atlas Corporation (owned by Floyd Bostwick Odlum) was worth $14 million. Unlike most investors Odlum (Jacqueline Cochran’s future husband) liquidated most of his holdings early in 1929 prior to the stock market crash. With ample cash available Odlum thrived during the depression. Four years later in 1933 he’s estimated worth was $121 million and he was on his way to becoming one of the richest men in the world. Odlum was the single largest stock owner in Hearst Media Empire, he owned several banks, Paramount and RKO studios, as well as Convair Aircraft and Northeast Airlines. In the 1950s Odlum became the largest owner of Uranium mines in the world. Source: “Floyd Bostwick Odlum,” Titans of Fortune, last modified November 1, 2012, http://titansoffortune.blogspot.com/2012/11/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html. 206 Lettice Curtis, The Forgotten Pilots: Story of the Air Transport Auxiliary, 1939-45 (London, England: G. T. Foulis & Co, 1971), 143.

74 especially for someone “who had difficulty with the written examination for a private pilot’s license only twelve years before.”207 In contrast, Love came from old money, attended Vassar, a Seven Sisters college, and made a name for herself in the aviation technical community. Love’s credentials were impeccable. She shared a pedigree with Oveta Culp Hobby and Mildred McAfee. Hobby was the wife of the former Governor of Texas, ran a well-known newspaper and served as a radio executive. Mildred McAfee was the former President of Wellesley College. All three women were appointed to lead the initial Women’s Military organizations. They represented the socially elite, educated class of society, which set them apart from Cochran.

SELECTION OF APPLICANTS FOR THE WOMEN’S FLYING TRAINING DETACHMENT AND THE WASP PROGRAM The Women’s Flying Training Detachment’s (WFTD) mission differed from the WAFS because it was broader. The WFTD trained women for the Air Transport Command as well as several other Army Air Force organizations. Its graduates became ferry and instructor pilots, performed as maintenance and experimental test pilots, and towed targets for aerial gunnery and ground air defense training units amongst other missions. Detailed information about the Women’s Flying Training Program induction standards and the overall outcomes for the entire WASP program were documented in a report Cochran submitted to the Army Air Forces in June of 1945. In the cover letter accompanying Cochran’s Confidential “Final Report on the Women Pilot Program,” she writes: “More than 25,000 women applied for women pilot training as part of the WASP program, of which eighteen hundred and thirty (1,830) were inducted.” What stood out most to me about the report was the staggering number of applicants. It begged the question, how did Cochran select fewer than 2,000 out of the 25,000 applicants? Through my research I learned that in 1941 there were just a little over 2,700 licensed female U.S. aviators, reducing the potential applicant

207 Tanner, Arnold, Cochran, Deaton, 51.

75 pool by almost ninety percent. Interviews with living WASP veterans revealed insights that tens of thousands of women applied to the WASP even though they did not meet entrance requirements. According to an Army Air Forces memorandum208 the official criteria for induction into the WASP program required applicants be at least 21 to 35 years of age, a high school graduate, and possess a minimum of 200 hours of flight time (later reduced to 150, then 75, and eventually 35 hours).209 Furthermore, applicants were required to complete a personal interview with Miss Cochran or her designated representative, pass a Flight Physical (Physical Examination for Flying - Form 64) performed by an Army Flight Surgeon and meet the minimum height requirement of 60 inches.210 In her report Cochran notes that the announcement of the WASP program brought a flood of inquiries and at no time during the operation of the WFTD or WASP programs were any specific efforts made to recruit prospective trainees, because there were always several hundred more applicants than training slots available. If an applicant appeared qualified on paper she was offered an interview with a recruiting officer.211 I was surprised to learn there were only two authorized recruiters for the Women’s programs: Mrs. Ethel A. Sheehy (Figure 20) and Cochran herself.

208 Jacqueline Cochran, Job No. AFFTC 415 - Subj: Present Requirements (Fort Worth, TX: Army Air Forces, Headquarters, Flying Training Command, November 3, 1942). 209 According to Wings Across America, over time the flight time requirement was reduced from the original 200 flight hours in October 1943 to 150 hours in November 1942, then, 75 hours in January 1943, and finally just 35 hours in April of 1943. In December 1941 the CPT program was terminated; therefore, the final reduction of the flight time requirement to just 35 hours provides evidence that the pool of experienced female pilots was almost expended. Source “On the Record,” Wings Across America, accessed January 5, 2018, http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/records_all/index.htm. 210 Jacqueline Cochran, Job No. AFFTC 415 - SUBJ: Present Requirements. 211 Cochran, Final Report on Women Pilot Program, 4.

Figure 20. Mrs. Ethel Sheehy.

Due to the experimental nature of the program, Cochran was extremely concerned about the WASP’s image portrayed in the media. Experience had taught Cochran that image was important and to ensure cultural acceptance Cochran knew the women had to be viewed as young and wholesome women of good moral character. In her final report she explains they were looking for, “clean-cut, stable appearing young girls of the proper ages, educational backgrounds…who could show the required number of flying hours properly noted and certified in a log book.”212 However in Abilene, Kansas at the Eisenhower library I located an applicant evaluation form in Cochran’s collection, which indicated that Cochran and Sheehy also evaluated the women’s physical appearance, intelligence, personality, and athleticism.213 These generally vague guidelines afforded Cochran and Sheehy maximum leeway in determining which women best fit the public image Cochran wanted WASPs to portray. Furthermore, due to the subjective nature of the selection process, one can infer that certain groups of women were likely to be excluded. We know for a fact that Black women were excluded (see Chapter 5 for discussion of Race, Racism and Segregation). However, what is

212 Cochran, 4. 213 Jacqueline Cochran, Blank Application (Abilene, KS: National Archives; Fort Worth: Air Forces, Headquarters Flying Training Command, n.d.).

77 not known is to what extent an individual’s perceived socioeconomic class, gender non- conformity or perceived sexual orientation (see Chapter 6 for discussion of sexual orientation) determined whether she was accepted into or rejected from the program.214 To gain insight into Cochran and Sheehy’s decision making processes, I asked each of the WASP I interviewed if they had any specific recollections of the questions they were asked. Most recalled being asked something about their marital status or social life, such as Were they married? or Did they have a boyfriend or a fiancé serving in the military? I suggested to Beverly Beesemyer the language used by Cochran to describe her selection criteria for WASP appeared to be code for identifying women that on the surface appeared to be heterosexual. Beesemyer replied, “Yes, basically that would be my opinion…”215 and other WASP I interviewed agreed. Two historians concur with my analysis. Cott argues, “What society demanded of women in the 1930s was complex and contradictory, but it did not completely erode the image of confident, competent, public womanhood created in the 1920s.”216 In Babe: The Life the Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1996) historian Susan E. Cayleff, writes: Between 1915 and 1930, catastrophic worldwide events and broad cultural shifts led to growing participation by women in the economy and politics, yet the dominant ideology asked them to remain housewives. In these decades, the ideal of female beauty underwent major changes…a youthful appearance became fashionable for the American woman—and an ‘athletic’ image, or at least one of fitness and health…which made action itself a sort of fashion…If she was shapely but not muscular, sporting but not overly competitive, heterosexual and participating in a beautiful sport—then and only then did she fulfill the ideal.217

214 Merryman, Clipped Wings, 15. 215 Beverly L. Beesemyer (WASP), interview with author, September 30, 2017, Laguna Woods, CA. Hereafter Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017. 216 Cott, No Small Courage, 454. 217 Cayleff, Babe, 24-25.

All of the WASP I interviewed for this project fulfilled these criteria. As women in their early twenties all were attractive, gregarious, and athletic (they participated in sports in school, rode horses, climbed trees or swam in the ocean). When asked by the recruiter about their social lives, all indicated an interest in men. The women’s athleticism, good looks and perceived heterosexuality appealed to Cochran and her trusted friend Ethel Sheehy.

REINFORCING AND MAINTAINING GENDER CONFORMITY The rapid advancements in the early years of aviation must have felt like seismic shifts to the cultural landscape. Douglas argues, “In order to fly, or have any involvement with aviation, women had to find ways to assure others (and themselves) that they were neither harming their identity as women nor the profession they aspired to practice.”218 Joseph Corn astutely observed: “The experience of flying after all, opened to her a world of seeming power and freedom which belied the rhetoric of domesticity, the sacrifices on behalf of others, or the suffering of discrimination.”219 The amazing aerial feats that Amelia Earhart and Jacqueline Cochran and a dozen other aviators accomplished could be explained and written off as exceptions to gender norms. But when over a thousand other women became WASPs and tens of thousands of others worked in aircraft manufacturing, women’s ability to perform in work that had been previously deemed the domain of men or “men’s work” couldn’t be so easily dismissed. Furthermore, most of the women that joined the military came from middle-class or working-class families.220 However, this new recognition of women’s ability to perform work in non-traditional fields was viewed as a temporary phenomenon. The work also was not rewarded with equal pay nor were women treated

218 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 10. 219 Douglas, 10; Joseph J. Corn, The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 81. 220 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 10.

79 equally and sexism and segregation in the work place had not vanished – they remained common occurrences.

MEDIA COVERAGE AND SOCIETAL PERCEPTIONS OF WOMEN’S MILITARY SERVICE During WWII, the military fought hard to convince women to join the Army. According to a 1943 Time magazine article WAC recruiting efforts fell short due to three factors: first and foremost, U.S. men preferred women remain in the home; secondly, women themselves felt they could contribute more on the Homefront by either taking care of family responsibilities or working in war industries where their education and experience would be used in productive ways to benefit the War; and, lastly, their ministers and clergymen repeatedly argued women’s service in the military was a threat to “the foundation of a true Christian and democratic country.”221 Based on the public images portrayed of the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) and the WAFS/WFTD in print media and films, almost all of the women I interviewed for this project told me they were interested in joining the Army Air Forces but that they had absolutely no interest in joining the WACs. Beverly L. Beesemyer (class 44-W-6) summarized their viewpoint: “Women were more inclined to join the Air Force and get to do something fancy like that rather than join the Army and do nasty work.”222 Being a WAC didn’t appeal to her, and she said, women of her generation knew they had to “Stay out of the Army or you’ll be in the trenches.”223 Cochran voiced the same opinion during a conversation with Colonel Carmichael in June of 1943: “I would be willing to stake my reputation that you won’t get more than 20% of these girls to [go] into the WAAC. They’ll

221 “Army Navy,” Time, January 17, 1944, 60-62. 222 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 2. 223 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 3.

80 go into the Air Forces without qualification.”224 In fact, during the discussions within the Army about militarizing the WASP under the leadership of Colonel Hobby and the WAC program, Cochran argued against it. She cited differing induction standards: WACs only accepted women between the age of 21 to 50 years old (Cochran accepted women as young as 19 but no older than 35) and the WAC denied entry to women with children under the age of 14 (twenty percent of the current WASP and 15 percent of trainees had children under 14 years of age).225 Cochran also suggested that her women were fundamentally different than those who joined the WACs; therefore, they required a leader with an aviation background that understood and appreciated the unique demands associated with flying – something Cochran believed that Hobby could not provide: …they are different temperamentally. Women pilots are very temperamental. I think that their administration should be handled by people who do understand them – not by people who have no appreciation for the type of work they are doing.226 Furthermore, unlike the WACs that struggled to meet the Army’s recruiting goals from 1942 to 1944, the WASP’s public image made their work attractive to potential recruits. Cochran had thousands of excess applicants for the Women’s Flying Training Detachment far beyond her initial requirement to train 500 women (which was later expanded to over 1,000). The surplus of applicants enabled Cochran to select only those whom she felt were the most qualified candidates. In What Comes of Training Women for War (1948) researcher Dorothy Schaffter adds to the discussion writing: “Military aviation was the most recent, the

224 Notes from conversation between Colonel Carmichael and Miss Cochran on letter head from Headquarters Army Air Forces Training Command, “WASP Militarization” file, National Archives, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Jacqueline Cochran Collection. 225 “Memorandum for General Marshall, Subj: Incorporation of Women Civilian Pilots and Trainees into Army Air Forces,” General H.H. Arnold, dated June 14, 1943, https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/jacqueline_cochran.html. 226 Typed notes entitled: Conversation between Miss Cochran, Colonel Hobby, and Colonel Carmichael, Friday June 25, 1943, “WASP Militarization” file, National Archives, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Jacqueline Cochran Collection.

81 most dramatic, and best publicized of the different branches of the services, and this fact was of importance to women.”227 Women who were eventually trained to serve in military aviation were often attracted to the profession based on the novelty and glamor. Schaffter argues that many young women were “encouraged by the press and radio and motion pictures.”228 The women of the era “attached such glamor to the position of women in aviation that the principle qualification for service appeared to be a combination of the qualities of a first-class combat pilot and the powers of a [super] model.”229 But truth be told, since the Golden Age of Aviation, everything associated with the Air Force was of great interest to the civilian public and the fact that women were going to be allowed to become pilots, control tower operators and aircraft mechanics was widely known.230 One example of the media’s fascination with the WASP was the mass release of a full-length feature film entitled “Ladies Courageous” (1944) (Figure 18), directed by John Rawlins and starring Loretta Young. The film was intended to portray twenty-five WAFS pilots performing their wartime mission of ferrying aircraft within the U.S. However, the images portrayed in the film significantly damaged public perceptions of the women pilots and the WASP program. Florence “Shutsy” Reynolds (class 44-W-5) saw the film: “…we snuck out of the theater and hoped nobody would see us. It was terrible.”231 The film reinforced gender stereotypes by portraying the WAFS as indecisive, incapable of handling dangerous missions, emotionally unstable, cowardly and afraid of dying. Some of the WAFS pilots were portrayed as simply trying to find a husband rather than being serious aviators. It portrayed one woman in an affair with a male pilot who was the fiancé of one of her sister

227 Schaffter, What Comes of Training Women for War?, 39. 228 Schaffter, 111. 229 Schaffter, 111. 230 Schaffter, 110. 231 Florence Shutsy Reynolds (WASP) telephonic interview with author, September 16, 2017. Hereafter Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017.

82 aviators. The timing of the release in the summer of 1944 couldn’t have been worse. The film’s images created increased negative publicity for the WASP and the WASP program.

Figure 21. Film "Ladies Courageous."

U.S. society had many preconceived notions about women and women’s service in the military. In the January 17, 1944 issue, one of Time magazine’s authors of the “Army & Navy” section described the Women’s Army Corps saying: “They had distinguished themselves as nice-looking, hard-working, [and] cheerful girls. Commanding officers recognized their work by pleading for more of them.”232 Many in society believed the experiments with women in the military services would fail. Men in the Army anticipated emotional outbursts, a refusal to take orders, or complaints about barracks life based on the “unpredictable nature of women.” 233 But training officers were quick to point out that the Army’s fears were unfounded, and women were no less problematic to train than their male counterparts. As a nod to gender normativity the December of 1942 issue of Look magazine included an article entitled “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” which pictured all four

232 “Army Navy,” 57. 233 “Army Navy,” 57.

83 leaders of the women’s military programs.234 A glamorous photo of a flight helmet and goggle-clad Love adorned the entire first page of the article.235 The WAFS were collectively described as “…a helmeted, slacks-wearing group of women fliers who will deliver training and liaison aircraft from factory to airfield for the Army…[, and they]…may pilot Army bombers into war zones.”236 In contrast to the glamorous depiction of Love the article went on to describe her three counterparts in less glowing terms. The picture of Oveta Culp Hobby, Director of the WACs, was a sixth of the size of Love’s photo. Hobby’s write up described her in ways that reinforced proper gender roles for women of her societal position: “a 37 year-old mother of two…[the]…grayish-haired wife of [the] former governor of Texas…[and] a highly-esteemed public servant.”237 Mildred McAfee, the Director of the Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) (who was middle age and unmarried, and who later married after WWII at age 45) was described bluntly, as a 42 year- old former college president of Wellesley College, whose job it was to organize and lead the 10,000 women enlisted in the Navy’s new group.238 The last woman, Julia O. Flikke, the director of the Army Nurse Corps (whose husband died of tuberculosis in 1911), was described starkly as gray-haired, motherly and a 63-year old widow.239 The Look magazine article highlighted the glamor and youth of Love. It also highlighted the ways in which female pilots were viewed as transgressing gender norms: slacks-wearing and able to handle 600-horsepower plane engines. At the same time, the article simultaneously reinforced societal views of women and their proper place as wives, mothers and widows through its description of the other women.

234 “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” Look, December 15, 1942, 13-16. 235 “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” 13. 236 “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” 13. 237 “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” 14. 238 “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” 14. 239 “All-American Women 1942 vs. 1941,” 14.

CREATING THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF THE WASP Although Cochran had received a great deal of attention and positive press for her Bendix Race wins, her multiple awards of the Harmon Trophy, and for delivering a Hudson Bomber to London in the early years of the War, Cochran’s WFTD received little media attention. I attribute the lack of attention to the mandate of secrecy Cochran issued to Class 43-W-1 (known as the “Guinea Pigs”). Cochran had put her own credibility on the line and she wanted to ensure the program and its participants were a success. Kay Gott (class 43-W- 1) described the legends surrounding Cochran that pervaded the atmosphere at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas – the eventual home of the WASP training program. “She admonished the WASP to ‘be ladies;’ and there was a story going around that she promised to take you behind the hanger for a ‘lickin’ if you didn’t behave like one.”240 This folklore may have also emanated from her admonishment given to the Guinea Pigs. Cochran told them: You of the first class will have the real responsibility. By your actions and results, the future…will be set. You have my reputation in your hands. Also, you have my faith. I have no fear. I know you can do the job. After graduation I will be following you with proud and anxious eyes…your success will be my satisfaction.241 Regardless of the criteria Cochran used to select the women or what her expectations were of them, most were just glad to be given the opportunity to do something for the nation, while doing something they loved. Margaret Ringenberger (class 43-W-1) summed it up this way: “I was to be known as one of ‘Jackie’s girls.’ It was Jackie Cochran, at the urging of General H.H. Arnold, who had provided the opportunity for those of us with less experience.”242 I also believe Cochran learned from her own life experiences and used them as a warning to ensure the WASP didn’t follow her path as a fallen woman and divorcee. She selected women for the WASP program with impeccable families, strong personal character,

240 Gott, Women in Pursuit, 34. 241 Gott, Women in Pursuit, 33. 242 Margaret J. Ringenberg, Girls Can’t Be Pilots (Fort Wayne, IN: Daedalus Press, 1998), 41. Part II,” 67.

85 and educational backgrounds – women that portrayed the “ideal image” Cochran herself so desperately desired. Her candidates were so talented that she believed them incapable of failure. Yet, she was also savvy enough to maintain oversite of the program’s management. This enabled her to eliminate any woman she perceived to be incapable of meeting program requirements or having questionable morals (including lesbians), trouble makers, or “rule breakers.” She wanted to ensure the image of the WASP remained unsoiled.

COCHRAN’S CONVENT – DO WHAT I SAY NOT WHAT I DO Cochran appears to have been so ashamed of her own social beginnings, limited life opportunities and her youthful indiscretions that she imposed rules on her flock of young aviators insisting they not duplicate her life-altering mistakes. Shortly after the WFTD moved from Houston to Avenger Army Airfield in Sweetwater, Texas, signs went up near the women’s barracks that read: “Women Trainees – ONLY in this Area” (Figure 22), which established the boundaries. Within the first month of the WASP occupation of Avenger Field, the airfield picked up a nickname - “Cochran’s convent.” Cochran issued several policies that restricted the women’s activities during their personal time. Although the WASPs were civilian contractors and not officially in the military, this distinction did not prevent Cochran from issuing policies that prohibited the women trainees from fraternizing with the men. Women were told, “No dating civilian, military or instructional personnel”243 and they were not permitted use of alcohol while in training.244 In the early 1940s, Sweetwater was a “dry town,” meaning alcohol was illegal. To ensure the women’s wholesome image remained untarnished, Cochran further prohibited the trainees from going above the first floor at the Blue Bonnet Hotel, the only hotel in Sweetwater. Even the married

243 Women of Courage: The Story of the Women Pilots of WWII (Lakewood, CO: K. M. Productions, n.d.), VHS; Tanner, “Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator.” 244 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 4.

86 women had to obtain written permission to stay at the hotel with their husbands. One such woman was Jean Landa (class 44-W-7).245 Cochran’s not-so-subtle message to the women of the WASP program was “do what I say, not as I do.” She was also keenly aware that if one woman failed, it would mean failure for all, and for the program.

Figure 22. "Women Trainees Only" sign.

Initially the women Cochran selected were college graduates, wealthy, glamorous and attractive – women with proven records of success. But, as time passed and the pool of highly qualified female aviators decreased, she was forced to repeatedly lower the induction requirements. She also knew from her previous research with General Olds that the pool of qualified female aviators in 1940 was less than 2,800 women strong. With each successive class she was forced to accept younger, less experienced and less socially elite women for the program. Furthermore, the cancellation of the CPT program meant no additional women were earning their pilot’s licenses during the War. She had to be aware that if the program continued into 1945 she would have to expend the pool of eligible female aviators. This

245 Natalie Jean Stewart-Smith, “Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II: Perspectives on the Work of America’s First Military Women Aviators” (master’s thesis, Washington State University, 1981), http://home.earthlink.net/~reyesd99/stewartsmith/wasp1.html.

87 would mean accepting women on par with their male counterparts. Doing so would have been a direct threat to hegemonic masculinity. This fact would likely have been untenable for the Air Force leadership, Congress and society. Furthermore, although there were rules in “Cochran’s Convent,” it didn’t mean women always followed them. Several women were caught “breaking the rules” and were issued demerits. Once a woman amassed seventy or more demerits she would be dismissed from the program. But if the offense was grievous enough, including morality offenses, the women were summarily dismissed without opportunity for appeal. Florence Shutsy Reynolds explained one such case: There was one girl who loved to fly,...drink and…play cards. After lights out…She’d bring out a bottle of booze…and they would play poker…Well, one night as they were busy playing whatever the games they were playing…word came down bed check, bed check. Now, they didn’t have bed check every night but this particular night they did. This girl grabs the bottle of booze and rushes it to the bathroom and drops it. Well, by that time the Lieutenant is there….and it was quite obvious that there was a problem. They could smell liquor all over the place. Who’s responsible? ...The girl who was responsible didn’t say a word. The lieutenant said you have until tomorrow morning. If by tomorrow morning you haven’t stepped forward then you’re all going to be washed out.246 So, the next morning she did step forward and she was washed out. But, that’s not the end of the story. The dismissed aviator told her father that she got a raw deal. Her father had a friend on the Supreme Court. So, he sent him the letter and says what can you do about this? So, the Justice sends a letter to General George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the Army, who contacted General H.H. Arnold. Eventually word gets back to Cochran, and she was furious. She…said from this point on, any reference on any record to this woman, this girl, is to be expunged.247 Reynolds says, even to this day there is no record the woman ever participated in the program, she is not even listed as a trainee.

246 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 37. 247 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 37.

Millicent Amanda Peterson Young also described a woman in her class getting kicked out over a morality violation. “The only one that I know that was kicked out—about a moral issue, was [because] they said that she was a lesbian.”248 Young explained there were other lesbians in her class, “but they didn’t make any moves on anybody or they were more careful…she’s the only one I know that was kicked out. I don’t know—she must have made a move on somebody wrong.”249 In Chapter 6 (Sexual Orientation, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Homophobia), I discuss the historical context of lesbianism in the WASP program in greater detail.

COMMONALITIES AND DIFFERENCES For all their differences, the two leaders (Cochran and Love) shared some uncommon similarities. Oddly neither woman used her birth name, instead each chose to go by identities they felt more accurately represented who they were. Both had supportive husbands, which provided them with access to the levels of power within the U.S. government and the military. Each was viewed as a major influencer within the field of commercial aviation albeit for differing reasons (Love for her technical skills and Cochran for her aerial prowess). Both women shared a passion for flight, their mutual support for their women pilots, wartime support of women’s aviation programs, and their desire to help win the War. Both women also sought and found freedom and solace in the skies. Regardless of whatever opinion the two women may have had of one another, each had the complete and total allegiance from her aviators. In the historical accounts of WWII, writers often suggest a feud existed between Love and Cochran, as well as between Cochran and Hobby. My research didn’t clarify whether these allegations were true or false. However, sexist stereotypes and dominant narratives in the U.S. argue that it is impossible for powerful women to get along and work together

248 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 38. 249 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 39.

89 because females are perceived to be too competitive. The counter-narrative is that men do not have this issue. However, facts substantiate that General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army and General Henry H. Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Army Air Forces, did not get along. Their confrontational relationship over priorities and funding for the Army ground forces and its air forces may have ultimately negatively impacted the Congressional outcome of General Arnold’s desire to militarize the participants of the WASP program. Furthermore, although General Marshall was a huge supporter of women’s participation in the Armed Forces, as the Chief of Staff of the Army, he believed all of the women serving in the Army should be under the command and control of Colonel Hobby and funded through the congressionally authorized WAC program. Yet, the fact that General Marshall and General Arnold disagreed over this matter is rarely mentioned in historical accounts of the WASP program. In the next chapter, I discuss the private realities and the lived experiences of five of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II interviewed for this project.

CHAPTER 4

PRIVATE REALITIES: THE WASP’S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS

A study of war is truly productive for the study of women and social change, because war crystalizes contradictions between ideology and actual experience…War exposes the relationship between men and women and the state…and therefore necessarily redefines the relationship between the rhetoric of gender and the gender-specific assignment of tasks. It eventually makes possible a new consciousness of gender discourse as a social contract. - Margaret R. Higonnet and Patrice L.R. Higonnet – “The Double Helix,” in Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars.

INTRODUCTION After examining the public image the leaders, Love and Cochran, created for the WAFS, WFTD, and WASP programs, I explored the private realities and lived experiences of women who joined the WASP program. Within the social and cultural context of the WWII era, I sought to understand if the women’s private lives replicated the public image Cochran and Love projected or if they were vastly different. Were they the “clean cut, stable appearing, young girls of the proper ages and educational backgrounds” Cochran sought?250 In 1941 before either of the women’s pilots programs began, there were 2,733 licensed women pilots in the U.S. Since many did not meet age requirements (either too young or too old) and because the CPT program was terminated it was almost impossible for women to obtain flight training beginning in 1942. Statistics bear out that the women Love recruited and selected for the WAFS were a mirror image of her own flight experiences,

250 Cochran, Final Report on Women Pilot Program, 4.

91 educational and social backgrounds. Prior to Love’s WAFS recruiting efforts, Cochran had also recruited twenty-three highly skilled female aviators and accompanied them to London to fly for the British Air Transport Auxiliary. So, even before Cochran began recruiting for the Women’s Flying Training Detachment, fifty of the most qualified female aviators in the U.S. were already serving with the Allied Forces. The initial batch of women Cochran selected for the WFTD represented the image she sought to portray of herself in the media. All of the women Cochran selected possessed the education she lacked; they were high school graduates and many had college degrees or had at least attended a junior college or business school. On average each of the women in the initial Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) classes had over 175 hours of flight time. The preponderance of the women came from middle to upper-class families, many were married, and some had children. But over the next twenty-four months the women inducted into the program became younger, were far less experienced as pilots, and most were single. Later classes did include some debutantes, college professors and other professional women. But Cochran’s eventual induction of 1,830 women pilots for the WASP program meant that approximately 65 percent of all the U.S. CAA licensed U.S. female aviators were participating in the WASP program by the summer of 1944. Had the training program been allowed to continue past December 1944, Cochran would have been forced to recruit women without previous flight experience. In this chapter I document the private lives and lived experiences of five WWII WASP, as well as their cultural and social understandings before, during and after WWII. This chapter consists of two parts. The first half contains biographical sketches of the five women I interviewed for this project. The second contains common themes or traits that emerged during my interviews with them. These themes are evidenced in my oral history interviews, the oral history interviews conducted by others, the WASP’s autobiographies, video interviews, and other primary sources written or documented by the women themselves. While a good deal has been written about the chronology of the WASP program and its leaders, very little has been written about the WASP themselves other than a handful of autobiographies. Neither feminist researchers nor historians have explored the WASPs’

92 understandings and relationships with the cultural and social norms of the era. As a result little is known about the lives of the women who participated in the WASP program before, during and after WWII and how those compared with other women in U.S. society.

PART ONE – THE WOMEN In this chapter, I explore some of the factors that made these women so unique and different from others women of the era. I also articulate their understandings, resistance to or complicity in prevalent social and cultural norms of the era. They represent a cross-section of the larger WASP population. I conducted four semi-structured oral history interviews with Barbara (Bobbi) Willis Heinrich (class 43-W-4) in July 2017; followed by Millicent (Millie) Amanda Peterson Young (class 44-W-10) in September; then, Florence “Shutsy” Reynolds (class 44-W-5) also in September; lastly, Beverly (Beesie) Loyola Beesemyer (class 44-W-5/6) beginning in September and continuing until February 2018. In addition to these conversations, I met with family members and caretakers of some of the women. I reviewed multiple primary sources, including: military historical reports, autobiographies, films, and oral history interviews conducted by others. I also met with another WASP, Jean Landis (class 43-W-4) several times. Landis initially agreed to participate in a formal oral history; however, after reviewing my interview questions she changed her mind. She explained that although she was willing to discuss her experiences in the WASP program, she did not want to address the other areas of inquiry in a formal oral history interview. Yet she did agree to meet with me several times between August and October 2017, and eventually we discussed most of my areas of inquiry, which are published here with her permission.

BARBARA WILLIS HEINRICH Barbara Willis (Heinrich) was born in Framingham, Massachusetts on May 30, 1916, the third of five children born to Gladys Wheeler and Charles C. Willis. Heinrich was born during WWI251, four years before women were granted suffrage in 1920. Her siblings included two older brothers Roger and Gibby and a younger brother John and sister Harriett. Her father Charles graduated from Harvard in 1907, and worked as a mechanical engineer with Dennison Manufacturing in Framingham, Massachusetts. As a result of the economic downturn in 1929 Charles Willis left Dennison and relocated the family to Bound Brook, New Jersey, where he became the president of his own engineering firm in nearby New Brunswick. Gladys Wheeler Wills graduated from the elite Seven Sister Wellesley College in 1906. In addition to being a wife and mother, Wheeler Wills participated in the women’s suffrage movement.252

Figure 23. Barbara Willis riding horseback.

251 Although WWI began on July 28, 1914 the U.S. did not officially enter the war until April 6, 1917. 252 Barbara Willis Heinrich, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 3 July 2017, and author telephone conversation with Cathy Heinrich, February 17, 2018.

Figure 24. Barbara Willis climbing a tree.

Figure 25. Barbara Willis dressed as a tomboy.

Heinrich had a privileged childhood: her family was part of the socioeconomic elite. They lived in a large home in New Jersey and had servants. When Heinrich was twelve, the family home caught fire and burned to the ground. They rebuilt their home in 1929 at the height of the stock market collapse, when those of other social classes struggled to make ends meet.

In her youth Heinrich could be described as a gender non-conforming tomboy (Figure 20). She loved to climb trees (Figure 21) and to wear her brother’s clothes, which she described as “more comfortable.”253 Heinrich was energetic, athletic, and enjoyed outdoor activities including horseback riding (Figure 22), tennis, swimming and sailing. Heinrich attended Annabelle High School in New Jersey and graduated in 1936. As a student at Bennington College, during her Winter Field & Reading Period, she traveled to South America with her botany class and identified a new species of moss. Heinrich graduated from Bennington in 1940, and began her post-baccalaureate work in physics in the fall at the University of Chicago.254 While attending the University of Chicago she participated in the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) Program. On January 31, 1941, with only 85 hours of flight time Heinrich became one of the few women in the U.S. to answer Cochran’s call for women to become part of the U.S. Contingent to the British Air Transport Auxiliary. 255 Cochran selected only twenty-five (twenty-three U.S. and two Canadian) of the most qualified and experienced women to accompany her to London in March 1941. Heinrich was not one of the few Cochran selected for the U.S. contingent. Later that year Heinrich left the University of Chicago without completing her master’s degree due to the academic rigor, challenging coursework and the university’s unwillingness to accommodate her dyslexia.256 However, while enrolled in the CPT program Heinrich completed primary flight training and ground school. But, she was unable to amass more than 10 hours of advanced aircraft training before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the

253 “Barbara Willis Heinrich oral history interview with Steve Beck, Hayward, CA, 1978,” last modified November 28, 2016, https://vimeo.com/193363179. Here after referred to as Heinrich, Beck, 1978. 254 Barbara Willis Heinrich (WASP) interview with author, Hayward, CA July 13, 2017, 19. Here after referred to as Heinrich, July 13, 2017. Telephone conversation with Catherine Heinrich, February 11, 2018. 255 Barbara Willis (Heinrich) personal correspondence to Jacqueline Cochran and Air Transport Auxiliary and American Application for British Air Transport Auxiliary, 31 January 1941, National Archives, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Jacqueline Cochran Collection. 256 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 19.

CAA ended its government subsidized CPT program previously available to women and transitioned to the War Training Service (WTS). The new WTS program mandated that all participants sign a contract agreeing to enlist. Soon college campuses were inundated with WTS cadets in military uniforms; all of them male. Under the program, colleges furnished “instruction in English, mathematics, history, physics and geography; to provide physical education and courses in medical aid and civil air regulation.”257 Military discipline, drill and ceremony, customs and courtesy were taught by military personnel. Since women were unable to enlist in 1941, women’s participation was prohibited. Despite this setback, Heinrich took a job as a night watchman (a position typically considered ‘men’s work”) at the Ford-Lansing Airport, which allowed her to continue flying and build proficiency in aircraft, including: the Aeronca Trainer, Piper Cub Coupe, Stinson Cloudster, Travelaires, Taylorcraft, Waco’s UPF-7 and the Culver Cadet, all at her own expense.

Figure 26. Heinrich class 43-W-4 photo.

At the same time that Heinrich began working at the Ford-Lansing Airport in Lansing, Illinois she completed coursework in secretarial skills at Gregg College.258

257 Gott, Women in Pursuit, 21. 258 Barbara Willis (Heinrich), Application form Air Transport Auxiliary (Washington DC: U.S. Air Force,

Although she was not accepted for the U.S. contingent of the British ATA, two-years later, Cochran did offer Heinrich a position in the Women’s Flight Training Detachment (WFTD). Willis began flight training in Sweetwater, Texas in February 1943 and graduated in August 1943. She was assigned to the 5th Ferrying Group, Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. While there she test flew production aircraft, and ferried fighters (known as pursuit aircraft) including the P-51 (Mustangs), P-39 (Airacobras) and P-40 (Warhawks) from the factory to ports of embarkation for onward movement to the Pacific and European theaters of operation (in support of units engaged in combat). Historian and former WASP Kay Gott describes the qualities possessed by these unique female pursuit pilots: They were good looking, interesting people, highly competent, and held themselves in a confident manner. They were assertive…able to hold their own in a profession that was largely ruled by men. They were individualistic – no two alike…loners…able to function successfully…on their own resources…they were fun-loving and…dependable. 259 More importantly they got the job done, they were physically fit, and had the endurance and stamina for the infrequent refueling stops. Heinrich had a mischievous streak. Her favorite aircraft to fly was the P-51 (Mustang). She often ferried them from the North American plant in Dallas, Texas to Newark, New Jersey. Frequently, while delivering one she would take the opportunity to fly past her parent’s home in Bound Brook, NJ and “rake the neighborhood.”260 She described this to me, using some hand movements, “You would go up. Then, you make a sort of loop up and come back again, and then go onto your way.”261 The Army never seemed the wiser about these antics. Heinrich confessed to building a

1941). 259 Gott, Women in Pursuit, 57. 260 Eric Kurhi, “Hayward Woman Among Pilots Honored for World War II Service,” East Bay Times, last modified March 17, 2010, http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/03/17/hayward-woman-among-pilots-honore- for-world-war-ii-service/. 261 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 16.

98 cushion into her flight plans so these unauthorized deviations wouldn’t be noticed. Heinrich also ferried PT-13/17 (Stearman’s); she called them “yellow perils”262 from Wichita, Kansas to Blythe, California during winter months when it was particularly cold. She described wearing bulky fur-lined leather flying suits, gloves and a shammy facemask to prevent frostbite. Heinrich liked flying alone on single pilot delivery missions. She described sneaking up on a group of “boys” flying in formation and initiating simulated aerial dogfights with them during the lengthy and somewhat monotonous cross-country flights.263 She also explained that occasionally the WASP would be forced to put down for the night in locations unaccustomed to housing women pilots in transit.

Figure 27. Heinrich Flight line Sweetwater.

I sensed that Heinrich may have been a little wilder than the average woman of her era. She described arriving at a base one night where there was no available housing. A male

262 Heinrich, Beck, Interview, 1978. 263 Heinrich, Beck, Interview, 1978.

99 major, hearing of her dilemma, offered her the use of a spare bed in his room, noting his roommate was out of town so she could use the extra bed. She took him up on the offer, and the next morning an Army Non-commissioned Officer had the surprise of his life when he arrived to wake the major for his early morning mission. Noticing my raised eyebrow, Heinrich protested that nothing untoward occurred: “No. I just slept in the room with the major. That's all!”264 No doubt had Cochran – so strictly rule bound – heard of the incident, it might have ended Heinrich’s career prematurely. Later, Heinrich’s daughter Barbara relayed a story about learning how her parents got engaged. Apparently Heinrich admitted (accidently one day) to her daughters, “I woke up one morning, turned to Ray, and asked him to marry me.”265 This was yet another example of Heinrich’s gender non-conformity in that she asked her husband to wed, and that the couple were intimate prior to marriage. Barbara Willis (Heinrich) married Raymond Lawrence Heinrich on July 1, 1944. Raymond grew up in working class Texas family. Raymond Heinrich was a chemical engineer and a petroleum specialist with Exxon Mobile. His position at Exxon was classified as war essential; therefore, he was exempt from selective service, and despite written appeals the military service chiefs would not permit him to enlist. Willis and Heinrich met through Ray’s sister Betty Heinrich in 1941, while the two women were working as Link flight simulator operators266 for the U.S. Navy in Atlanta, Georgia. Heinrich relayed the story of their initial meeting: One of my good friends, Betty Heinrich, her brother came up to see her. He took 13 of us out to dinner that night. He asked Betty…“Who should I concentrate

264 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 41. 265 Barbara Willis Heinrich, Jr. lunch conversation with author, Hayward, CA, July 13, 2017. 266 Link flight simulators were produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by the Link Aviation Devices, Inc. During WWII, they were used as a pilot training aid to teach new pilots how to fly instruments. The flight simulator responded to the pilot's controls and gave accurate readings on flight navigation instruments by providing a simulated altitude, heading and aircraft systems instrumentation, such as fuel, oil, etc.

100

on?” She said, “Maybe you!” I always blamed her (for introducing me to Raymond).267 During the war the couple saw each other sporadically, mostly on weekends when she happened to be back in Dallas. She said he drove up on the weekends hoping to catch her on a stop-over. If he arrived and she wasn’t there, he’d just take out one of the other WASPs who was available. When the WASP program was terminated, Heinrich admits she was “totally lost, I couldn’t stand to go to an airport.”268 Heinrich and one of her fellow ferrying pilots, Cornelia (Connie) Y. Colby (Kafka), set about a looking for work as contract pilots. They flew from Dallas to New York, Florida, and eventually to New Orleans looking for work.269 Early in 1945, Heinrich acquired her overwater, single engine and multi-engine seaplane ratings while in New Orleans, but then was unable to find work as a pilot. Heinrich and Kafka even tried to get jobs with the airlines, but the airlines weren’t hiring women. Heinrich asked her husband if he could get a job working in petroleum in Russia270 because she thought they might be able to become a contract pilot with either the British or the Russians. They even reached out to Jacqueline Cochran and asked if they could fly for either the British ATA or the Russian “Night Witches,” but Cochran informed them that neither were viable options. She did not want to return to Texas and settle into life without flying. Eventually Ray met up with her in New Orleans and told her it was time for her to come home, settle down, forget about flying, and adjust to being a wife.271 For the next year or so she focused on setting up her household in their apartment in Baytown, Texas and

267 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 15. 268 Heinrich, Beck, Interview, 1978. 269 Heinrich, Beck, Interview, 1978. 270 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 54. 271 Heinrich, Beck, Interview, 1978.

101 learned to cook and perform other domestic tasks. In November 1946 they had the first of five children: Raymond Lawrence, Jr. (1946), followed by Catherine, Roger Willis, Paul Victor and Barbara Willis Heinrich (Jr.). Heinrich’s husband of 49 years Raymond L. Heinrich passed away on May 28, 1996. Heinrich, like most of the other WASP formed life-long friendships with two women she served with in the 5th Ferrying Group, Air Transport Command at Love Field, Dallas, Texas: Marion Carlstrom (43-W-5) and Cornelia (Connie) Y. Colby (Kafka) (43-W-4). All three women were pursuit pilots. All three married after the War, raised children and remained friends and close confidents for the rest of their lives. Their comradery is a result of having shared a wartime experience that few outside the program would ever understand.

Figure 28. Marion Carlstrom, Connie Kafka and Bobbi Heinrich and all of their children circa 1960.

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Today Heinrich, who goes by Bobbie, is 101 years old, and resides in Hayward, California with her youngest daughter Barbara Willis Heinrich, a physician, who the family jokingly refers to as Barbara Junior. When I asked Heinrich what advice she would give her twenty-one year old self now, she replied, “Take it with a grain of salt.”272 When I asked “how she would like to be remembered” she replied: “As a good guy.”273 Heinrich’s overall sentiment of her experience as a WASP: “We were just enjoying ourselves,” and “It was wonderful. I got to fly.”274

MILLICENT AMANDA PETERSON YOUNG My interview with Millicent (Millie) Amanda Peterson Young was both humorous and instructive. As her class’ (44-W-10) representative for the WASP’ social organization, she had corresponded with all of the WASP in her class over the years, gathered stories for the WASP News and kept track of classmates’ addresses, marriages, births, deaths and other vital social information. She was quite knowledgeable about not only members of her own class, but other WASP across the organization. Young was born on December 22, 1922, the eldest of seven children born to Mary Bell Evison and George Hazlett Peterson. The Peterson’s were tenant farmers, therefore, working-class and poor. Young reported that she was “born on a foldout couch on one of the coldest days of the year.” She described their circumstances as “We made our clothes out of bags that feed, wheat and flour came in” and she noted that for many years the Peterson children did not have shoes. Adequate healthcare was not readily available and as a result two of her siblings died in infancy before age two, one from a staph infection, and the other from a respiratory illness.

272 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 78. 273 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 78. 274 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 81.

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Figure 29. Millicent A. Peterson flight line.

Figure 30. Millicent Amanda Peterson's Class 44-W-10 graduation photo.

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Figure 31. Millicent A. Peterson Young circa 2010.

Young’s family was of Euro-American descent; her maternal grandmother Millicent Rhoda Coffman was a descendant of British colonists that emigrated to the U.S., then migrated west to Iowa by means of a Conestoga wagon.275 Her maternal grandmother was the first female bookkeeper in Omaha, Nebraska.276 Her mother, Mary Bell Evison-Peterson, was a housewife and mother that never worked outside of the family home.277 But her mother contributed to the family’s prosperity by raising chickens, selling eggs, and maintaining a large vegetable garden. Her mother also canned vegetables, milked the cows by hand, raised five children, and maintained the family home.278 Young’s paternal grandmother Amanda Sophia Hack was born in Sweden and emigrated to the U.S. when she was twelve years old.279 Her father George Peterson was a

275 Young, Interview, December 20, 2017. 276 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 1-2. 277 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 1. 278 Young, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 20 August 2017, 1. 279 Millicent Amanda Peterson Young (WASP) interview with Nancy Durr in Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 31, 1993, 1. Here after referred to as Young, Durr, Interview.

105 first generation American. He worked as a tenant farmer and rancher. 280 Seeking to improve the family’s position in society, her father began purchasing his farm from the original owners around 1926 or 1927281 with a down payment of $4,000 for just over 400 acres.282 Young said that during the Great Depression the family almost lost the farm, and had it not been for her grandfather’s intervention they would have.283 Young was raised on a rural farm “five miles outside Lodgepole and three miles outside Chappell, Nebraska.”284 The parental home, like most farms of the era, did not have access to public utilities during her childhood. “Not once did I live in a house that had electricity or running water or gas or any of that stuff – never.”285 “I don’t know when …the REA [Rural Electrification Act] came through, but it was while I was off to the WASP, or else it was while I was still in college.”286 Young’s parents did not graduate from high school, but they valued education and insisted on educating their children.287 Young was supposed to attend elementary school at a one-room country school, but her father convinced the people in Chappell to let his daughter attend public school closer to the family home.288 On her first day of school the teacher had to instruct her on how to use the bathroom facilities, because at home they did not have a

280 Young, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 20 August 2017, 1; Young, Durr, Interview, July 31, 1993, 1. 281 Young, Durr, Interview, 1. 282 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 3. 283 Young, Durr, Interview, 1. 284 Young, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 20 August 2017, 1. 285 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 8. 286 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 8; Roosevelt’s executive order 7037, under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, as part of the New Deal the Rural Electrification Act created the Rural Electrification Administration, which brought electricity to rural areas of the U.S. beginning in 1936. 287 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 7. 288 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 4.

106 flush toilet.289 Her lesson on the use of a flush toilet was quite an ordeal for the young and naïve Millicent Peterson-Young. She described an argument that ensued between her parents over her father’s purchase of a series of encyclopedias. It proves his commitment to education. One time in the middle of the Depression, a guy came around selling…the Book of Knowledge…they cost quite a bit…the guy went out in the field and sold it to my dad…my mother had a fit. She said, ‘George Peterson, do you know that we don’t even have any money to buy shoes when these kids go to high school?’...My dad says, ‘When they go to look for a job, nobody’s going to ask them if they wore shoes.’…nobody has ever asked me if I wore shoes.290 Young financed a portion of her college education by means of a scholarship awarded by the Union Pacific Railroad,291 which she earned during her junior year in high school. Young became interested in flying when she was seven. “A neighbor of ours had a relative in California who owned their own plane.”292 He had written to a family member that lived within a half mile of Young’s home and said that he, his wife, and child would be visiting soon. Since the neighbors’ land was not flat but the Peterson’s was, the neighbors asked if the plane could land on their property. Young’s father approved the landing. So, they had a sign on the Chappell…water tank, and then they had nailed a sheet to the roof of their house…so, I knew they were coming. And I watched and watched. It seemed like an awful long time. Finally, I saw him coming. And I ran as fast as I could go…I could see him circling out there and tried to get up there…when I got there, the guy was unloading the luggage compartment for his wife and daughter who he brought along with him. And of course I rushed right up. And he said, ‘little girl, don’t touch that airplane.’ Well, he shouldn’t have said that to me. Of course…I went and touched it. It was something I had to do.”293

289 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 4. 290 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 7. 291 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 12; Young, Durr, Interview, 13. 292 Young, Durr, Interview, 2. 293 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 6.

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“But that’s the day I decided to learn to fly.”294 Two other factors influenced Young’s interest in flight. In 1936, she remembered “Barnstormers would come around after the wheat was in…”295 Flights were five dollars, so her father gave his wife twenty-five dollars and told her, “Go take the kids and learn to fly.”296 She said her father was always encouraging them to try new experiences. The aircraft was a Tri-motor Ford.297 The third factor Young attributes to her interest in aviation was a young female Nebraska aviatrix named Evelyn Genevieve Sharp. In the 1930s and early 1940s Sharpe was Nebraska's best-known female flyer. Sharpe became interested in flying at age fourteen, soloed at sixteen, and at eighteen she earned her commercial pilot's license, becoming one of the youngest people in the U.S. to do so.298 Young remembers reading about Evelyn Sharpe in the Omaha Road Herald when she was just fourteen.299 “So, I decided if that farm girl could do it, I can do it, too.”300 Later, Evelyn Sharpe would become one of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron’s first pilots, and later a WASP. Sadly, in 1944 Evelyn Sharpe became one of the thirty-eight WASPs to lose their lives in service to the Nation.301

294 Young, Durr, Interview, 3. 295 Young, Durr, Interview, 3. 296 Young, Durr, Interview, 1993, 3. Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 18. 297 Young, Durr, Interview, 4. 298 Evelyn Genevieve Sharp was Nebraska's best-known aviatrix. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John E. Sharp and was born October 1, 1919, in Melstone, Montana. Her family moved to Ord in her youth. She became interested in flying at age fourteen, and she soloed under the tutelage of Jack Jefford at sixteen. Two years later she received her commercial pilot's license, one of the youngest persons to achieve this rating. She was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, and a WASP. On April 3, 1944, at the age of twenty-four, Evelyn Sharp was killed near Middleton, Pennsylvania, in the crash of a P-38 pursuit plane. Source: “Evelyn Genevieve Sharp (1919-1944),” Hargrave the Pioneers, accessed January 5, 2018, http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/sharp.html. 299 Young, Durr, Interview, 10. 300 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 11. 301 “Evelyn Genevieve Sharp (1919-1944),” Hargrave the Pioneers.

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When Young was 14 her father made a deal with her. He told her, “I’ve got to have help on this ranch. Now, if you help me, I promise that I will help you when you go to college.”302 Her father then offered to buy her a cow that she helped him raise. Later, when they sold it she got to keep the money to help pay for her college education. Young also did almost all the wheat farming for her father as well. “I did my dad’s wheat farming, all of it, except I didn’t run the combines. I did all the preparation and hauling the product to market.”303 Young was an enterprising entrepreneur as well as gender non-conforming. In addition to managing the family’s wheat fields, she noticed another piece of land that wasn’t being properly managed. “It was going to weeds, and nobody was doing anything about it. So, I found out who was supposed to be renting it…it was the neighbor. I talked to him…the land belonged to somebody in eastern Nebraska.”304 Young offered to take over the management of the land. The tenant said, “Well, I have to have forty dollars for the plowing of the field.”305 She told her father about the deal she struck with the neighbor, and asked to borrow forty dollars to complete the transaction. Her father sent her to the bank to obtain a loan. The banker demanded she purchase crop insurance and pay interest at an additional cost of sixty dollars. When the crops came in she would owe her first one hundred dollars to the bank. It sounded like a good deal so, she signed the papers.306 Winter wheat takes almost a year to grow into a harvestable crop. So Young planted her crop and headed off to her first year of college. She matriculated at the University of Nebraska in the fall of 1940307 majoring in

302 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 7. 303 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 8. 304 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. 305 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. 306 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. 307 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 10.

109 home economics.308 At the end of her first year of college, in the spring of 1941, Young harvested her wheat crops. When the crop sold at market, Young cleared about $300-$400 even after repaying the hundred dollar bank loan and after sending the owners their share.309 Plus the tenant farm owner also earned his first profit on the land in four years and he had enough left over to pay the land taxes.310 With money in hand, Young convinced her mother to transport her to the bus station so she could travel to Denver, Colorado to purchase some new clothes. Once she was safely on the bus she yelled out the window to her mother, explaining she was actually going to Ogallala, Nebraska, forty miles away, to learn how to fly!311 Once there Young acquired employment at the airport and used some of her cash to pay rent and purchase food. But the remainder of her earnings were used to pay for flying lessons.312 Flying was expensive and her instructor refused to allow her to solo, even long after all her male classmates had already done so. But she found a new instructor, and eventually soloed in an Aeronca Chief aircraft. She never did earn a private license, but she had a lot more hours than most people with one. “I just never applied for it.”313 In addition to her flying lessons her instructor, Mr. Surles, a used car salesman, trained her on engines, struts and airframe maintenance.314 Young got a second job at an insurance office in Ogallala, Nebraska. “My job only took about two hours a day though and it paid the rent…all I had to do was balance the books. So I learned a little bit about running adding machines and stuff like that.”315

308 Young, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 20 August 2017, 2. 309 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. Durr, 6. 310 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. 311 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. 312 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 9. 313 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 10. 314 Young, Durr, Interview, 9-10. 315 Young, Durr, Interview, 7.

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In the fall Young returned to college. She remembered exactly where she was on December 7, 1941 when Japan attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, “I was out in front of the biology…professor’s house. He was out doing his lawn work. Well, at least that’s what he had been doing…the radio turned on…we could hear Franklin D. [Roosevelt] saying, “This is the day that will live in infamy and I stopped, and I listened.”316 After the War began Young wanted to continue flying but gasoline was rationed. She had to explain why she was using so much gas. So, like the other male pilot trainees, she told the government she “wanted to join the Army Air Corps.”317 Young doesn’t remember exactly when or how she learned about the WASP, or even how she applied for the pilot training program, but she thinks it may have been an article in Life or McCalls or Better Homes and Gardens magazine that spurred her interest.318 What she does remember is having to obtain character references, one from the local preacher, and the other from a woman who was the head of the farm bureau.319 Young also recalled taking her physical exam at the induction center in Lincoln.320 “It was a thorough examination as thorough as they could be without destroying my maidenhood.”321 The physical exam was pretty traumatic for her. But after submitting her letters of recommendation and the physical exam, she received a letter directing her to report to Sweetwater for training. Young remained at college until the spring semester of 1943, when she left college mid-semester to report to Sweetwater on May 26, 1944322 for the WASP class 44-W-10.323

316 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 10. 317 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 10. 318 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 21. 319 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 21. 320 Young, Durr, Interview, 10. 321 Young, Durr, Interview, 11. 322 Larry W. Bledsoe, The Few: Women Who Flew the P-38 (Ontario, CA: BAC Publishers, 2016), 46. 323 Young, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 20 August 2017, 3.

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Young graduated on December 7, 1944, just thirteen days before the WASP program was disbanded. Throughout her training her parents were supportive of her military service. She said, “They wrote to me, encouraged me, once I got there.”324 After graduation, Young was assigned to Aloe Army Air Field in Victoria, Texas where she flew target towing missions for tracking and searchlight training missions.325 The WASP program was terminated on December 20, 1944. WASP class 44-W-10 has been nicknamed the “lost class” because graduates were only able to serve for an additional 13 days on active duty before the program officially ended. When she learned of the WASP program’s termination she was angry. “I was just in a rage about it. I was furious.”326

Figure 32. Class 44-W-10 graduation, December 7, 1944, Sweetwater, Texas (Photo courtesy of Texas Women’s University).

After the program ended, Young returned home to Nebraska to attend the funeral of her childhood sweetheart, who had been killed in the Battle of Guadalcanal. Once she arrived she was overcome by the enormity of the loss and was unable to attend the funeral. After

324 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 18. 325 Young, Durr, Interview, 19; Jeanne M. Holm, In Defense of a Nation (Washington, DC: Women Military Press, 1998), 117. 326 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 40.

112 visiting with the boy’s family, Young headed to Denver to visit her sisters who were working there. Soon she set off on a leisurely trip to Florida where she found work at flight operations at Tyndall Army Airfield as a weight and balance technician for approximately eight months before returning to Nebraska.327 In the fall of 1945, Young returned to school and completed her senior year, graduating in the spring of 1946 with a bachelor’s degree in home economics.328 It was at the University of Nebraska that she remembers meeting her husband William (Bill) Young for the first time. However, Bill Young always claimed he met her in Oklahoma City.329 The two never could agree on when or where they first met.330 However, she does recall that when she met him “I thought I’d die if I didn’t have him.”331 Eventually, they married in October of 1946, and had five children, three boys and two girls.332 On July 1, 1969, after all her children graduated from high school, she decided to pursue work outside the home. Sadly, six weeks later (in August of 1969) her husband was killed in a mining accident. Unfortunately, the couple had recently decided to cancel their expensive life insurance policies. So in addition to working, she was forced to rely on her husband’s social security benefits to support her family.333 But in 1982, at age sixty, Young earned a second bachelor’s degree in social work from Colorado State University. Young’s connection to the WASP program has been a life-long endeavor. Most of her closest friends throughout her life were her WASP classmates and other WASP she met through WASP Homecomings, Reunions and other Aviation events across the U.S. She also

327 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 42. 328 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 42. 329 Young, Durr, Interview, 21; Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 16. 330 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 16. 331 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 15. 332 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 43. 333 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 44.

113 remained very active in the WASP social organization gathering and publishing her classes’ news events from the very beginning as WASP Class 44-W-10’s secretary. Today, at 96-years old, Millicent Amanda Peterson Young lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her youngest son William (Bill) and his wife live with her in the home she purchased. She has four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.334 She said besides having macular degeneration that impacts her vision, some trouble breathing, and hearing loss -- she’s in great shape.335 When I asked what advice would you give to your 21-year-old self today? She said, “Go for it! Whatever it is that I wanted to do – go for it! That’s what I’d say.”336 When I asked how she would like to be remembered, Young replied, “You know, I don’t know, I’ve got some amazing kids. Maybe just for living a long time…I think that I will be remembered as an aviator probably.”337 Young was not embittered by her blunted WASP career, but empowered by the memories of what she did accomplish.

FLORENCE G. “SHUTSY” REYNOLDS My third interviewee was Florence Shutsy Reynolds, born 4 March 1923 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Reynolds was the last of six children born to her parents John Anthony (1894-1968) and Anna Honjosky Shutsy (1896-1996).338 Her oldest two siblings John and Martha died in infancy. Reynolds’ remaining siblings were her 6-year older brother Aloysius John, her sister Eleanor (Michalowski), three years her senior, followed by her youngest brother Irvin John (two years older). Reynolds’ parents were first-generation Eastern Euro-Americans. Her grandparents on her mother’s side were from Russia, and on

334 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 55. 335 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 7. 336 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 52. 337 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 52. 338 Florence Shutsy Reynolds (WASP) telephone conversation with author, December 7, 2017, 1. Hereafter Reynolds, Interview, December 7, 2017.

114 her father’s side from Austria. “My grandfather was highly educated on my mother’s side…and spoke around five languages and ended up digging coal like everybody.”339 Reynolds grew up in a middle-class family in rural Pennsylvania about 35 miles from Pittsburg. Even today she lives just down the street from where she grew up. As a child, her community consisted of farmers and coal miners. Reynolds’ father John Anthony Shutsy was an amputee. Reynolds told me, “…jobs in that period of time being an amputee or being handicapped was like being a woman. They didn’t want you.”340 Despite his perceived disability, he graduated business school and became an accountant for the local power company, retiring in the 1950s.341

Figure 33. Florence Shutsy (Reynolds).

339 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 7. 340 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1. 341 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1.

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Figure 34. Florence Shutsy (Reynolds) Flight line Sweetwater, TX.

Figure 35. Class 44-W-5 graduation.

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She described her mother as an incredibly strong housewife. “My mother was without a doubt in my opinion the most courageous woman I have ever known.”342 Yet their relationship was emotionally distant. “She was courageous. She would take on challenges that others wouldn’t even touch. I learned a lot from her but we never bonded.”343 Reynolds described herself as quiet, shy, unattractive and a loner, as a young woman; quite the opposite of her older sister Eleanor. “She was very bubbly, attractive and had a great sense of humor. She could chatter all day long. She attracted the boys like wasps to a flame. I’d sit back and wonder at that and think boy that’s really something. She’s got quite a gift.”344 Although her familial relationship was supportive, family members never verbally expressed their affection for one another. “We loved each other but we never told each other. I have a sister who is ninety-nine or will be next month...I never once told her, I love you. She’d think I was sick or something.”345 Reynolds’ mother never explained the changes that would happen to her body as she became a woman. Finally, at her sister’s insistence their mother sat her down and explained what was happening. Reynolds said, “It was one of the hardest things she [her mother] ever did.”346 Her mother was the only one to express any concerns about her safety and well-being when she decided to join the WASP. Another one of her family members said to her mother, “She’ll wash out. Don’t worry about it. She’ll be home in a couple of days.”347 Reynolds excused this behavior, “I guess me being quiet they weren’t sure if I could make it or not.”348In addition to working for the local power company, her father also raised “broiler”

342 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1. 343 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1. 344 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 2. 345 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 10. 346 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1-2. 347 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1-2. 348 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 1-2.

117 chickens that they sold to local businesses in Pittsburg to supplement the family income. Farm life in the U.S. during the 1930s Depression era was difficult. In addition to her daily chores, every Friday her mother doled out additional tasks on 3x5 cards the children were expected to complete to earn their weekly allowance. Reynolds also participated in work that activities that would have been considered gender non-conforming or masculine work; she learned to drive a 5-ton truck at age 12. “It was a matter of necessity. I mean, somebody had to do it. My two brothers weren’t available, they were in college.”349 Reynolds wanted better for herself. “We moved here when I was five and I couldn’t wait to leave. When I was in school, I studied, and studied hard, because…I already knew the only way I’m going to get out of this place is with an education.”350 Reynolds graduated from Dunbar Township High School in 1940 at 17 years old.351 One evening at dinner, her father announced that all of the children would be attending college, but added he couldn’t afford to pay for everyone to go. The boys had priority as they would have to support families. Demonstrating the societal and cultural norms of the era, her father added, “You girls, you’ll probably get married and have kids and so on. You don’t need an education…[plus] we can’t afford it.”352 So obtaining family financial support for college attendance was never an option. It was during one of these evening meal conversations, when Reynolds was just seven or eight years old that she announced that she wanted to become a pilot. No one in her family believed it would ever happen.353

349 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 3. 350 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 5. 351 “First WASP Here,” Daily Courier, October 1, 1944. 352 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 4. 353 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 4.

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Reynolds’ interest in flight originated as a result of watching the rural carriers fly in to pick up the mail. She described the mail being hung on a rope strung between two poles that looked like football goal posts. Planes would fly by and scoop up the mail and keep on flying. She also described barnstormers flying in to town and her desire to take a ride, but the $2 cost was too expensive, especially given that her allowance was only 5 cents a week.354 It would have taken almost an entire year to have saved up enough money for a single flight. Reynolds said once she graduated from high school in 1941, she was expected to be independent, self-supporting and living on her own. Her working class parents’ expectations of their daughters differed from those of middle class and upper class women. “Well, I did get a job. I was eighteen. I was out of the house, I was on my own, [and] I was living with some family that rented me a room.”355 Reynolds worked as a comptometer operator at the American Locomotive Company in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.356 Determined to obtain her pilot’s license, Reynolds registered for ground school classes at Pennsylvania State College, and competed for a CPT program scholarship. Out of her class of fifty students she came in the top five percent of her class, and earned one of the coveted ten slots in the CPT program. The men in her class complained, arguing that a woman didn’t need the training. But she told them “It’s mine and if you take it away from me you’re stealing it. I must have said that too many times because somebody believed me, and they finally shut me up by letting me have it.”357 Reynolds soloed on July 20, 1941 and earned her pilot’s license on August 29, 1941 at age 18.358 Reynolds became the first woman to earn her commercial pilot’s license at the Connellsville Airport. After she graduated she

354 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 5. 355 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 8. 356 “Florence Shutsy, Training Ends,” Daily Courier,October 17, 1944. 357 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 13. 358 “In Training,” Daily Courier, n.d. Courtesy of Texas Woman’s University, WASP Archives, Florence Shutsy Reynolds collection.

119 took a job at the airport, and continued to fly until she earned her instructor rating. Reynolds learned about the WASP program while working at the airport. “You know every aviation newspaper and newsletters, and… magazines. That’s where I learned about the WASP”359 program. Then, in December of 1941, after the U.S. declaration of war with Japan, the Army took over operations of the airport and the CPT program was replaced by the WTS program, which put Reynolds out of a job. So she took a position at the McCrory Stores Corporation in West Crawford360 to help finance her flying habit, but money was still tight. Each week her sister would pay for the two of them to go out flying for an hour, which enabled Reynolds to build up her flight time necessary to apply for the WASP program.361 Flying became her passion. “There was nothing like flying alone and flying around the clouds...I love adventure and…[flying] seemed to be the best way to get it.”362 Aviation opened up a lot of doors for her; before joining the WASP she used to take her officemates from McCrory up to fly. It helped her make friends.363 “It was about thirty-five miles away from here, and I’d come home every weekend.”364 She used those weekends to write letters to Jacqueline Cochran. “Every weekend I would sit down at the typewriter and typed Cochran a letter and I had all the requirements except one. I was too young...you had to be twenty-one. They finally changed it to eighteen and a half and that’s how I got in.”365

359 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 18. 360 “Florence G. Shutsy First Local Girl to Get Private Pilot License at Airport,” The Daily Courier, September 9, 1941. Courtesy of Texas Woman’s University, WASP Archives, Florence Shutsy Reynolds collection. 361 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 13. 362 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 19. 363 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 9. 364 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 8. 365 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 8.

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In fact Reynolds was the youngest female aviator to graduate from the WASP program at age 19.366 Reynolds and Beverly Beesemyer were in the same class. Both arrived in Sweetwater on December 7, 1943, two years to the day after Japan attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor. She was enrolled in class 44-W-5. After she completed her training, in October 1944, she was assigned to Merced Army Air Force Base in California, where she couriered personnel, supplies and equipment. She also served as a maintenance test pilot – inherently dangerous work. Reynolds had hoped to fly bombers somewhere over Europe, but that never came to fruition.367 Military service ran in the Reynolds family. Both Reynolds brothers served with the Army Transport Service in the Merchant Marines during WWII. Her brother Aloysius J. Shutsy was a chief mate and Irvin J. Shutsy was a petty officer.368 She described her oldest brother as being the most supportive of her decision to join the Army Air Force, but both brothers called her when they came into port and her sister wrote to her every week while Reynolds was attending flight school in Sweetwater, Texas. When the program terminated on December 20, 1944, Reynolds was heartbroken. She “felt betrayed. I mean, they de-activated us before the victory. We felt we had contributed, even in a little way we contributed.”369 I asked her what she did. When we were disbanded I was stuck in California with ten dollars and twenty- five cents to get home on. I wasn’t very happy about that. The Red Cross wouldn’t help me and the military wouldn’t help me… So, I hitched a ride going home. I got more out of the private sector than I did out of the military or the government.370

366 “Florence Shutsy, Training Ends,” Daily Courier, October 17, 1944. 367 “First Woman Pilot Looks Forward to Flying U.S. Bomber,” Connellsville Digest, September 12, 1943. 368 “In Training,” Daily Courier, n.d. 369 “WASP Florence ‘Shutsy’ Reynolds: Don’t Let Anyone Tell You that You Can’t Do Something,” Fly Girls the Series, updated June 9, 2016, http://www.flygirlstheseries.com/blogpage/2016/6/9/florence-reynolds. 370 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 67.

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Later, unsatisfied with life in Pennsylvania, she returned to California. “The War was over in 1945. I didn’t get married until 1952 so there was seven years there.”371 I asked what she did during that gap. Sshe said: “The first thing I did was I became a beatnik.”372 She moved in with a friend in Los Angeles, “…in Hollywood this friend of mine that I was in the service with, well, there was a group of us that got together and we would sit around all day drinking and playing cards. Then we’d draw lots to see who would go out and get dinner. I did that for about two months and was sick of it.”373 So she decided to look for work in aviation. “I took the train and I got a job and was a flight safety pilot [and a flight dispatcher with the Army Air Forces374] in [Winston-Salem,] North Carolina. I stayed with them for about two years and that’s when I decided to go to Alaska.”375 Most of the lower fourty-eight civilian flying positions dried up for women by 1947. Reynolds did serve again in the Armed Forces after the War. In 1947 when the U.S. Air Force became a separate service, Reynolds was offered a commission in the Air Force Reserves. She spent a year in Alaska working as a Link simulator instructor and training pilots to fly B-29s. She admitted she even had the opportunity to fly the B-29 a couple of times herself after the War. “They were doing surveillance along the coast of Russia. That’s how I got to get the B-29 time. Because the major in charge of operations wanted his Link instructors to be familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the radio beams in that area.”376

371 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 65. 372 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 65. 373 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 66. 374 “WASP Florence ‘Shutsy’ Reynolds: Don’t Let Anyone Tell You that You Can’t Do Something.” Fly Girls the Series. 375 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 66. 376 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 50.

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Reynolds was ingenious, talented and an entrepreneur. Alaska turned out to be a life altering trip for her. “I went to Alaska and met my husband…”377 Lyle Reynolds was only visiting – he was stationed in Panama at the time. “Six years later [after meeting Lyle Reynolds]. We corresponded back and forth and in the meantime, I left Alaska and I went back home [to Pennsylvania].” Finally, he sent her a ticket to visit him at the Panama Canal. She visited for two weeks, and they decided to get married. She described Lyle’s awkward proposal, “A visitor came by and he said, [to me], ‘How do you like Panama?...Do you plan to stay?’ And someone behind me said, ‘We’re going to get married.’ I turned around and said, ‘Don’t you think you ought to ask me first?’”378 Then she chuckled. In 1952, Florence Shutsy married Lyle Reynolds, a Navy veteran. After they wed, the couple spent the next twenty years living in Panama. She said, “It was a happy marriage. It turned out very well. I was educated by that time.”379 Although they never had children, Reynolds said that it worked out for her: “I worked on a career instead.”380 She found work at the Air Depot in Panama and built a career there. “I rebuilt their office setup. I redid all their files, and I had a ball. Besides going through all the shops during lunchtime and learning what they were doing. I like working with my hands.”381 “I went in as a reservist and I only stayed a couple years. Mostly because I got married to my husband. I came home one time. I was under the Caribbean Air Command at that time and we were living in Panama.”382 They offered her a promotion to major, and her husband Lyle objected. “He said, you’ll outrank me.” I said, “I’ve always outranked you.” But I figured I’d let it

377 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 66. 378 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 61. 379 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 61. 380 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 61. 381 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 66. 382 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 44.

123 go.”383 Sadly, Reynolds, an extremely competent, intelligent, and resilient woman succumbed to gender-role appropriate behavior and chose to torpedo her own career. She resigned from the Air Force Reserves for the sake of her marriage. Reynold was a risk taker and creative thinker. The skills she learned in Panama would become useful later when she volunteered to run the “Stores” (merchandise sales) for the WASP social organization. “The main reason I took over Stores in 1986 was because what they had was nothing. They would sell, like aprons. Who wants aprons? I had everything. I had videos. I had books. I had patches. I had jewelry. You name it I had it…If I couldn’t find it I made it.”384 Reynolds even learned to become a silversmith. “I learned that in Mexico. I found out that in one little store or a silver shop in Temixco, which is half way between Mexico City and Acapulco. For a couple more pesos if you see something that you like they’ll take you in the back room and show you how to make it.”385 She added: I learned how to plate. I still have several coins that I gold plated years ago…I learned how to splice cable. Every shop in that air depot I visited and I picked up something from every one of them...I bought me a silk screen printer and I was doing shirts and all kinds of things. So, like I said, if I couldn’t buy it I made it.386 Reynolds’ work played an instrumental role in the history of the WASP’s legacy organization, because she singlehandedly procured, sourced, and manufactured many of the goods sold for profit by the WASP. Her work in these endeavors became a major source of revenue for the organization. Reynolds ran the shops for more than fifteen years, and the proceeds provided funding for their overhead. She also designed and produced a product known as the WASP ring, which countless WASP procured and continued to wear throughout their lives; it was the only memento of their military service.

383 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017: 44. 384 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 46. 385 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 46. 386 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 46.

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Reynolds has educated people about the WASPs and WAFS for many years. She’s also been a staunch advocate in their fight for recognition. In fact, she was one of the lead activists fighting Congress and the Carter administration to grant retroactive veteran’s status to the WASP in 1977. Cochran passed away just three years later. Reynold’s husband Lyle passed away in 1988 after 35 years of marriage.387 In 1990, Reynolds, along with several other WASP veterans, traveled to Russia for the purpose of meeting with the famed “Night Witches.” These were female military fighter pilots that flew for Russia during WWII. The trip was quite memorable for all. Then, in 2005, several of the Russian women visited San Diego and participated in a panel discussion at the Air and Space Museum at Balboa Park. In 1998 Reynolds was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame and had the opportunity to fly the B-17 (Flying Fortress) in exchange for donating her WASP uniform to the Lone Star Museum in Galveston, Texas. Reynolds was also involved in the decision to award the Congressional Gold medal to the WASP in 2009, and she along with approximately 172 of the 286 living WASP attended the March 10, 2010 ceremony. She remained active, perpetuating the WASP legacy in 2015, when the U.S. Army decided WASP no longer qualified for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Former WASP Elaine Harmon’s family requested burial services and were denied those, once again Reynolds sprang into action. Ultimately, the U.S. Army reversed its decision. Her perseverance was undeniable. I asked Reynolds what was the best and worst part about being a WASP? “Being in. Being accepted, and getting to fly those airplanes…that was the best part. The worst part? Not being recognized for doing anything.”388 She was referring to the fact that it took until

387 “Symbolizing courage: Local woman was a WASP — They Were Female Pilots Who Flew Above Tradition to Serve their Nation in WWII,” TRIB Live, last modified November 11, 2004, http://triblive.com/x/dailycourier/news/connellsville/s_271755.html. 388 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 49.

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1977 for the U.S. to retroactively deem the WASP status as active duty and for them to be considered veterans of WWII. Regarding Reynolds’ legacy: “Well they named the terminal building at the local airport, where I learned to fly, after me. That was just done a couple months ago.”389 Would she do it all again? “In a heartbeat, yes!”390 What advice would she give her 21-year old self? “Get an education.”391 When I asked her how she would like to be remembered, Reynolds replied: “I’d like to be remembered as the first one [a woman] to get a license at the local field” (the Connellsville airport in August of 1941).392 For someone that used to be a quiet introvert when she applied for the WASP program, her life was forever changed by her military experiences during WWII. Reynolds is one of the most well-known and respected of the WASP. Her spunk and indomitable spirit continue to shine bright at age 96.

389 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 68. 390 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 70. 391 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 70. 392 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 74.

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Figure 36. Arizona Rep. Martha McSally, center, and former WASP Shutsy Reynolds, 93, right, watch a flyover before Harmon's services. (Photo Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call).

BEVERLY LOYOLA BEESEMYER After I interviewed Reynolds, I interviewed one of her classmates, Beverly L. Beesemyer, a native Californian who was born August 25, 1918 in Beverly Hills. 393 Beesemyer’s mother Margarete Brown was a housewife, and her father Noah Lewis Beesemyer was a well-known dentist in Hollywood. Her paternal grandfather was of Germanic descent, and owned a sprawling dairy farm in Beverly Hills. 394 Beverly’s mother,

393 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 5. 394 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 6.

127 who preferred to be called “Miggs,”395 was born in Arkansas, and Catholic of English and Irish descent.396 When Beesemyer was six years old, her parents welcomed her only sibling, a brother, named Richard Lewis. During her childhood, the Beesemyers lived in a middle to upper-class predominantly white neighborhood. She attended Beverly Hills high school, and after graduation, her parents insisted she attend an extra year of high School at the Sacred Heart Academy because they thought she wasn’t mature enough yet to attend college.

Figure 37. Beverly Beesemyer Class 44-W-6 photo.

When Beesemyer was in high school her parents separated, which was unusual for the era and especially for Catholics. After that she lived with her mother in an apartment. Beesemyer’s parents eventually divorced after both she and her brother graduated from the University of Southern California. Beesemyer rarely saw her father after the divorce, except during family vacations.397 Yet she wrote him every day while she was attending WASP

395 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 7. 396 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 8. 397 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 9.

128 training and provided him with extensive details about her life and friends in Sweetwater, Texas.398 Perhaps this was to assure him she was growing into a mature woman. Her father kept all of the letters she sent to him during WWII, and when he passed away she found the letters squirreled away amidst his personal belongings.399 The letters later became the foundation of a book Beesemyer co-authored with Nancy Robinson, entitled We Love to Fly (2014)400.

Figure 38. Beverly Beesemyer heading to Flight Line.

When I asked what her mother did for work, she described her mother as “just a housewife.”401 But later she told me her mother worked for a local interior decorator. When the War kicked off Beesemyer’s mother took a job at one of the war production plants in

398 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 10. 399 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 11. 400 Robinson, We Love to Fly. 401 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 12.

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Santa Monica.402 Beesemyer also tried to get a job at the plant, but they wouldn’t hire her. “During the War you wanted to do something patriotic, and I started out with a social organization, what they called the Ambulance Corps in Beverly Hills.”403 She described her relationship with her mother as loving, close and mutually supportive.

Figure 39. Beverly Beesemyer October 2017.

Prior to the War Beesemyer’s primary source of income was from the sale of her art work. In the 1940s the focus of her art included drawings of animals and Oriental themed works, which she placed in antique frames, and sold for profit.404 When the War began a friend helped Beesemyer obtain an interview with Lockheed. After she got the job with Lockheed she closed her gallery. Initially, she worked as a dispatcher and expediter overseeing the delivery of supplies within the different sections within factory. Later she

402 Beverly L. Beesemyer, interview with author, December 25, 2017, 1. Hereafter Beesemyer, Interview, December 25, 2017. 403 Beverly L. Beesemyer, interviewed by Bessie Martin, 5 January 2010, Beesemyer collection, Remarkable Lives, Laguna Woods Village, CA. 1. Beesemyer collection. Hereafter Beesemyer, Martin, Interview, January 5, 2010. 404 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 13.

130 worked as a machinist making and distributing parts. Eventually, she was promoted and asked to train other female employees. Her parents’ expectation of her after she graduated from college was that she become a wife and eventually a mother. She had no interest in that and wanted to focus on her career. She was clearly aware that female pilots were suspect: “I think they thought we were in the wrong field, we were supposed to be married having kids.”405 But she was not worried what people would think of her choice: “No I wasn’t. I was just going to do what I wanted to do! I was getting a little independent by then.”406 Early in 1943 Beesemyer learned about the women’s flying programs from a co-worker. She immediately wrote Cochran, the Director of the WFTD, to inquire about attending training. She received back the detailed qualification criteria. Beesemyer required a letter of release from Lockheed to be permitted to participate in the WFTD. She immediately took a two-week leave of absence from Lockheed, and traveled to Quartzite, Arizona, where she completed her civilian flight training qualifications, and amassed 35 flight hours by July of 1943. Within days she submitted her completed application to the WASP program. Beesemyer in her early twenties was attractive, gregarious, and athletic. She played baseball and field hockey in high school, she loved to swim in the ocean. She even described herself as a “wet rat…I was always in the ocean.”407 When asked by the recruiter about her social life, she replied she was interested in dating men. Her athleticism, good looks and perceived heterosexuality appealed to Ethel Sheehy, Cochran’s trusted surrogate. Within days after her interview Beesemyer received a telegram from Cochran inviting her to report to Sweetwater, Texas for training with class 44-W-5. Beesemyer’s military flight training commenced on December 7, 1943 (two years to the day after Japan’s attack on Pearl

405 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 14. 406 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 15. 407 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 16

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Harbor). In the last month of her training in June of 1944, Beesemyer contracted pneumonia, her illness necessitated she be recycled408 or placed into the subsequent class. Beesemyer graduated with WASP class 44-W-6 on August 4, 1944.409 After training, Beesemyer was stationed at Merced Army Airfield, California. Here she encountered the greatest hardship. The unit commander was a misogynist and made it known he did not want any women pilots in “his unit.” Beesemyer requested reassignment and was transferred to Las Vegas, Nevada. At her new duty station she attended bomber training in the B-26 (Marauder). Her mission at Las Vegas involved flying B-26s towing a target known as a “sock.” The Army’s B-17 Bomber crews used the sock towed behind her aircraft as a target for the door gunners to perfect their air-to-air aerial gunnery accuracy. This was dangerous work; occasionally, students misjudged the target and accidentally shot holes in the aircraft piloted by Beesemyer. Her leadership brushed off the mishaps as training accidents, and never told her who fired the errant rounds. Regardless of the inherent danger, Beesemyer loved flying. Like her peers, Beesemyer received a letter from Jacqueline Cochran in October 1944 announcing the deactivation of the WASP program effective December 20, 1944. Due to her proximity to the WASP training program in Sweetwater, Texas, Beesemyer, along with hundreds of other WASP, were invited to attend the final graduation on December 7, 1944. It was disappointing to see the program they had all fought so hard to become a part of come to an end, and to be viewed by society and the Nation’s Congressional leaders as “unnecessary and undesirable,”410 as one Congressman said.

408 Recycle is a military term used to describe the process of setting a student back an entire training class, but at exactly the same point in training where they were removed, therefore, avoiding retraining and reducing costs. 409 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 17. 410 "Unnecessary and Undesirable?" Time, May 29, 1944, 68.

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After her service ended, Beesemyer, like many other WASP veterans, wanted to continue flying, “…so we put feelers out for the airlines, for the gasoline companies…it was hard to get a job.”411 Beesemyer was broke and unemployed; she had to call her mother and borrow money, just so she could get home to California. When she returned home to Beverly Hills her family provided no financial support. “I was as poor as a church mouse.”412 Her parents never offered her money. “I didn’t ask and they didn’t offer.”413 As a civilian she was not eligible for GI Bill benefits and she wasn’t considered a veteran; therefore, her previous job at Lockheed was no longer available. After WWII without the financial assistance of her parents, Beesemyer fell upon hard times, she struggled to make ends meet and to find money to pay the rent. In 1945 she, along with a handful of other WASP, found work at Monrovia Airport. She started off as the Assistant Manager, but with perseverance she obtained her instructor rating and began flying again. Beesemyer worked at Monrovia Airport until 1947, when it closed and she was forced to find other work. Later that same year, Beesemyer received a letter from the newly formed U.S. Air Force offering her a reserve commission, as a second lieutenant. She along with approximately 300 of the 1,102 original WASP were offered commissions, but only about 150 women accepted. Sadly, the women who did accept the offer were relegated to ground occupations or administrative positions deemed “women’s work.” A small handful of women, including the WASPs’ only Native American woman Ola Rexroat (class 44-W-7), were offered the opportunity to become Air Traffic Controllers. In Beesemyer’s case she served as a personnel officer for the Fourth Air Force Headquarters located at Hamilton Air Force Base in Sausalito, California.

411 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 18. 412 Beesemyer, Martin, Interview, January 5, 2010, 2. 413 Beesemyer, Interview, December 28, 2017, 2.

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In 1947, Beesemyer was hired to ferry aircraft from production plants to customers by Clelland and Murrell, a small aircraft ferrying service out of El Monte, California. But by 1949 most of the flying jobs for women ceased to exist. To make ends meet Beesemyer pursued a more traditional line of “women’s work” at the Josephine Seely Employment Agency. Prior to Beesemyer’s arrival Seely focused solely on placing domestic workers. Seely hired Beesemyer to help recruit and place women in business settings as secretaries and office administrators in the local Beverly Hills community. In addition to working for Seely, Beesemyer took part-time work by serving as a reserve (or part-time) officer in the Air Force for two years from July 1949 to April 1951. It was during this time that Beesemyer happened to meet a woman named Patricia Cross at a party hosted by a dental assistant who worked for Beesemyer’s father.

Figure 40. Clelland & Murrell pilots circa 1949.

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Figure 41. Josephine Seely (Front).

Cross was reading palms at the time and Beesemyer admired her from across the room. Cross had worked for Trans World Airlines (TWA) as a booking agent, and during the War was responsible for accommodating individuals that had been displaced from flights by soldiers in transit. But by the mid-1940s the War was over and Cross was informed that, as a woman, she had reached the apex of her career; there would be no further upward mobility at TWA. During a free flight hop to visit California Cross decided she loved California and opted to stay. Cross also took a position at the Josephine Seely Employment Agency. When the Korean War began, Beesemyer was recalled to active duty with the Air Force, and she served on active duty from May of 1951 to March of 1952.

Figure 42. Beesemyer and Cross at Josephine Seely Employment Agency circa 1955.

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Figure 43. Announcement of Beverly Cross Employment Agency LA Times, July 20, 1959.

Beesemyer and Cross worked for Seely from 1950-1959 but, after nine years, Beesemyer and Cross decided to leave the firm over a business disagreement. 414 The couple opened their own employment agency specializing in women office workers; they named their firm Beverly Cross. Initially, cash flow was limited. So the two women shared an efficiency apartment with a fold-out bed, known as a Murphy bed. Beesemyer said, “We were broke.”415 But they were also happy in their little apartment because by this time their relationship had become a true partnership, as well as an intimate love affair. To help make ends meet, Cross sold pots and pans door-to-door in Los Angeles, and Beesemyer sold Fuller Brush™ products in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Beesemyer

414 Beesemyer, Martin, Interview, January 5, 2010, 3. 415 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 19.

136 confessed they did this for a while until they were able to build up clientele for the Beverly Cross Employment Agency and established themselves as a “first class” business.416 When the Korean War began, Beesemyer was recalled to active duty by the Air Force and served again on active duty from May of 1951 to March of 1952. Beesemyer wasn’t happy at having been recalled to active duty, which left her partner and fledgling business shorthanded. So, she pleaded with her commander to let her resign; initially he refused. So she suggested if he wouldn’t release her she might have to tell the Air Force she was gay. Shortly thereafter, her resignation was approved by the commander. Counting her time in the WASP and Air Force Reserves, her total active military service was a just over three years.417 Beesemyer and Cross retired and sold their employment agency in 1970, and moved to Grove, Oklahoma to be closer to Cross’s family. But Beesemyer despised the frequent tornadoes, so the couple ultimately returned to Laguna Woods in 1985, and settled there permanently. In the end, Cross and Beesemyer would not only share a business, several houses, and three boats, but also fifty-three years of their lives together. Sadly, Patricia Cross passed away in 2003. Beesemyer fondly remembers their life together. She talks about her partner in glowing terms; her eyes sparkle and she seems transported to another time and place. “She was very charming and a lovely person, and everybody that ever met her loved her dearly…she was just a marvelous person.”418 At ninety-nine years old, Beesemyer lives alone in Laguna Woods, but she still has a tinge of youth and a hint of mischievousness in her sparkly blue grey eyes. Some might describe her as gender non-conforming, albeit a charming and handsome lesbian. She exhibits attributes some might describe as female masculinity: independence, strength, and courage. Yet, as a historian reflecting back across the ten decades of Beesemyer’s life, work

416 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 20. 417 Beesemyer, Interview, December 28, 2017, 3. 418 Beesemyer, Martin, Interview, January 5, 2010, 4.

137 and accomplishments, it strikes me that she has witnessed a period of extensive societal growth and change in the U.S. She lived during an era that oppressed people that differed from the ideal cisgender, white, heterosexual, middle class male norm, but she also got to witness changes brought about by the civil rights, women’s rights and gay liberation movements. Although her economic privilege may have sheltered her from the inherent racism in society in her youth, she faced her own oppressions including sexism as a woman, and heterosexism and homophobia as a gender non-conforming lesbian during and after WWII. Throughout her life Beesemyer was sustained and strengthened by the love and support of Cross and her mother. Miggs embraced her daughter’s career choices as well as her relationship with Cross. Beesemyer was “out” to her family and close friends even though her sexual orientation during the 1950s era of conformity presented societal challenges that forced her to conceal her true identity from the government, employers, and acquaintances. Despite these challenges, she made a conscious decision to live her truth and share her life with another woman, which was courageous and extremely brave. Throughout her life she consistently demonstrated a spirit of independence and resiliency. Cochran and Sheehy weren’t far off in their perceptions of Beesemyer. She fit the desired public image as “clean cut, stable appearing, young girls of the proper ages and educational backgrounds.” Beesemyer’s middle-to-upper class socioeconomic status and perceived heterosexuality opened doors that enabled her to become successful not only in the military, but in the business world and as an artist. Yet Beesemyer’s status as a gender outlaw, her lesbianism, unwillingness to marry heterosexually or to produce children meant she contradicted social mores. In short, her authentic self and lived experiences were quite different from the public image Cochran sought to portray of the WASP in the media.

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Figure 44. Patricia Cross, Miggs and Beverly Beesemyer.

Asked what advice she would give her twenty-one year old self: Just be yourself and don’t try to please everybody, because you just can’t do that and I think that it’s not absolutely necessary that you have to follow the rules or desires of your parents...I think one should recognize the fact if you have a desire…enjoy it to the fullest.419 It is important to know that Beesemyer maintained a close relationship with Cochran until her death in 1980, which was many years after the WASP program was terminated. Each year, Beesemyer along with several other local California WASP attended Cochran’s annual Christmas celebrations at her ranch in Indio, California. Furthermore, Beesemyer has been honored numerous times in her local community for her military service during WWII, including by the Sacred Heart Academy, which honored her in 2014 as its distinguished graduate and invited her to address students as part of their Sugene Kim lecture series. She

419 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 21.

139 has participated in countless oral history interviews. She will be featured in the Fly Girls mini-series and she appeared on KTLA television as recently as February 12, 2018. In a nutshell, Beesemyer lived her life boldly, pursued her dreams and in the later years of her life, when society became more tolerant of lesbians and gays, she proudly claimed her lesbian identity. She is a role model for the lesbian and gay community. When I asked Beesemyer how she would like to be remembered, she replied: “That I managed to live this long,” (she chuckled) adding “I guess that I’m not a bad person. I’d just like to be remembered like I came through the era,” (I want people to remember me) “with a nice feeling, and that people liked me.”

JEAN LANDIS Several themes that emerged in the lives of Heinrich, Young, Reynolds, and Beesemyer resonate with the fifth woman I interviewed for this project, Jean Landis (class 43-W-4). Jean was born September 28, 1918 in El Cajon, California, the second of three children borne to Alice Kathrine Nesch and Felix Landis. She had two brothers: Felix, Jr. who was two years older and Jerry who was ten years younger. Alice Katherine Nesch was a homemaker, wife and mother. Felix Landis senior was a farmer and the president of the Dairyman’s League. He advocated for the rights of local farmers. According to the San Diego Sun newspaper “for 17 years…[Felix Landis] made the life of the San Diego county residents his life, [he fought for those] who…tilled the soil…to make it possible for them to gain something for their toil besides the sweat of their brow.”420 During her childhood, Jean was a self-professed tomboy who was quite athletic. She loved being outdoors and playing with her friends, as well as running and swimming. She reported that her father coached both her and her brother in sports and athletics, but she also

420 “Lived in a Tent to Get Ahead: Early Struggles Recalled by Felix Landis,” The San Diego Sun, November 2, 1928. Courtesy of Jean Landis.

140 expressed disappointment that schools during the era didn’t have organized athletics programs for girls, just for boys. Landis grew up in an agricultural family in El Cajon, California, not far from the Mexican border. Although Landis’ father came from the working class, and her parents lived in a tent in southern California for the first four years of their marriage, she reported by the 1940’s her family’s socioeconomic class had improved to middle-class. Her father owned a farm with orchards. As a child she and her brothers helped out on the farm and in the orchards. She graduated from El Cajon High School in 1936. Landis always wanted to fly, and on the eve of her high school graduation her date asked what she wanted as a gift. She replied “I would love to take a flight over San Diego in a small plane.”421 He fulfilled her request, and afterwards her interest in flying multiplied. Landis graduated from San Diego State Teachers College (SDSTC) in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education and she was awarded a credential in Secondary Education by the State of California. Landis recalled that during her graduation rehearsal an announcement was made that the U.S. Government sponsored Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) Program was offering free pilot training to college graduates. This seemed unbelievable to Landis, and her heart was pounding. As soon as rehearsal ended, she ran as fast as she could to the dean’s office and the first one to sign up. According to Landis: The first class consisted of 35 hours of flight time and produced a private pilot’s license. The second class required 35 hours of flight time in aerobatics, and the third class of 35 hours of flight time was spent learning how to teach others to fly. Landis put 105 hours of flight time in her log book, all for free and paid by the U.S Government. Her flight training took place in local air fields close to her home in El Cajon, California. Regarding the establishment of the CPT program Landis said:

421 “Biographies of Confirmed WASPs Attending: Jean Landis,” Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, Women of Courage 2010, last modified July 17, 2010, http://www.sandpoint.org/womenofcourage/bios.html.

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I recall there was great unrest and that our military felt that our entry into a possible war was imminent. In preparation for this possibility the CPT was established by the U.S. Government free of charge to College graduates, both women and men who met the program requirements. After graduating from San Diego State Teacher’s College, Landis tool a teaching position at the local high school. She was enjoying her teaching assignments in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation when Pearl Harbor was attached.

Figure 45. Landis class photo 43-W-4.

In late 1942, Landis heard about Cochran’s and Arnold’s Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD). She applied and sent all the requisite documents and several months later she received the following orders: “On March 15, 1943 you are to report to the Commanding Officer, WFTD, Municipal Airport, Houston, Texas.” Landis immediately asked for a Leave of Absence from her teaching job. It was granted, and she packed her car and headed for Houston, Texas – alone. She admitted the drive had its scary moments, especially one night when she had to change a flat tire.

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Figure 46. Landis Circa 1943.

Regarding her flight training in Sweetwater, Texas, Landis said: The WFTD was approximately a six month rigorous training program involving extensive aspects of Aviation. The classes were tough and taught by Army instructors (many of whom felt women should not be flying military aircraft. The failure rate was high. Landis training class (43-W-4) was the largest in the program’s history consisting of over 150 trainees of which only 112 graduated. The class started off in Houston on February 16, 1942 but after two and a half months moved to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Landis graduated from the WFTD on August 7, 1943 and was told to report immediately to Daugherty Field, Long Beach, California under the Air Transport Command’s, Ferrying Division (6th Ferrying Group, Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron)422 under the command of Love.423 While assigned to Long Beach, she was selected to go to Brownsville, Texas424 for several months to attend pursuit aircraft training and to qualify in the following fighter planes: P-40s (Warhawk), P-47 (Thunderbolt), P-51 (Mustang), and later the P-39s (Airacobra), and P-63 (Kingcobra).425

422 Gott, Women in Pursuit, 167-68. 423 Jean Landis (WASP), personal correspondence with author, April 10, 2018. 424 According to Kay Gott Landis attended in Pursuit Training class 44-13 at Brownsville, Texas, which graduated July 15, 1944. Gott, Women in Pursuit, 34. 425 Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, Biographies of Confirmed WASPs Attending: Jean Landis (Sagle, ID: Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center).

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Upon completion of her pursuit aircraft training at Brownsville she returned to Long Beach. Her primary assignment was delivering P-51 to Newark, New Jersey. Landis described the P-51 Mustang (Figure 48)426 as “The love of my life.”427 One of her favorite activities was dipping the wings of her Mustang in salute to the Statue of Liberty on her way to delivering it to Newark, New Jersey. After that she was often asked to deliver a P-39 or P- 63 to Great Falls, Montana. Landis also attended multiengine training at St Joseph, Missouri where she earned her qualification in the B17 (Flying Fortress) and C-47 (Skytrain).428 In the Summer of 1944, Landis attended an officer training program in Orlando, Florida when the WASP legislation was being debated in Congress and the Air Force believed the WASP were going to be commissioned as Army officers.429 The WASP had been promised military status throughout their tenure with the program. Needless to say, Landis was extremely disappointed when the program was terminated and the WASP units were unceremoniously disbanded.

Figure 47. Landis Airacobra circa 1944.

426 Figure 45 is a picture of Jean Landis in a converted P-51Mustang. A very small seat was added for a very small passenger. The original P-51 configuration is a single seat fighter plane. 427 Jean Landis (WASP) personal correspondence with Kimberly A. Enderle dated July 1, 2017. 428 Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, Biographies of Confirmed WASPs Attending. 429 Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, Biographies of Confirmed WASPs Attending.

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Figure 48. Landis in a converted P-51 Mustang during a flight 2009.

Landis was briefly married to a physician during World War II, but they divorced after the War.430 She went on to teach at Park College in Parkville, Missouri from 1945 through 1948. In 1948, she took a leave of absence to complete a master’s degree in hygiene and physical education at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.431 She returned to Park College to teach for an additional year, but left in 1950. Then, from 1950-1959 she taught at West Chester Teachers College, and Ball State Teachers College from 1959-1969. Landis returned to her Alma Mater (now San Diego State University) and taught in the School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences from 1969-1979. She retired from teaching in 1979.432 The records of the WASP participants were classified until 1974, when the military academies began accepting women. In 1977, thirty-three years after their deactivation, the WASP were finally granted veteran’s status. Landis was dismayed that the 1,102 WASP that had served honorably during WWII went unrecognized for more than 30 years. She expressed frustration about the fact that it took so long for the WASP records to be released to the public and historians. She said, “The greatest honor bestowed upon the WASP

430 Jean Landis (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 15 August 2017. 431 “Wellesley College Bulletin Catalogue Number 1948-1949,” Wellesley College, Wellesley Digital Scholarship Archive, last modified October 28, 1948, https://repository.wellesley.edu/catalogs/38. 432 Jean Landis (WASP), personal correspondence with author, July 1, 2017.

145 occurred when the U.S. Congress passed a bill (signed by [President] Barrack Obama) in July 2009 to award the Congressional Gold Medal (the highest Congressional honor for civilians).”433 Two hundred WASP attended the award ceremony in Washington, DC.434 Landis did not attend the award ceremony.

Figure 49. Jean Landis 2015 Monty Award.

In 2015, SDSU awarded Landis the Monty in recognition of her achievements as a distinguished alumni.435 This prestigious award was in acknowledgement of her years of service to both the University and the Nation during WWII. At 99 years old, Landis continues to live alone in her own home in El Cajon. She still drives and gardens a little, but mostly she enjoys the daily phone calls from her niece and the company of her toy poodle Tammy. As I mentioned previously I met with Landis on at least four separate occasions. In addition, she provided written correspondence and three videos that documented major events in her personal life, as well as her experiences with the WASP program. During our conversations she provided details about her family and childhood. More importantly, Landis also requested I obtain her approval of any details of her life contained in my thesis prior to it being published. The details of her life contained in this biographical sketch have been

433 Landis, Interview, September 26, 2017. 434 Landis, Interview, September 26, 2017. 435 Landis, Interview, September 26, 2017.

146 included in my thesis with her permission. Some details were based on our conversations and others were gleaned from open source documents available on-line. Given these constraints and the structural limitations of time, I chose to omit many of the important details of her life and experiences that she shared with me in my thesis. However, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable insights I gained through our various conversations and written correspondence. It is important to note that Landis shares many of the same qualities, experiences, and beliefs that I describe in part two of this chapter with the other WASP who I interviewed for this project. Furthermore, Landis’ wisdom and experience helped me understand the WAFS and the WASP history, and ultimately shape my interpretation of the WASPs’ lived experiences.

DEAFENING SILENCES I interpreted these oral history interviews by identifying common themes and silences (meaning the things the women avoided, dodged or refused to discuss). I analyzed how they transgressed gender and other social and cultural norms, and the areas where they might have been complicit in oppressive behavior. I agree with Cayleff that “as rewarding as Oral Histories are, they are also limited, for the speakers, too, choose to create a representation of the subject’s lives that is in keeping with their own truths or silences.”436 Given the unwillingness of some individuals to reveal their flaws, or admit complicity in certain forms of oppression due to shame, or a sense of loyalty to the WASP program, and to Cochran’s or Love’s legacy, or because it might shatter their own self-created images, gaps will occur. This necessitates some level of “interpretation of the silences” and “filtering” on my part.437 The silences or the areas left unspoken not only by Landis, but also the other four women I interviewed for this project, were telling. Occasionally during the interviews all five avoided answering questions. At times their responses were pensive, short or curt, and

436 Cayleff, Babe, 7. 437 Cayleff, 8.

147 occasionally they just asked if we could move along. Others would answer a completely different question than what had been asked. Even when I returned to the topic or asked it in a different manner, they still offered indirect answers or simply didn’t answer the question at all. Some of this could be attributed to their advanced age or lack of clarity in communication. Yet, it was challenging to not interpret some of these “silences” as avoidance, or guarded responses to a difficult or uncomfortable topics. These silences are described in greater detail in the next portion of this chapter.

PART TWO – COMMON THEMES Through the oral history interviews, I identified several common themes or attributes these women share. In general all of these women grew up in families with two supportive parents who encouraged them and led them to believe they could become whatever they wanted. Their parents did not limit their employment opportunities, or force them into traditional gendered roles for women or even attempt to pigeonhole them into “women’s work.” Instead they gave their daughters a great deal of space to explore cultural norms including: gender boundaries, intimate relationships, social networks, and employment opportunities in the public sphere. That same freedom allowed their daughters to pursue their dreams of flight. Given that Jacqueline Cochran and Ethyl Sheehy interviewed all of the WFTD and WASP applicants, the women are remarkably similar in several important ways. Some of those attributes include: athleticism, their spirit of adventure, and a penchant for breaking the rules. The women self-identified as tomboys in their youth, and generally ignored societal norms with regard to gender boundaries. They sought work in a career field deemed traditionally “men’s” work and usurped a certain amount of male privilege. Prior to WWII they rejected women’s traditional roles as wives and mothers. They all aspired to do something to help the War effort during a time of national emergency, and by volunteering to fly combat aircraft for the Army Air Forces, they did.

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The reasons they joined the Army Air Forces varied: some were patriotic, others believed fascism needed to be crushed, some fought for the four freedoms Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke of during his fireside chat in January of 1941.438 Yet, they all shared a singular passion – that being a love of flight. Given the opportunity they all professed a desire to deploy overseas and to fight alongside their male counterparts. When the program abruptly ended on December 20, 1944 all shared a collective sense of loss, what could best be described as a feeling of being untethered. They felt betrayed by Congress and society’s refusal to recognize the importance of their wartime work in support of the Allied victory. Other commonalities they shared are detailed below.

THE WASP’S UNDERSTANDINGS OF SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS After I thoroughly examined aspects of Cochran and Love’s socioeconomic class consciousness, as a researcher I sought to understand the socioeconomic class and cultural context of the other lesser-known WASPs’ lives to determine what circumstances produced such determined young women. Two of my interviewees, Beverly Beesemyer and Barbara Willis Heinrich, were born into socioeconomically advantaged families. Their families owned multiple homes and their parents paid for their college education. Their socioeconomic class privilege and financial affluence in their youth seem to have hampered their awareness of the socioeconomic barriers faced by those less fortunate, and the opportunities afforded those of wealth and privilege. Neither woman could remember the abject poverty that existed or feeling a tinge of the financial downturn felt by most of society as a result of the Depression. In the U.S. socioeconomic class is often conflated or linked to

438 The four freedoms President Roosevelt spoke of during his fire side chat on January 6, 1941 were: the freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship God in one’s own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear. Source: “Four Freedoms Fireside Chat,” Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum On-line, accessed November 17, 2017. http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/collections/utterancesfdr.html.

149 racial consciousness. Furthermore, both families employed domestic workers. This gave me the sense that in their youth domestic workers were a common occurrence. Beesemyer initially described her childhood socioeconomic class as middle class. Yet, her family was quite wealthy both before and after the Depression. Her paternal grandfather owned a dairy farm, prime real estate in the middle of Beverly Hills (bordered on the south by West Fairfax Avenue, on the east by Melrose Avenue, on the north and west sides by Sunset Boulevard).439 Her father was a successful dentist in Hollywood. Beesemyer and her brother had a caregiver who was both a nanny and the family’s housekeeper. During the summer they closed up the family home, and along with their nanny spent the summer at their family’s beach house just off Highway One in Malibu. Originally the property had been owned by Howard Hughes.440 She later reconsidered her socioeconomic class standing, “So, maybe a little above” middle-class. Heinrich came from such affluence that she was unaware of the Depression’s impact. “No. I wasn't conscious of the Depression, no.”441 Over a lunchtime conversation with Heinrich’s daughter, Barbara Willis Heinrich, Jr., she told me that in the early 1930s, during the height of the Great Depression her grandmother packed up all the Heinrich children and took them to Alaska.442 They reiterated more than once the family was quite wealthy. Heinrich’s father was a mechanical engineer who owned his own company that supported a large paper manufacturing plant. As a child Heinrich owned her own horse. “…I had a horse from the time I was eight that I had to ride and exercise.”443 Further evidence of Heinrich’s family affluence was the presence of a family nanny, who also worked as the family’s

439 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 22. 440 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 23 441 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 2. 442 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 2. 443 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 72.

150 housekeeper. The woman, named Neenie,444 was Black and married to the estate’s grounds keeper and houseman, named Rudy.445 According to Heinrich’s daughter, the Heinrich family also owned a second beach house located in Falmouth, Massachusetts.446 In contrast, Landis was raised in a middle-class family, while Young and Reynolds were both raised in working-class farm families in rural settings. All were affected by the financial downturn caused by the Great Depression and were acutely aware of class inequalities. Young was born in the Great Plains of Chappell, Nebraska on a tenant farm. She also experienced the effects of the Dust Bowl during the early to mid-1930s. Young grew up without utilities and her family’s finances dictated her college education be funded by scholarships. Young was well aware of her socioeconomic class standing as a child; she told me her parents’ class was working-class poverty.447 Reynolds was raised in the Midwest, the youngest of six children on a farm in the rural coal mining town of Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Family finances prohibited her from attending college. Reynolds noted the socioeconomic class differences between herself and some of her classmates. During the course of conversation she described the other women in her class, “It was easy to note that they were [wealthy]. I was in a class where the girls in higher society decided that maybe they should do something about this War that’s going on. Maybe they should become part of it and flying sounded like something that you would want to do. “A lot of them in my class came from [southern plantations and they were southern] belles…but they were very nice. They treated everyone equal.”448 Reynolds says a lot of the women her class (44-W-5) had attended college before becoming WASPs. She added, “in the course of conversation they

444 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 11. 445 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 11. 446 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 11. 447 Young, (WASP) Demographic Survey Questionnaire, 20 August 2017, 1. 448 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 5.

151 would mention the college they went to.”449 Both women graduated high school, left home and became self-supporting. Education is an indicator of financial affluence. But in the 1930s and 1940s, during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, an undergraduate education was beyond the grasp of many individuals. In that era, far fewer colleges and universities even accepted women applicants than today. One of the more interesting statistics I retrieved from Texas Women’s University’s women’s collection was data on the WASPs’ educational backgrounds. Kimberly Johnson, curator of the Women’s Collection and the WASP Archives at Texas Women’s University, told me these statistics came with a caveat that the database is only as accurate as the records contained in the WASP archives. Even so, the results were surprising. Of the 1,102 WASP (1,074 WFTD/WASP plus the 28 WAFS) at least 204 or 18.5 percent of the WASP were college graduates prior to becoming a WASP. In addition, an even larger percent had attended some college at a university or a business school prior to attending flight training. This is a striking statistic given that in 1940 less than 4 percent of women in the U.S. had college degrees.450

TOMBOYISM AND RESISTANCE TO GENDER NORMS All of the women I interviewed for this project resisted gender conformity and many of them described themselves as tomboys in violation of established gender norms. Each sought to participate in athletic, work and life endeavors that were most interesting to them regardless of society’s socially constructed barriers. They resisted gender norms and societal expectations and chose to do what they wanted regardless of the consequences. They were true to themselves and lived authentically regardless of the societal backlash. To reject the

449 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 5. 450 “Percentage of the U.S. Population who have Completed Four Years of College or More From 1940 to 2016 by Gender,” Statista, Society, Education & Science, last modified February 20, 2018, https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/.

152 mandates of societal norms in the pursuit of one’s passion is the ultimate demonstration of courage and confidence in oneself. Beverly described herself as a “tomboy” and said as a child she often played with boys.451 In fact, she attributed her interest in flying to building and test flying balsa wood gliders with a neighbor boy during one of her summers at the beach.452 Reynolds was a farm hand, but she said she wasn’t supposed to go into town with her work clothes during her teenage years because that was perceived as transgressing gender norms. “I would wear coveralls and I was the butt of a couple of jokes because of that. Girls didn’t wear coveralls.”453 Reynolds added, “I didn’t dare leave and go into town wearing pants or wearing slacks. I had to wear a skirt or you’d get this, ‘ladies don’t act that way.’”454 Gender norms were so ingrained in society, but especially so in the South. On at least one occasion a handful of WASP were arrested simply for wearing pants. As Reynolds recalled, some women landed at a local airport somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line, they walked up the street to go to dinner and were promptly arrested. The charge? Solicitation -- it was after nine p.m. and they were on the street without a male escort, but the clincher was that they were wearing slacks. Reynolds said they were told, “Women do not wear pants in public. So…they charged them with, solicitation.”455 When I asked Reynolds about her desire to get married and have children before the War, she said: “I had no intention of getting married because I wasn’t attracted to anybody. So that was out of the question.”456 But she also attributed the WASP program with bringing

451 Beverly L. Beesemyer (WASP), interview with Kimberly A. Enderle on October 14, 2017, 1. 452 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 2. 453 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 3. 454 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 44. 455 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 44. 456 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 8.

153 her out of her shell. Becoming a pilot and becoming a WASP really increased her self- confidence: “I was making friends. I had guys who were interested in dating. Yes. I thought about marriage. As a matter of fact when I went later on to Alaska after we were disbanded I met a young guy and he wanted to get married. He was getting out of the service. I didn’t think it would work…but at least it built my confidence if nothing else. I thought about marriage but I wasn’t going to jump into it.”457 Heinrich’s daughters showed me pictures of their mother as a young girl. “That's mom, she wanted to be a boy…because she wanted to do everything the boys could do,” which included assuming male privileges, “she wanted to do whatever she wanted to do.”458 Heinrich admitted, “I wanted to be a boy.”459 “Boys did the whole universe of things.”460 She even dressed in what was considered in the 1930s and 1940s era to be boys’ clothing. Heinrich seemed to enjoy violating gender norms. In general, she didn’t have much interest in spending time with other women in the program. “I liked to be around men. I thought they were more interesting than women.”461 Heinrich’s daughters were well aware of their mother’s gender non-conformity, and urged me to examine pictures of their mother in childhood. Barbara Heinrich Jr. provided some insight into her mother’s engagement to her father; mom did the asking. When I asked Beesemyer what her parents’ expectations were of her after she graduated from college, she told me girls were expected to become “wives and mothers.” I asked if she had any interest in that; she replied, “definitely no.” Instead, Beesemyer told me that she wanted to focus on her career.462

457 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 10. 458 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 72. 459 “A woman, a WASP, A Warrior,” Jane Howard Lee, Baytown Sun, accessed on June 7, 2017, http://www.baytownnews.com/article_52ac56ef-29e3-57f1-ad4c-9171fc444131.html?mode=print. 460 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 71. 461 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 62. 462 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 24.

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In several ways Young’s actions as a young woman could be viewed as gender non- conforming as well. For example, Young knew how to operate a tractor, a combine and a five ton truck.463 She also knew how to perform basic automotive maintenance, “I could fix a car, they broke down often in those days and you had to be able to fix them.”464 Another example of her willingness to challenge established gender norms was in the late 1930s when she acquired a loan in her own name as an eighteen year-old without the signature of her parents. “I wasn’t old enough to sign those papers but I did it…I thought that was pretty impressive.”465 Young’s father described his daughter as “…one of the best wheat farmers in this part of the country.”466 Even though Young had earned the land owners more money than they had earned in the past four previous years, and enough to pay their taxes, when they found out she was a woman, their response was: “We don’t approve of women [working] in the fields. So they rented it [the land] to somebody else.”467 With regard to her desire to become a pilot, someone once told Young “you can’t do it if your parents don’t allow it.” To which she replied, “I never asked my parents.”468 When I asked Young what her parents expected her to do after she graduated from college, Young replied: “My father expected me to get a degree and go to work.”469 During that era, most parents expected their daughters to get married and have children, but Young’s parents never had these expectations. She addressed the issue saying, “Yeah, I had an interest in getting married and having kids at my own time.”470 Her mother instructed her if she decided to have children:

463 Young, Durr, Interview, 5. 464 Young, Durr, Interview, 10. 465 Young, Durr, Interview, 6. 466 Young, Durr, Interview, 6. 467 Young, Durr, Interview, 6. 468 Young, Durr, Interview, 7. 469 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 14. 470 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 15.

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“You better have a name with them.”471 Her mother didn’t want her to have any illegitimate children and she was supposed to remain a virgin until she got married.472 Another very interesting statistic that demonstrates the WASP resistance to gender norms was the number of women that never married. According to records from Texas University’s WASP archive, 504 of the 1,102 WASP and WAFS or approximately 46 percent never married. According to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare statistics from 1940-1960, on average 74 percent of women age 14 and older married in the 1950s.473 In addition to the low marriage rate compared to the rest of society, at least one woman became a cloistered nun, and went by the name Sister Teresa after the War. Sister Teresa, whose birth name is Anita Paul, was an engineering/maintenance test pilot based in Altus, Oklahoma during the War. Paul checked out airplanes that had been repaired or had been modified for combat. Even though her job was perilous at times, she said male pilots were quick to disparage their female counterparts despite the important role they played. Men thought “women just weren't supposed to be doing something like that.” How did they deal with the sexist attitudes of the men? She said, “…we just lived with it. We didn't know what discrimination was – that term hadn't even been coined yet.”474

HOMOSOCIAL FRIENDSHIPS The close quarters experienced as part of military life create bonds that very few outside the military can understand. Upon arrival in Sweetwater, the women were forced to

471 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 14. 472 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 14. 473 Robert D. Grove and Alice M. Hetzel, Vital Statics Rates in the United States 1940-1960 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Public Health, Education and Welfare, 1968), 59. 474 “Role of Female Pilots including Nun Chronicled through Local Efforts,” Steven J. O’Brien, Waco Herald Tribune, last modified October 10, 1999, http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp/Press/wacotrib.htm. Sister Teresa, who decided she wanted to be a pilot when she saw a plane fly over her New Hampshire home when she was 4 years old. She served with the WASP but left the U.S. after WWII and became a fully cloistered nun. She gave up normal contact with the outside world, choosing instead to dedicate her life to praying for others.

156 live in conditions that many had never experienced previously. For example, six women lived in a bay (or room), and twelve women shared a single bathroom, shower, sink and toilet. These close living conditions forged intimate relationships and lifelong friendships amongst the women, regardless of socioeconomic class or sexual orientation. Margaret Chamberlain Tamplin (class 43-W-3), explained it this way: We were assigned six to a room, and a lot of us thought that was going to be a horrible experience, living with no privacy with five other girls, well very shortly we became very good friends and it was no problem at all. We learned to share, and, also learned to help each other as much as possible, and we just became a well bonded group.475 Another WASP veteran describing her experiences at a WASP reunion shared this thought: “We were a sisterhood and sisters get together, and we had experiences no one else had and it was fun to relive them.”476 Each of the WASP I interviewed described having life-long friendships with other WASPs they had served with, typically women from their original WASP training class. Their best friends in most cases were other women that they served with in the WASP program. It seemed that only the other WASP could understand the difficulties suffered, the barriers they faced and overcame, all while doing something completely out of the ordinary. These unique women experienced one of life’s grandest adventures, but hardly anyone outside the organization understood their wartime challenges and rewards. Reynolds explained that when a woman washed out her classmates never knew she had left until they returned to the quarters that evening. The baymate along with all of her belongings would just be gone. In one such case. Reynolds described receiving a new roommate who was quite dissimilar from herself. They shored up the housing and I ended up with a debutante from Massachusetts. Her father was the attorney general…in Massachusetts. She was so high up in

475 Women of Courage: The Story of the Women Pilots of WWII, VHS. 476 Women of Courage: The Story of the Women Pilots of WWII, VHS.

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society that the Army flew her to Sweetwater…I was having trouble with ground school on physics because I didn’t have it in high school and what they were teaching, I assume, was college level. Now, she was one of these that was high society. She didn’t lord it over anybody. She asked me one day, you know, you’re always in that book. What are you studying? I said, if I don’t pass they’ll wash me out. She took an hour every day for over a month to help me with physics and I was quite impressed.477 In her desire to maintain and expand those close bonds of friendship after the War, Reynolds volunteered to run the WASP stores. During the reunions she forged new friendships with WASP outside her class. “I met…Madge Rutherford (Minton), who flew P-47s in the Ferry Command. We got to be the best of friends. She was a frequent visitor here.”478 She went on to add: “My closest associates would be one of my baymates who was also assigned to Merced. She taught me a lot about life. She was married so I got to know details that I probably wouldn’t have known otherwise.”479 Describing another classmate, Reynolds said: Well, we both went to Alaska and took jobs as Link trainer instructors for the B- 29s that were stationed there. They were doing surveillance along the coast of Russia. That’s how I got to get the B-29 time. Because the major in charge of operations wanted his Link instructors to be familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the radio beams in that area.480 Heinrich described a similar experience. Heinrich maintained life-long intimate friendships with two WASPs she served with in the 5th Ferrying Group, Air Transport Command at Love Field in Dallas, Texas from 1943 to December 20th, 1944. Marion Carlstrom (class 43-W-5 and Pursuit class 44-10A) and Cornelia (Connie) Y. Colby (Kafka) were sister classmates (43-W-4 and Pursuit class 44-8B). Not only did the women maintain close friendships, but the women vacationed together each year, spent holidays together, and

477 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 35. 478 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 36. 479 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 50. 480 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 50.

158 their children grew up in what felt like extended family relationships. To this day Heinrich’s two daughters’ best friends are the daughters of Carlstrom and Kafka. Young’s primary social relationships at Sweetwater were her baymates. “That’s who I hung out with.”481 After the program terminated, Young told me she remained life-long friends with three of her sister WASPs Classmates: Jean Moreo Terrell McCreery (class 44- W-10), Mary Anna (Marty) Martin Wyall (class 44-W-10), and Florence Elion Rubin Mascott (who was a trainee but did not graduate from the program). She said her best friend was a woman named Jerrie Phillips Badger (class 44-W-10).482 Sadly, all of these women have passed away, except for Mascott. Young added, “You know what, they’re probably my best friends to this day, the ones that are still alive.”483

WOMEN’S WORK AND SEXISM IN AVIATION In American Women and Flight Since 1940, historian, Deborah Douglas argues: It took their desire to participate and the advocacy of several key individuals, Eleanor Roosevelt in particular, to bring men to acknowledge the inherent usefulness of talented women pilots. Previously, the military leaders had not included women pilots, but by War’s end this had changed.484 Women like Cochran and Nancy Love were seen as exceptional and created an appropriate image for other women modeled after their own. To achieve this they worked within the existing male dominated power structures and adopted leadership norms of male leaders. Both sought to overcome prejudices against women in aviation by insisting their women applicants meet higher criteria than what was expected of the men; once accepted the quality of the women’s work had to meet or exceed that of men, if biases were to be eliminated.

481 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 31. 482 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 31. 483 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 32. 484 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 102-03.

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Prior to the War, aviation was considered a “man’s job” and a woman would be considered “unfeminine” as a result of working at it.485 More importantly to most women was a belief that men would not like a woman or respect her if her work necessitated the wearing of slacks or overalls,486 if she had to “climb all over a plane” or “get covered with grease working on the engine.”487 Schaffter argues, “even if women were willing to run such a risk, their ‘instability’ and ‘emotionalism’ and ‘lack of physical strength’ were cited as reasons why they should not fly planes.”488 But prior to World War II, women like Love and Cochran and a handful of other women were actually doing the “aviation jobs in question, and they were conveniently classified as exceptional.”489 The women of the WASP program simply found flying an alluring and exciting challenge. Some women felt pressure to succeed, Betty Wall Strohfus (class 44-W-1) argues, “We felt we had to do better than them, they were there because they had to be, and we were there because we loved flying.” 490 According to a Life magazine article entitled “Human Resources for a Total War” in 1940, a total of 11.4 million women were in the civilian workforce and of those 200,000 were supporting the War effort. By 1942 that number had grown to 12.3 million and 3.5 million of them were in wartime industries. A year later that number had increased to 6 million in the civilian work force, plus an additional 300,000 women were serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.491 When it came to a national emergency, women were

485 Schaffter, What Comes of Training Women for War?, 111. 486 Schaffter, 111. 487 Schaffter, 111. 488 Schaffter, 111. 489 Schaffter, 111. 490 Women of Courage: The Story of the Women Pilots of WWII, VHS. 491 “Human Resources for a Total War,” Life, October 26, 1942, 30-37.

160 also expected to contribute to wartime production and maintain the home. Life magazine reported: In their new war-production jobs, notably in aircraft ad machine tool plants, women have distinguished themselves for their aptitude, native skill and stamina. They have proved they can do any job a man can do, except one that involves physical prowess.492 Although society may have viewed women workers as a temporary anomaly, Doris Tanner Brinker, WASP Class 44-W4, says “From the beginning, the women were regarded by their families and other people in general as ‘different.’ Some men regarded them with admiration and respect, but many men, military and civilian, were openly antagonistic.”493 Historians Haynesworth and Toomey argue: Flying was hardly a typical ambition for a woman, but the social climate seemed to favor women who wanted to break the mold. But the girls who decided to become pilots soon discovered that public response to female fliers was mixed. Flying was not ladylike. It was dirty, greasy, and noisy. It required an understanding of engines and cables and control surfaces, and it was difficult to do in a skirt…494 Not only were women perceived to be transgressing gender norms, but their families wondered if the work made them undesirable to men. Mothers of aspiring aviatrixes would worry that their daughters would never find husbands. It was all very well to be adventurous, but it was no laughing matter for a girl to risk ending up a spinster because she persisted in acting too much like a man. And for all but the wealthy there were financial barriers.495 Many in aviation believed the physical stresses involved in aerobatic maneuvers could cause damage to female reproductive organs. This of course was nonsense. Schaffter

492 “Human Resources for a Total War,” 30-37. 493 Tanner, “Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator, Part II,” 68. 494 Haynsworth and Toomey, Amelia Earhart’s Daughters, 10. 495 Haynsworth and Toomey, 10.

161 argues that social constructs of gender and cultural norms hampered women’s full parity with men in the service during WWII. As long as little girls are taught ‘ladyhood’ from the cradle, as long as they must look on the activities and privileges of their brothers with wistful longing, as long as the word “tomboy” remains an epithet, we shall have a large, neurotically unstable feminine population, while our sturdier, less inhibited brothers and husbands will continue, generally, to be more stable and more dependable in the eyes of employers…for it involves feelings too deep-seated in the social consciousness to be changed in a matter of several generations—if at all.496 In “Human Resources for a Total War,” Life magazine asserted the “Ultimate solution of the manpower crisis is women,”497 but the article also clearly demonstrated the inherent sexism prevalent in U.S. society by pronouncing a double standard. “Though a man can be as sloppy as he pleases, an unsightly female, employers find, plays hell with morale.”498 The article goes on to argue work in war industries is glamorous: The woman worker in a war industry in the U.S. has acquired some of the glamour of the man’s uniform. In labor’s scale, she belongs to the elite. At the very top is the girl who works in an airplane factory. She is the glamour girl of 1942.499 In 1934, Helen Ritchey became the first woman hired as a pilot for a commercial airline. Male pilots insisted that she didn’t have the strength to handle an airliner in bad weather. Consequently, the airlines limited her to fair-weather flying.500 Then, thirty male members of the Bureau of Air Commerce’s medical division unanimously declared in 1935 that women pilots were not physically or psychologically suited for flying. The basis of their argument came from an article in the Journal of Aviation Medicine that stated: “out of ten

496 Schaffter, What Comes of Training Women for War?, 36-37. 497 “Human Resources for a Total War,” 30-37. 498 “Human Resources for a Total War,” 30-37. 499 “Human Resources for a Total War,” 30-37. 500 Rickman, Finding Dorothy Scott, 8.

162 women who had been killed while flying, eight were menstruating.”501 The assistant director of the Bureau of Air Commerce wanted women pilots grounded for a nine-day monthly period. Yet Byrd Howell Granger (class 43-W-1) argued aircraft don’t discriminate. “I never got in an airplane that asked what sex I was, if you knew how to fly, you flew.”502 The September 1943 Air Force magazine agreed: “Today a woman’s place is where she is needed, and until this war is won, that place is in the cockpit of ships women can fly from factory to field and, in doing so, release men pilots for combat duty.”503 But the mentality that existed among men in 1935 did not die so easily, and affected Nancy Love’s Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron when those women began to fly for the US military.504 Doris Brinker Tanner, (class 44-W-4) explains the sexism and resistance women faced when they sought to break into the world of military aviation. “A minority of men in the Air Transport Command were extremely bitter in their opposition to the women’s service and went to great lengths to discredit them whenever possible.”505 Tanner writes: Cornelia and other members of the first WAFS squadron recognized the fine line drawn between the traditional view of women and the revolutionary picture they presented flying a plane, previously a job considered suitable only for men…Any girl who has flown at all grows used to the prejudice of most men pilots who will trot out any number of reasons why women can’t possibly be good pilots…The only way to show the disbelievers, the snickering hanger pilots is to show them.506 By War’s end the WASP proved themselves emotionally stable, and medical records indicated that the WASPs endured heat, noise, vibration, and pain as well as, and in some cases better than, the men. Reynolds said many of the men in her flight ground school class didn’t think she deserved her place in the CPT program. They argued, “Girls don’t do that. If

501 Rickman, 8-9. 502 Women of Courage: The Story of the Women Pilots of WWII, VHS. 503 “Now Women Are Ferrying AAF Combat Planes,” Air Force Magazine, September 1943, 10. 504 Rickman, Finding Dorothy Scott, 9. 505 Tanner, “Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator, Part II,” 68. 506 Tanner, 68.

163 we go to war girls don’t go to war. Girls don’t fly. Give it to some guy. He’ll be a pilot or he’ll be a mechanic.”507 To which Reynolds replied, she’d earned it! Reynolds also reminded me the women were denied benefits that were granted to men doing the same work. “Well, they wouldn’t give us insurance. We had no insurance.”508 Reynolds also highlighted the sexual harassment prevalent among the male flight instructors at Sweetwater. Well, “I’ve heard a story where one of them, he made a pass at her and she rejected him and he washed her out.”509 While preparing for a checkride herself one day, Reynolds described blatant sexism she was forced to endure as a trainee. “I got off my butt, stood up at attention and said good morning, Sir.”510 He looked at me and said: I’ll have you know I don’t like women and I don’t like women pilots in particular. [She recalled thinking] Well, there goes that check ride. I was the first one out of my flight for this particular twenty-hour check ride. I gave him what I thought was a good ride. Two hours after I got down back on the ground he told me I passed.511 Heinrich described the pervasive sexism the women were forced to endure ranging from pure “amazement to downright (hostility) you’re here to take my job.”512 She felt the Navy men were much more receptive to female pilots than were the Army pilots.513 Beesemyer experienced blatant gender discrimination at Merced Army Air Field. Her unit commander was a misogynist, who made it known he did not want any women pilots in his unit. His refusal to allow the women to fly resulted in Beesemyer’s request to be reassigned to another base resulting in her transfer to Las Vegas, Nevada.514

507 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 13. 508 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 17. 509 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 36. 510 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 42. 511 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 42. 512 Heinrich, Beck Interview. 513 Heinrich, Beck Interview. 514 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 25.

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Heinrich also described a disturbing incident that occurred, “A man offered her an envelope, seemingly full of money.”515 She assumed without looking inside his offer was in exchange for sexual favors. Heinrich replied: “No, I don’t do that.”516 Young took the opportunity to address Cochran’s leadership style, and had this evaluation: “Well, she was forceful. People found fault with her. But if she would have been a man, they would say - right on!”517 As for her fellow Air Force Officers, Young said, “Well, they tolerated us…By that time…they figured that we were no longer competition of any kind, they kind of were proud of us.”518 In response to my question regarding how did you deal with sexism? Young replied: Well…I ignored them. I was good at ignoring things. I don’t remember anybody giving me a bad time because I was a woman pilot, at least not when I was doing it. Afterwards, there were some people that had a few words to say about women in the air and flying military airplanes. And they didn’t think we should be in the air at all. I told them that women were flying airplanes two or three years after the Wright brothers took off.519 Margaret Ringenberg said “Other girls in my class aspired to be secretaries, teachers, nurses, beauty operators, models, or housewives. The expectations of girls in the 1940s rarely exceeded the boundaries set by society.”520 She also said, “My mother was silent on the subject of the WFTD. I think she knew that if I had my mind made up I would do it. After all I was twenty-one years old, even if I was the baby of the family.”521 After she joined the WFTD, some people suggested to her parents that Ringenberg had character flaws, and

515 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 43. 516 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 43. 517 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 23. 518 Young, Durr, Interview, 20. 519 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 28. 520 Ringenberg, Interview, 23. 521 Ringenberg, Interview, 40.

165 others suggested she must not be the “good girl” her parents thought she was.522 Ringenberg provided some details about the flight instructors as well. “Our instructors, however, were civilians, employees of the War Training Service. Some of them didn’t like the idea of training females, but their jobs were keeping them out of combat, so it doesn’t seem that the sex of their students should have mattered to them.”523 So ingrained was men’s desire to keep women out of the cockpit that rumors spread and were spurred on by physicians. Ringenberg (class 43-W-1) writes: It was generally believed women were handicapped during their monthly cycles and would need to be off duty for a few days each month. We were thought to be unreliable because of this theory…Every month when a WASP had her period, she had to report to the medical officer, ‘I fell off the roof.’ That was what we had to say!” It was an embarrassment for many of us… Obviously, the fears…proved to be unfounded.524 Ringenberg says that, “Occasionally…we would hear comments like, ‘Why don’t you go back to riveting in the factory where you’re really needed? They resented the fact that they were being sent to combat because we were there to take over the ferrying jobs”525 “Another was, Why are you here anyway? I heard that comment more than once, but tried not to take it personally.”526 I came to understand that male pilots, especially fighter pilots, liked to flaunt their bravado in front of non-fliers and brag about their prowess in an airplane. It probably wounded their egos to have anyone see a hundred pound girl climb out of a plane. It made men look bad. My approach to dealing with hostility after that was to ignore it and do my job. Usually that was all it took.527

522 Ringenberg, Interview, 17. 523 Ringenberg, Girls Can’t Be Pilots, 51. 524 Ringenberg, 75-76. 525 Ringenberg, 76. 526 Ringenberg, 76. 527 Ringenberg, 77.

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Sadly, even Cochran herself perpetuated the gendered stereotypes. “Women have flown all types of combat aircraft and can do any aerial flying that men can do, except where unusual muscular strength or size is required.”528

GENDER DISCRIMINATION The WASP faced tremendous gender discrimination during and after their military service. Several of the WASP described being told they were expendable.529 In the film “Women of Courage,” Betty (Tack) Tackaberry Blake (class 43-W-1) described one day when the women stationed with her were instructed to fly when the weather was below minimum safety standards. The WASP were willing to comply with the directive, but asked why no men would be flying that day. Blake’s commanding officer told her, “Well that’s because you’re (the WASP) expendable, but the men aren’t…they might be needed for the War.”530 As contractors, the military denied the WASP a series of benefits offered without hesitation to their male counterparts, including: on-post lodging, $10,000 Government issued life insurance policies, burial with full military honors or a flag-draped coffin. Moreover, while on active duty they were billed for their military housing, food and laundry. They were also forced to purchase their uniforms, and when the program disbanded they were compelled to return all but one of them to the Army. The WASP were given no allowance to cover transportation costs to Sweetwater for training or travel home when the program abruptly ended five days before Christmas. The families and classmates of the thirty-eight WASP that were killed during training or while serving on active duty were obliged to purchase coffins and to pay shipping costs to

528 Cochran says WASP proved women are vast market reserve, n.d., Woman’s Angle, National Archives, Jacqueline Cochran Collection, Eisenhower Presidential Library,. 529 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 17. 530 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 17.

167 transport them home. Families were not permitted to hang a gold star531 in their window indicating a loved one died in the service during the War. This was due in part to the classified nature of their mission. Most civilians didn’t recognize their WASP uniforms or what they represented. In the film “Women of Courage” the veterans recalled being asked if they were pilots in the British or Canadian Air Transport Auxiliaries, or if they were truck drivers, milk drivers, flight attendants, ushers, and a variety of other occupations.532 When the program ended and the women sought jobs with the commercial airlines they were told they could be hired as stewardesses, but not as pilots. The final blow came when the U.S. Air Force became a separate service in 1947. The women were offered commissions, but none were offered jobs as pilots, although doing so would have saved the U.S. government millions in training costs associated with training new male pilots. Discrimination taken to its extreme can cost people their lives. Reynolds thought men’s actions bordered on sabotage. “When I took off, the electrical system failed. So I landed and got another aircraft.” 533 The next day she learned a trainee was killed in the aircraft she had turned down. What it was, was the hydraulic line coming through the cockpit broke in a spot that blinded her eyes. She was made to jump. She jumped but she was too low and didn’t realize it and [she] got killed. Now, it struck me as not being accidental that that hydraulic line they knew exactly where it would break to spray her. I think the girls at Camp Davis some of them, they complained about sabotage. But they’ve always downplayed it and

531 The term Gold Star family is a modern reference that comes from the Service Flag. These flags/banners were first flown by families during World War I. The flag included a blue star for every immediate family member serving in the armed forces of the United States, during any period of war or hostilities in which the armed forces of the United States were engaged. If that loved one died, the blue star was replaced by a gold star. This allowed members of the community to know the price that the family had paid in the cause of freedom. Additional information available at “Gold Star Survivors,” Army.Mil/Features, accessed April 1, 2018 https://www.army.mil/goldstar/. 532 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 66. 533 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 15

168 said poor maintenance.”534She relayed another story of being pressured into flying an aircraft that wasn’t airworthy. She was offered an aircraft with the status of not mission capable for maintenance. So I went to the maintenance officer and said, what gives? How bad is it? Is it a serious crack? He never answered me on the crack. He just said ‘If you don’t want to fly just go pack your bags and go home.’ That isn’t what I said, I said, I want to know just how serious it is. If I can make it down there, fine. But, if it crashes along the way you’ve got a cleanup to do.535 To which the male officer replied, “Well you know, WASP are expendable.”536 Reynolds provided another example of men’s efforts to deny women equality. After the War ended she said, “They buried our records for thirty-three years, buried them. Then, they said they couldn’t find them. When the military academy started accepting women into the academies the Air Force said for the first time they were going to teach women how to fly and that’s when we came out of the woodwork.”537

POLITICAL VIEWS, POLITICS AND RELIGION The women’s collective views were surprisingly socially and culturally progressive. Three of the women I interviewed for this project professed to be Democrats. Heinrich identified as a liberal and as a Democrat.538 She told me that her husband even registered Blacks to vote in Texas during the 1960s, which she said was a problem because in “my family – I would say mother was liberal. Daddy was not.”539 Young described herself as a moderate Democrat. “Well, I’m a Democrat, but…I’ve been known to vote outside the

534 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 15 535 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 17. 536 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 17. 537 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 22. 538 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 58. 539 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 59.

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Democratic Party.”540 She even added her opinion on the current administration, saying: “I’m really sick about Trump. He scares the hell out of me. I think he’s trying to set himself up to be the dictator. The first people he had to visit him are dictators... that bothered me…I know this much that Hillary would have been a better President.”541 Landis also identified as a Democrat. Two identified as Republicans: Reynolds described herself as Republican and a political “conservative,”542 Beesemyer described herself as a life-long Republican; however, both held liberal views on social issues. For all their interest in politics remains strong. Yet, unlike many people of their generation, all five women professed an aversion to organized religion, and although some attended church and were brought up practicing religion in their birth families, none of the women I interviewed for this project currently participate in organized religion. Although Beesemyer had been forced by her father to attend Catholic school for an extra year of high school, today she does not practice any religion.543 When I asked Reynolds, would you describe yourself as religious? Her reply was, “No!”544 Yet she was aware of religious differences. “Well, I knew one who was Jewish and I didn’t know she was Jewish until years later. Religion never came up. We didn’t have a chaplain. Well, there wasn’t a chaplain on the base. If you wanted to go to church you had to go to town.”545 Reynolds also had a disagreement with a friend over religion that ended their friendship. She was an atheist by choice and then she got religion and became a pain in the butt. I mean, I would get up every Sunday and go to Church [with her]. I stayed with her family for a while. I’d go to Church on Sunday morning and read the

540 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 45. 541 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 45. 542 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 55. 543 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 26. 544 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 50. 545 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 56.

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Sunday paper. Fair enough. She got religion and, I don’t know, she always figured I was on my way to hell and told me so. So, we didn’t stay friends too long after. Once she got religion it was just impossible to do anything.546 When I asked Heinrich about the importance of religion in her life, she responded: “Yeah. I would say not overly religious.”547 Heinrich denied any knowledge of Jewish women in the WASP program.548 When I asked Young about her religion, she replied: “I suppose I’m a Protestant. I’m not sure that Jesus was a god. So, I’m in trouble…”549 Their honesty in this aspect of their lives was authentic. They held no pretenses about their relationships to organized religion or their faith in a higher power.

SUMMARY By their own admission the women’s experiences during the War forever altered them. WWII presented the women of the WASP with an opportunity to participate in something truly extraordinary, and bigger than themselves. It was also an opportunity to be a part of a ground breaking experiment, to do something new that enabled them to challenge gender norms and usurp male privilege all while pursuing their passions. In their ninth decade of life they all believe in equality of the sexes, they support legislation that would require women to register for the Selective Service and they believe women should be able to serve and fight alongside men in combat. Their experiences with sexist oppression during their military service seem to have produced a greater understanding and awareness of other forms of oppression. In addition to gender normativity and the oppression of sexism I also discussed the women’s social and cultural understandings of race, racism and segregation in some detail with them. Given the richness of this aspect of my research and the WASPs

546 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 50. 547 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 62. 548 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 62. 549 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 37.

171 responses to my line of inquiry, I elected to devote an entire chapter to this topic. We also discussed sexual orientation and their tolerance for the LGBT communities. Their responses are contained in Chapter 6.

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CHAPTER 5

RACE, RACISM AND SEGREGATION IN THE ERA OF JIM CROW

The air is the only place free from prejudices. -Bessie Coleman, first Black woman to become an airplane pilot, 1921.

If the United States does not win this war, the lot of the Negro is going to be far, far worse than it is today. Yet there is…an alarmingly large percentage of Negroes in and out of the Army who do not seem to be vitally concerned about winning the War. —Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, Washington, DC, 1942

RACIAL CONTEXT IN AMERICA FROM 1920 TO 1930 To contextualize the WASPs’ experiences within the racial politics of the U.S. in the mid twentieth century, it is important to note that people of color were given the opportunity to serve in the Armed Forces before women (with the exception of nurses). So-called “race units” preceded the WASPs’ entrance into the military. Black, Asian American, and Native American men were able to serve but did so in racially segregated units. Black women and other women of color also served in the military, but their service was mostly limited to the Army. Black women faced double discrimination and were segregated by both gender and race. They were also barred entrance into the WASP program, while other women of color served alongside the predominantly Euro-American WASP. In the United States, Jim Crow laws predated segregation in the military and pervaded every aspect of public life: separate schools, and segregated restaurants, churches, stores, parks and movie theaters. In addition, the Klu Klux Klan cross burnings, abductions, mob “justice” and lynchings were all too frequent. Miscegenation laws in most states made it illegal for Blacks to marry whites. These constant threats of violence intimidated people of color.

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Later that same year the U.S. Army War College completed an after-action review of the performance of Black soldiers during WWI. The purpose of the report was to arm the Pentagon’s War Department with planning factors for the employment of Black soldiers, in the event of future wars. Entitled The Use of Negro Man Power in War (1925) the report demonstrates the prevalence of deep-seated prejudice and racial discrimination common among many white Americans during the era. The accompanying notes included the following statements:

 The Negro is physically qualified for combat duty.  He is by nature subservient and believes himself to be inferior to the white man.  He is most susceptible to the influence of crowd psychology.  He cannot control himself in the fear of danger to the extent the white man can.  He is mentally inferior to the white man. These findings were based on feedback from white, male officers of the War College classes of 1925, and based on their observations of Blacks during the First World War. The report also stated: “The Negro does not perform his share of civil duties in peacetime…he has no leaders in industrial or commercial life. He takes no part in government.” The report further alleges Blacks underperformed in combat during WWI and that they were cowardly. In short, the report perpetuates racist stereotypes of Blacks as physically strong, but lacking in intelligence and moral character. The findings only served to further personal, structural and institutional barriers faced by Blacks that prevented them from voting, running for political office, obtaining an education or achieving racial equality. Blacks were not the only minority that experienced racism: anti-immigrant sentiment also existed. As the Great Depression began in 1929, “640,000 Mexicans and 1.4 million Chicanos resided in the U.S.”550 Between 1929 and 1941, white people began blaming the growing U.S. unemployment on competition with foreign workers, and they organized to put

550 Amott and Matthaei, Race, Gender, and Work, 77.

174 a stop to Mexican immigration.551 Jim Crow laws also applied to Latinos, Chicanos, and Mexican Americans living in the southwest during the era; therefore, most individuals living in on the west coast would likely have been aware of the anti-immigrant sentiment.

Simultaneously, anti-Asian sentiment was rampant. In 1924, Congress passed an anti- Asian Immigration Act that denied Asian Americans the right to remain permanently in the U.S., justifying its actions with the fact that Asians were ineligible for citizenship.552 Denied citizenship the situation only got worse for Japanese Americans living on the west coast after Japan attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. In February 19, 1942, under the advisement of the Department of War, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066553 authorizing the evacuation and internment of over 110,000 Issei (first generation) and Nisei (second generation) Japanese-American citizens. This blatant discrimination of Japanese Americans did not extend to those who lived in other locations in the U.S.

THE “NEGRO PROBLEM” According to historians Teresa Amott and Julie Matthaei in Race, Gender and Work (1996), in the first half of the twentieth century it was common for white women to refuse to work alongside Black women and to demand separate eating and sanitary facilities, which small firms could not afford. In response, many small businesses hired only whites. 554 White customers frequently refused to interact with Black saleswomen, secretaries or receptionists. Restaurants in white business areas protested if Black workers tried to gain entrance, claiming they would lose their white clientele.555 For these reasons Black female high school

551 Amott and Matthaei, 77. 552 Amott and Matthaei, 204. 553 Exec. Order No. 9066, 40 U. S. C. § 533 (1942). Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 554 Amott and Matthaei, Race, Gender, and Work, 167. 555 Amott and Matthaei, 167.

175 graduates were often unable to find clerical or manufacturing work, which funneled them into lower paying jobs for which they were over-qualified. Many educated Black women took work in domestic service positions because those offered better pay. Black female employment in private domestic service grew between 1900 and 1930.556

Between 1900 and 1930 Black women were more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to be gainfully employed. Black married women were five times more likely than white married women to be in the labor force. But often these women served as domestics in the homes of whites. This presence in the workforce gave Black women economic and political power within Black communities; however, they continued to face segregation in public spaces. 557 This was the racial context for Black women in the U.S. after WWI. The military was not unlike U.S. society at large. It reflected the anxieties and the cultural and social norms that privileged white males; however, with the onset of WWII, the U.S. found itself presented with new opportunities for innovation and exploration.

WORLD WAR II On October 25, 1940 and prior to the U.S. official participation in WWII, the Army promoted its’ first and only Black flag officer. The prevailing belief was the Roosevelt administration promoted Benjimin O. Davis to the rank of brigadier general due to political pressure from citizens, voters, and civil rights organizations that represented them. Others have suggested it was to assuage the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and to covet the Black vote during the 1940 presidential election. Despite the ascension of one man to the rank of general officer, discrimination on the basis of race was prevalent and widespread in the military during WWII.

556 Amott and Matthaei, 168. 557 Amott and Matthaei, 165.

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New opportunities for people of color did exist during WWII. However, these advances were short lived. Historically the accomplishments of segregated units also known as “race units” have been made nearly invisible. Yet many of these units were among the highest performing units in the War. To some extent their success can be attributed to their extensive training prior to deployment. They were given more time to train, because segregationist policies kept them stateside and out of the War until the military could no longer justify their exclusion when additional personnel were so desperately needed. One notable example that occurred prior to the WASP program was the 332nd Fighter Group (also known as the Tuskegee Airmen). The purpose of the experiment was to determine if Black men could be trained to fly Army aircraft. Many people incorrectly assumed Blacks lacked the intellectual skills and abilities to fly. In the film Silver Wings: Civil Rights the Fight to Fly,558 the airmen interviewed said beliefs about the racial inferiority of Blacks led some to assume “Negroes couldn’t fly.”559 To dismantle the belief that Blacks were less qualified than whites to pilot combat aircraft, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Tuskegee Institute in 1941 and opted to take a flight with “Chief” C. Alfred Anderson.560 In total 994 Black men were trained as part of the Tuskegee Experiment between 1941 and 1945, giving them a certain equivalency with the women in the WASP program, who were also deemed an experiment. But the connection between the WASP and the Tuskegee Airmen went further. Both groups often were ostracized on military bases and made to feel unwelcome, which led to the two groups developing a mutual respect for one another.

In late 1943, both groups were still considered provisional. As the Army Air Force began forming the 477th Bombardment Group to fly twin–engine bombers at Mather Air Force Base, WASP class 43-W-7 graduated from training in Sweetwater, Texas. In

558 Anderson, Silver Wings and Civil Rights: The Fight to Fly. 559 Anderson, Silver Wings and Civil Rights: The Fight to Fly. 560 Anderson, Silver Wings and Civil Rights: The Fight to Fly.

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November of 1943, nineteen WASP found themselves stationed at Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento. The WASP were informed they would be trained on the B-25 Mitchell bomber alongside Black Tuskegee Airmen. 561 What was unique about this is that all trainees, regardless of race or gender, trained on the same aircraft, used the same classrooms, and dined at the same mess hall.

A closer bond developed between the WASP and the Tuskegee Airmen after the women insisted that the priority for dining at the Mess Hall alternate every other day rather than always prioritizing the WASP.562 There were smiles and nods from across the room, and thus began the brief friendship between the two remarkable groups– the women of the WASP program and men of the Tuskegee Airmen, both of whom the AAF regarded as experiments.563 Historian George Edward Barbour in Early Black Flyers of Western Pennsylvania, 1906-1945 says, “Most of the black flyers who experienced…discrimination during the early days displayed little bitterness. They were happy to have been there when flying was dangerous, glamorous, enjoyable, satisfying and challenging.”564

While Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Love were fighting to be able to ferry aircraft in the U.S., the leaders of the Tuskegee Airmen were fighting to be able to fly in combat. The Tuskegee Airmen were eventually deployed late in the War effort. The additional months of training and flying hours paid dividends; the 332nd Fighter Group had higher success rates when compared to similar units. By War’s end a total of 355 Tuskegee Airmen deployed overseas and flew combat missions. They were credited with completing 15,000 successful sorties, 1,491 combat missions, and 206 aerial victories, plus the sinking of an enemy

561 Haynsworth and Toomey, Amelia Earhart’s Daughters, 110. 562 Haynsworth and Toomey, 110. 563 Haynsworth and Toomey, 110. 564 George Edward Barbour, “Early Black Flyers of Western Pennsylvania, 1906-1945,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 69, no. 2 (April 1986): 118.

178 destroyer. They also demolished numerous enemy installations.565 For their efforts they were awarded 1,031 air medals and 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses. A total of 66 Airmen were killed in action and another 31 were held as prisoners of war.566 Despite their unsurpassed War record, individually they continued to face discrimination when they returned home to the U.S.

A second race-based program that proceeded the WASP was the 100th Infantry Battalion, a Japanese-American unit comprised mostly of Hawaiians that formed in June of 1942. It participated in the attacks on Monte Cassino, the military advance from Anzio, and the final Allied Offensive from Rome to the Arno River. In August 1943 the unit reorganized, becoming part of the larger 442d Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and deployed to North Africa in September 1943. The 442d RCT was comprised of soldiers from Hawaii, volunteers from the Japanese internment camps and Japanese Americans that served in the U.S. Army prior to the War. In June 1944, the unit was deployed to Europe, and fought in eight major campaigns in France, Italy and Germany. In April 1945 these soldiers, many of whom had family living in U.S. internment camps, became some of the first troops to liberate the Nazi concentration camp located in Dachau, Germany. During the War more than 13,000 soldiers of Japanese American descent served in the regiment. More than 700 members were killed or listed as missing in action; the unit was also the most decorated unit of its size in U.S. military history. 567 An additional 6,000 Japanese Americans served in the Military Intelligence Service. They were recruited directly from internment camps and provided translation and interrogation assistance during the War. They are perhaps best known for the role they played in deciphering a captured set of

565 “War Record,” Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Redtail Squadron, accessed September 10, 2017, http://www.redtail.org/the-tuskegee-airmen/war-record/. 566 Caver, Ennels, and Haulman, The Tuskegee Airmen, 11. 567 Maranzani, “Unlikely World War II Soldiers Awarded Nations Highest Honor,” last modified November 3, 2011.

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Japanese military documents, known as “The ‘Z’ Plan,” which outlined a final, large-scale counterattack on Allied forces in 1944. The discovery of the plan has been hailed as one of the most important military intelligence successes of WWII.568 Another wartime experiment that preceded the WASPs was the U.S. Marine Corps’ recruitment of Navajo and other Native American code talkers for service in all six divisions in the Pacific, and with its Marine Raiders and parachute units. Their work was lavishly praised as they participated in major Marine assaults on the Solomon Islands, the Marianas, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima. Their work led to victory in the Pacific.569

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN OF COLOR In the overarching context of racial bias and discrimination prevalent in the U.S. during this era, women of color but especially Black women were the lowest rung on the social ladder. Chinese Americans, Native Americans, Filipino Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other ethnic Americans were all lumped together in integrated units. Yet Blacks in particular were set apart based on segregationist policies.570 Historian and former Women’s Army Corps (WAC) officer Martha S. Putney, in When the Nation Was in Need: Blacks in the Women’s Army Corps During World War II (1992), argues no other ethnic group was subjected to a publically announced quota.571 The Army established a force structure limitation on Blacks at ten percent, resulting in them being referred to as “ten percenters.”572

568 Maranzani, “Unlikely World War II Soldiers Awarded Nations Highest Honor,” last modified November 3, 2011 569 U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Indians in the War (Chicago: Haskell Printing, 1945), https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list- alphabetically/i/indians-in-the-war-1945.html. 570 Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, 5. 571 Putney, 2. 572 Putney, 2.

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In fact, directives were sent to selective service centers telling them not to recruit Blacks for the Army at the onset of WWII.573 There was a precedent for the early women’s units that were segregated by both gender and race. In 1941 prior to establishment of segregated male units, the U.S. Army had opened its Nurse Corps to Black women, but with a ceiling of 56 applicants. On June 25, 1941 President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 created the Fair Employment Practices Commission. It eventually led the way in eradicating racial discrimination in the defense programs. But things did not change significantly in the War Department until 1943, when Congresswoman Frances P.B. Bolton (R-OH) introduced an amendment to the Nurse Training Bill that ended racial bias and cleared the way for 2,000 Black women to enroll in the cadet Nurse Corps. The quota was eventually eliminated in 1944, allowing over 500 Black Army nurses to serve stateside and overseas during the War.574 Similar to the Tuskegee Airmen, the Black women who served in the WACs were also considered an experiment. Black WACs that served in the Army did so in racially segregated units, were trained separately, lived in different barracks, dined at designated tables in mess halls, and were forced to use Black recreational facilities. In addition, Black officers were prohibited from entering officers’ clubs, and instead were instructed to use Negro Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) clubs. The Black WAC officers although trained in integrated units, and lived and worked under segregated conditions.

Throughout the War women experienced discrimination on the basis of gender and race. During WWII the only Black WAC unit to deploy overseas was the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (CPDB) commanded by Major Charity Adams Early. The unit deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in January 1945 and remained there

573 Putney, 2. 574 “A Brief History of Black Women in the Military: World War II,”Kathryn Sheldon, accessed September 12, 2017, https://www.womensmemorial.org/history-of-black-women#4.

181 for fifteen months. The 6888th CPDB managed the ETO’s mail routing and package distribution both in England and France. “Although the unit set a record of handling 65,000 letters per shift, or 130,000 in a sixteen hour period, army postal and WAC staff inspectors reportedly were critical of the unit’s efficiency.”575 By War’s end, 6,500 black women including 146 commissioned officers served in the WACs.576

During the War, 6,520 Black women served in the WAC.577 Yet little research has been published on their work during WWII. Furthermore, despite allowing women of all races to serve, the Army only segregated Black women. Initially, the Army was the only service to accept Black women. Although a percentage for Japanese American women was never mandated, the women were barred from service until 1943. So, overt racism and discrimination were prevalent and pervasive in the military throughout WWII. To counter this racism the “Double V” campaign sought victory both at home and abroad in its war against bigotry and racial discrimination in civil society and in the military.578 General Davis was emboldened to believe by the campaign as well as coverage in the Black press that the tide was turning in the spirit of racial equality. However, throughout his tenure Davis was forced to fight for equal and fair treatment for minorities across all of the military services.

RACIAL UNDERSTANDINGS AND THE WOMEN’S AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS Cochran grew up in the racially segregated south, and was familiar with racism and the practice of lynching. Although it wouldn’t be fair to assume Cochran was racist, in her

575 Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, 103. 576 Putney, viii. 577 Sheldon, “A Brief History of Black Women in the Military: World War II,” accessed September 12, 2017. 578 Mullenbach, Double Victory, 62.

182 first autobiography The Stars at Noon (1954) Cochran recalls several incidents from her youth that provide some insight into her understandings of race. Once when I was quite a small child I noticed a crowd of men going off into the woods with a Negro prisoner…The Negro was tied to a tree, wood was put all around him and after being sprinkled with kerosene it was set on fire. I was too young to have any great feeling about the injustice or the loss of life, but I took away from that scene a very bad memory...579 Cochran describes witnessing a second lynching although the details she provides are contradictory. “Several years later I saw two men legally hanged for a crime they had committed. These hangings then impressed me as wrong and revolting.”580 It’s difficult to determine from her description if in fact the lynching was legal or not. She described the disparity in education for people of color: “While the school for white children was no more than rudimentary, there was no school for Negros.”581 Although Cochran herself only had a third grade education, it is logical to assume based on her comments regarding her early life experiences that she may have had some preconceived notions that Blacks were less educated; therefore, less capable than whites. Records indicate that at least five Black women applied to become WASPs. In the only surviving letter dated 19 August 1943, and written by Cochran to a Miss Sadie Lee Johnson of Tunica Mississippi who applied on August 4, 1943 to join the WASP, Cochran writes: “Unfortunately, there is no provision for the training of colored girls in the Women’s Flying Training program. However, I would suggest that you investigate the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), since they enlist colored girls for various types of work.”582 At least four other distinguished Black female aviators applied to become WASP: Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg, Dorothy Layne McIntyre, Rose Agnes Rolls (Cousins), and

579 Cochran and Odlum, The Stars at Noon, 14. 580 Cochran and Odlum, 15. 581 Cochran and Odlum, 19. 582 Cochran and Odlum, 19.

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Mildred Hemmons Carter. (Detailed biographies of these women can be found in Appendix D.) Each of the women received a letter similar to the one written to Johnson. Cochran was already fighting issues associated with gender segregation, housing and sexism with the existing WASP program and did not want t obroach the subject of racial inclusivity. Another problem was that the women would need to find suitable lodging during cross-country flights, often conducted as single-ship missions, when they were forced to land and remain overnight in route to their destinations. These cross-country missions were already problematic for the WASP; the added barriers presented by Jim Crow likely seemed unsurmountable to her.

Cochran discouraged Black women applicants. When Black women applied to become WASP, by her own admission, none were selected. Cochran addressed the issue of race in her autobiography:

The so-called Negro question was laid on my doorstep in a very direct way early in the women pilots’ training program. Several Negro girls applied for training but never more than one at a time out of the thousands of applicants. I interviewed these particular applicants in proper order without prejudice or preference, hardly knowing what I could do at that stage of my program if any of them had passed the preliminaries.583 She believed none of the women were fully qualified, but agreed to meet with one to discuss the issue: Finally one, a New Jersey school teacher who was a pilot and a fine physical specimen, made application for acceptance as a student in Sweetwater. I asked her to join me for breakfast on a Sunday morning in my New York apartment…I told her the manifold troubles I was having getting the program started and ended by stating that I had no prejudice whatever with respect to the color or race of my candidates but that the complication she had brought up for decision might, for one reason or another, prove the straw that would break the camel’s back. This fine young Negro girl recognized the force and honesty of my arguments, stated that first of all, the women pilots’ program should be stabilized and

583 Cochran and Odlum, 127.

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strengthened, and she withdrew her application. She also saw to it, I believe, that I was left alone thereafter so far as this particular issue was concerned. I appreciated her understanding and respected her as a person.584 Given the racial climate prevalent in the Army in 1940, attempting to integrate the WASP would have likely been the final nail in the coffin in Cochran’s already tenuous relationship with the Army Air Force. Cochran absolutely wasn’t willing to risk the entire survival of the WASP program to include Black women. Although Cochran refused to admit Black applicants, there were undoubtedly Mexican American women in the WASP program; however, they are impossible to identify, because in the 1940s the census only offered the following race identities: white, Black, Native American and Asian.585 Individuals who identified as Latinx, Chicanx, Hispanic, or Mexican American would have been categorized as white. However, at least three women of color did serve as WASP during WWII. Ola Mildred Rexroat (class 44-W-4) was a Native American of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Hazel An Ying Lee (class 43-W-4), and Maggie Gee (class 44-W-9) were both Chinese Americans. (Additional information on these women can be found in Appendix E.)

RACISM: IF IT DOESN’T AFFECT ME, DOES IT REALLY EXIST? Like Love both Heinrich and Beesemyer’s families were part of the socioeconomic elite class. Their families employed Black domestic workers in their homes. Both women described being raised by Black nannies, yet when asked about their childhood neither woman articulated an awareness of the prevalence and pervasiveness of racism in the U.S. prior to their joining the WASP program. I argue that their socioeconomic class privilege sheltered them from the realities of racism. When I inquired about Beesemyer’s racial

584 Cochran and Odlum, 127-28. 585 “What Census Calls Us: A Historical Timeline,” Pew Research Center, Social and Demographic Trends, accessed September 3, 2017, https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/interactives/multiracial-timeline/.

185 consciousness, she claimed, “I didn’t pay any attention to race growing up. I just joined the crowd.”586 When I asked about the “Whites Only, No Coloreds” signs and Japanese internment camps after Roosevelt’s Executive Order in 1942, Beesemyer claimed to have never noticed individuals being treated any differently on the basis of race or ethnicity: “I didn’t notice it, I didn’t pay much attention to it.”587 But, earlier in our conversation, when I asked her to describe the race of their nanny, she described her as: “a southerner, a big ‘ole Black woman”588 and when talking about summers at the beach house, she told me sometimes she got so tan that when she went back to school “they thought I wasn’t part of the white race.”589 So, clearly she was aware of racial differences, but either consciously or unconsciously ignored the prevalence of racism that existed in the U.S. prior to WWII. During follow-up conversations, Beesemyer recalled the internment of the Japanese on the West coast during WWII. She also told me two Chinese-Americans and one Native American had served with the WASPs. The Willis Family (Heinrich’s parents) also had a nanny named Neenie. When I asked the woman’s race, she replied, “she was…Colored,”590 adding Neenie’s husband Rudy also lived and worked at the family household. Heinrich’s socioeconomic privilege in her youth may have limited her social awareness of the prevalence of racism. Heinrich grew up on the east coast and also had no recollection of the Japanese internment591 or segregated Black or Japanese units’ participation in the War.592 Furthermore, when I asked her if she

586 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 26. 587 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 27. 588 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 28. 589 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 29. 590 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 9. 591 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 63. 592Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 60.

186 was aware of any women of color that served in the WASP, she replied, “I don't think so.”593 Heinrich did not recall either Lee or Gee the two Chinese American pilots although Lee was a pursuit pilot, who also served in the WAFS and like Landis was a member of Heinrich’s flight training class (43-W-4). This might be understandable because of the size of their training class. In fact, neither woman (Landis nor Heinrich) recalled knowing the other. However, unlike Heinrich Landis told me she knew Hazel Lee very well. Landis said, “As a classmate of mine I felt Hazel was an excellent pilot. Hazel was killed while in service on November 23, 1944 while delivering an aircraft.”594 When I queried Heinrich about Rexroat, she asked “What class [was she in]?”595 She was most knowledgeable about the women with whom she had trained and served during the War. When I asked her if she was aware that Black women applied to the WASP program, she answered: “no!”596 She also possessed no recollection of racially segregated units during the War. However, after the War she and her husband lived in southern Texas, and racism became much more visible to her. During the 1950s and 1960s, her husband Ray registered Blacks to vote,597 which was a risky proposition for whites in the South during the era of Jim Crow. However, the women I interviewed who were born into middle class and working class families were acutely aware of racial differences. Landis described two childhood incidents involving race. She explained that as a child she used to play with a neighbor girl who was her best friend and was Black. One day her father overheard her nonchalantly referring to her friend using a racial epithet. Her father pulled her aside and explained that the term she was using was derogatory and demeaning, and she was never to use it again. Landis

593 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 61. 594 Jean Landis personal correspondence, April 10, 2018. 595 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 61. 596 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 62. 597 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 14.

187 said she never did. She described a Mexican worker needing a place to stay during the harvesting season, and her father offered him space in their barn. She also described the migrant being invited to eat meals with the family, and that he wasn’t the only person to join them for meals. Landis was acutely aware of societal social and cultural differences between whites and minorities. Likewise Reynolds and Young, who grew up in working-class families, in predominantly white communities, were aware of racism. Perhaps their experiences with poverty in rural white areas of the U.S. and their lack of exposure to people of color during their childhood gave them a better understanding of discrimination and oppression when they saw it. In the 1940s Blacks weren’t the only racial demographic the U.S. discriminated against. When I asked Reynolds about race, she said where she grew up in Pennsylvania, the population was mostly Euro-American. However, she confessed, “Italians were the Black Americans.”598 She explained Italians were not treated equally because they didn’t speak English.599 Reynolds’ only other recollection of race in her childhood was from elementary school. She said: When I went to the elementary school… there were a couple Blacks in the class. I think there was one who…played on the football team and one girl that was kind of on the arrogant side. She and I got into a fist fight out on the grass one day and we really laid into each other. When it was all over we shook hands and we were the best of friends ever since.600 Reynolds added: “Well, racism is something you learn at home. I don’t recall my parents being racist. My brother who was two years older than me was very racist. I don’t know why.

598 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 24. 599 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 24-25. 600 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 25.

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He didn’t get it here.”601 With regard to the race of her classmates Reynolds knew that Black female aviators had applied to the WASP program and Cochran had turned them away.602 Amongst the four WASP I interviewed for this project, Young had the greatest awareness of racial discrimination. She knew there were women of color in the WASP: “Yeah…we had Chicanas…there was one in our class.”603 She knew Rexroat personally and she had even visited her at her home.604 She told me “There were no Blacks”605 but “…there were Chinese [Americans]…Maggie Gee.”606 Young also had a social awareness of issues going on outside the WASP during WWII, such as the Japanese internment in the western U.S. When I asked her what she thought about it, she said, “I thought it was pretty stupid.”607 Raised in Nebraska, she told me: “I didn’t know any Black people. Well, that’s not true. I did know some.”608 Young also offered, “there were Jewish women in my class…Florence Mascott…there were other Jewish women in the WASP, too.”609 Young was unaware that any Black female aviators had applied to the WASP program, but she was aware no Black women were WASP.610 She was also familiar with the Tuskegee Airmen: “the male fighters were all segregated, yeah, the Tuskegee Airmen.”611 Young described a chance encounter with some of the famed Tuskegee Airmen:

601 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 25. 602 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 26. 603 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 34. 604 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 34. 605 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 35. 606 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 35. 607 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 35. 608 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 35. 609 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 35. 610 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 36. 611 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 36.

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…one time…I was shipped back into Panama City from Tyndall Field…on one of those big rigs that carry like a lot of the people…maybe 10 people in it—stopped, and I got in…the guy I was sitting next to was a Black man with blue eyes. I looked around, and everybody was Black. Well, I went back and I told my friends about the blue-eyed Black man, and they had a fit because I got on the plane, especially the Southerners…They thought I was endangering my life I guess, [but] they [the Tuskegee Airmen] were nice to me.612 I also asked Young if she had any recollection of racial issues in the 1950’s, 1960s or 1970s. Yeah, I do and I was always surprised about them. When I first came to work in Colorado Springs, I took a job as door girl at the Antlers [Hotel]. This was in the ‘50s and I was surprised that a black person could not stay at the Antlers Hotel. They had places in town where the black people would stay, but…They were just people’s houses.613 Young, described going to town to get some ice cream. …there were a bunch of people waiting for ice cream. One of them was a Black family, and I came in after them, at the end. There was the black family and me…the proprietors waved me forward. And I said, ‘No! These people were first.’ And they got scared, the Black family did, and I was confused. But I let them serve me first, because I didn’t know what else to do. Obviously, they were afraid, and I couldn’t figure out why.614 Young attributed her understanding of race to her work experiences: But of course I worked with Black people all over at the Department of Social Services, and as fellow employees and as clients. I just thought it was weird…I seldom think of race when I’m talking to anybody.615

SEGREGATION ENDS IN THE MILITARY During a commencement address at Howard University, President Harry S. Truman articulated his position on racial inequality: “Back in 1947 a good many people advised me not to raise this whole question of civil rights. They said it would only make things worse.

612 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 36-37. 613 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 37. 614 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 37 615 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 37.

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But you can't cure a moral problem, or a social problem, by ignoring it.”616 Truman felt to ignore racism was a disservice not only to people of color but to all Americans. “It is no service to the country to turn away from the hard problems--to ignore injustice and human suffering. It is simply not the American way of doing things.”617 Ever the eternal optimist, Truman added: “We are all Americans together, and we can solve our hard problems together, including the problem of race relations.”618 On July 26, 1948 President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, Desegregation of the Armed Forces, which mandated equal treatment and equal opportunity for all races and ethnicities in the military.619 Although the experiments with “race units” and the WASP program proved to be huge successes, the advances experienced by people of color and women during WWII were short-lived. Ultimately tempered by cultural and societal beliefs that these populations were inherently inferior, these experiments were deemed a failure as in the case of the WASPs and an anomaly in the case of the Tuskegee Airmen. This left both groups feeling disappointed and disenfranchised. At the end of WWII, most if not all Blacks that had served in the military anticipated their military service would earn them equal rights at home. Putney argues Blacks, “were looking for a better social climate when the War was over,”620 They had heard President Roosevelt’s “Arsenal of Democracy” and “Four Freedoms” fireside chats, and they believed these idealistic dreams included them. Many also believed the military as an institution would lead the way.621 But the U.S. Government, like the military failed to keep its promises.

616 “Commencement Address,” (The American Presidency Project), Harry S. Truman, accessed October 29, 2017, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14160. 617 Truman, Commencement Address. 618 Truman, Commencement Address. 619 Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, 143. 620 Putney, 118. 621 Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, 119.

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Though race relations in the U.S. would improve slightly after WWII, the change was fleeting. By the mid-1950s Jim Crow, segregation, racism, routine lynchings, and social inequities in the areas of education, housing, state and local government, and voting rights appeared as central issues to be addressed through civil rights movements of the late 1950s and 60s. But the Civil Rights movement wasn’t the only battle ground that emerged after WWII. Women had tasted freedom and economic independence, but after the War they were expected to return to their lives the way they were prior to the War. But “there was no turning back for some women—especially for Black women.”622 Their frustrations would manifest in the women’s rights and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

622 Mullenbach, Double Victory, 2.

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CHAPTER 6

SEXUAL ORIENTATION, COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY AND HOMOPHOBIA

You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight. - Barry Goldwater, “Goldwater Backs Troops.” New York Times (1 July 1993)

That word "lesbian" sounds like a disease. And straight men know because they're sure that they're the cure. - Denise McCanles, in the Homo Handbook, by Judy Carter (1996).

THE PATHOLOGIZATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY To contextualize the WASPs’ understandings of sexual orientation within the sexual and gendered politics of the U.S. in the mid twentieth century, it is important to understand that homosexuality was medicalized and deemed immoral and dangerous. Heterosexism was the societal norm, and those that cross dressed, identified as lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transsexuals were shunned. They faced blatant homophobia, legal persecution and psychiatric institutionalization. The military reflected these anxieties and the cultural and social norms that privileged young, white, able-bodied heterosexuals. In the 1920s the emerging field of psychology was just beginning to understand the origins of homosexuality. In the 1930s, lesbian and gay culture flourished in the U.S. and across the world. According to historian Bert Archer in The End of Gay (2002), what during WWI had been conceived as “innate homosexuality” by WWII had “now made it to the rest of us.”623 Archer says that many of the individuals that participated in same-sex intimacy

623 Archer, The End of Gay, 98.

193 during WWII would later come to define themselves as heterosexual and marry, thus conforming to established societal norms.624 Those that continued to practice same-sex intimacy after WWII came to be seen as deviant, mentally ill or sexual psychopaths and were to be defined in terms of their deviant sexual behavior. After the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940625 was signed into law, two prominent psychiatrists, Harry Stack Sullivan and Winfred Overholser, sent President Roosevelt a memorandum suggesting that “in light of the enormous expense of not screening potential soldiers in the last war (more than half of the beds in American hospitals were still, in 1940, occupied by WWI psychiatric patients), perhaps he might think about doing it this time before things got too far along.”626 Archer writes, “within a year, both the Army and Navy had revised the policy, adding homosexuality to the list of ‘deviations’ Sullivan and Overholser said should disqualify someone from service.”627 This became a turning point, after which “the military consistently, for the rest of the War and for decades thereafter, referred to men and women, who engaged in or were prone to homosexual activity, as sexual psychopaths.”628 Many lesbians and gay men seeking employment in defense industries and government service migrated from rural and agricultural areas of the U.S. to urban centers along the eastern and western seaports. “By early 1942, the homosexual was considered enough of a type, and enough of a problem, to prompt inclusion of a new paragraph in the military mobilization regulations titled ‘Sexual Perversions’ that…set the tone for anti- homosexual screening procedures for the rest of the War.”629 It quickly became a well-known fact that the military was rejecting homosexuals. To avoid malingerers claiming to be

624 Archer, 98. 625 Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, Pub. L. No. 76-783, 54 U.S. C. § 855 (1940). 626 Archer, The End of Gay, 102. 627 Archer, 102. 628 Archer, 102. 629 Archer, 103.

194 homosexual, but weren’t, the War Department painted homosexuality as “a heinous character trait…so bad that no one…would want to cop to it.” This created a widespread revulsion towards homosexuals both within the military and civil society.630 Furthermore, anyone rejected from the draft for homosexuality would have their record so annotated. In short, homosexuals were seen to have breached a fundamental contract within society. They were deviant and abnormal -- a construct that led to self-loathing, shame and a desire for invisibility even within the gay community. Persistent prejudice in the military and self- hatred amongst homosexuals led to a rise in homophobia, which by the end of WWII had coalesced and trickled down into society.631 Employers who “had the right under the 1940 Selective Service Act to demand an applicant’s draft record, as a condition of employment” would see that person rejected for being a sexual psychopath.632 Few offenses angered U.S. citizens more during the War than perceived malingerers, those who avoided military service under false pretenses or those who acted on “uncontrollable sexual desires” or “homosexual impulses.”

THE LASTING IMPACTS OF WORLD WAR II According to historian Allan Bérubé in Coming Out Under Fire (2010) the military was more diverse during WWII than at any other time in U.S. history because the demand for male soldiers was great: By the end of the War in 1945, the armed forces had enlisted…16 million citizens and residents, 10 million of whom were draftees. Most soldiers were unmarried white men…No census was taken of the number of gay men and lesbians.633 Prior to WWII, most U.S. citizens assumed that nearly everyone conformed to traditional heterosexual norms, and that those who didn’t were a small deviant minority. But in 1948, Alfred Kinsey published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, which changed

630 Archer, 109. 631 Archer, 99. 632 Archer, 109. 633 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 2-3.

195 people’s understandings of the prevalence of homosexuality. The report stated that nearly 46 percent of the male subjects reacted sexually to persons of both sexes in the course of their adult lives, and 37 percent had had at least one homosexual experience.634 These revelations led to a belief that homosexuality was a perversion practiced by a minority, and that heterosexual men’s participation in such acts was due to a lack of self-control.”635 Later, Kinsey published Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), which revealed “64 percent of the married females in our sample had experienced sexual orgasm prior to their marriage.”636 Listed in Kinsey’s Report amongst the pre-marital sexual outlets for women to achieve orgasm were masturbation and homosexuality. The shocking knowledge that women frequently achieved orgasm without men raised concerns about women’s intimate friendships with other women, which came to be viewed as potential sites of lesbianism. All of Kinsey’s revelations were extremely threatening to the social fabric of society and the heterosexual normativity of the 1950s. Bérubé suggests that freed from society’s traditional constraints of gender roles, young gays and lesbians found others like themselves, and experienced abundant opportunity to explore their sexuality away from the watchful eyes of parents and neighbors. In urban areas soldiers and sailors forged new identities, developed a unique vernacular to help ferret out others like themselves, found solidarity in friendships, and built a community of likeothers.637 Soldiers also found military service provided unique opportunities for underground clandestine encounters. In an environment where Bérubé’s says intimacy between men was sanctioned, homosexual encounters between men involving heterosexuals were tacitly accepted as less deviant, and a normal result of men’s long absences from

634 Alfred Charles Kinsey, Wardell Baxter Pomeroy, Clyde Eugene Martin, and Sam Sloan, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 1948), 656. 635 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 3. 636 Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, Clyde E. Martin, and Paul H. Gebhard, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), 171. 637 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 6.

196 women.638 These beliefs that homosexuals had a secret language known only to each other, and that gay bars were in clandestine out-of-the-way locations furthered the belief that homosexuals were Communist spies.639 WWII also changed how same-sex love and intimacy between women was perceived. Bérubé argues that the military experience was different for lesbians, because the military establishment was more tolerant of masculine women for two reasons. First, negative publicity would hurt recruiting efforts. Secondly, because stereotypical “dykes” – viewed as more masculine – were ideal for service in the armed forces.640 Except for a few exceptions where lesbians were investigated, they did not receive the same scrutiny during the War as male homosexuals.641 Although in comparison to men relatively few women entered the military to free men for War, their inroads into arguably the most hegemonic masculine institute in the U.S. “led the military to adopt its first policies regarding the screening, discharge, and management of lesbian personnel.”642 This argument is further substantiated by Treadwell’s The Women’s Army Corps: Special Studies (1954),643 which describes WAAC and the subsequent WAC policies for “managing” lesbianism during WWII. The fact that the leadership of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps published policies to deal with lesbians and suspected lesbianism further proves the homophobic context within Army culture. These institutional norms were reason enough for lesbians to hide their sexual orientation or deny it to themselves and others while in military service. A turning point occurred at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia near the end of 1944 when a WAC trainee’s mother found love letters from another woman in her daughter’s belongings.

638 Bérubé, 6. 639 David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 34. 640 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 29. 641 Bérubé, 142. 642 Bérubé, 3. 643 Treadwell, The Women’s Army Corps, 623-26.

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The mother contended the WACs were “full of homosexuals.”644 This incident led military leadership to create “anti-lesbian screening guidelines” to exclude lesbians from service like their male counter-parts.645 In short order, gays and lesbians learned if they wanted to remain in military service, their sexual orientation would have to remain hidden. At the same time, being openly homosexual was also a liability for government employees and contractors. Bérubé writes: “Thousands of patriotic gay men and lesbians faced similar dilemmas as they weighed the sacrifices and opportunities of military service against those of remaining civilians during a national emergency.”646 The military became an institutional force that shaped wider social and political views.647 In fact, most recruiters and physicians condoned or looked the other way to allow gays and lesbians to enlist, while targeting predominantly effeminate men for rejection from military service, rather than the more aggressive hypermasculine gay men or masculine women.648 Off-duty soldiers on leave and pass filled urban public spaces, bars, parks, hotels and YMCAs, creating a gay sub-culture that flourished during the War and was more public than ever before.649 On-duty effeminate men were pigeon-holed into traditional feminine positions, such as clerks and secretaries or asked to perform in drag for soldier shows.650 Bérubé argues fellow soldiers seem to have been for the most part fairly accepting of their gay compatriots, who were frequently described as exceptional soldiers. He says a culture of “I won’t bother you, if you don’t bother me” existed during the War.651 Meanwhile, despite

644 Archer, The End of Gay, 98-99. 645 Archer, 99. 646 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 4. 647 Bérubé, 5. 648 Bérubé, 2. 649 Bérubé, 109-17. 650 Bérubé, 110. 651 Bérubé, 52

198 tacit acceptance within the military ranks, leadership continued to purge homosexuals from its rosters. One researcher argues that “liberal psychologists,” compelled by their desire to decriminalize the act of sodomy, encouraged military leaders to abandon its criminalization favoring a disease model that labeled homosexuals mentally ill.652 Acceptance of the new medical model also meant that homosexuals required psychological treatment and compassionate discharge rather than imprisonment. But a diagnosis of sexual psychopath resulted in a lasting social stigma. Worse yet, homosexuals were more likely to be targeted for hospitalization in psychiatric wards (often with dangerous criminals or prisoners of war). Many were forced to accept “blue discharges,” an undesirable discharge, as a sort of middle- ground between honorable and dishonorable discharges.653 Others faced courts martial without due legal process, and those in combat or with classified knowledge were often confined to a “queer stockade” for the duration of the War. 654 Yet, a few less fortunate individuals were reclaimed for military service and were sent directly into combat.655 Those that were foolish enough to discuss their problems with doctors, psychologists or chaplains were shocked to find their confidences betrayed.656

THE WASPS’ UNDERSTANDINGS OF SAME-SEX DESIRE IN THE 1940S As discussed in Chapter 3, during my interview with Beverly Beesemyer I learned she was involved in a long-term same-sex relationship with another woman. But initially when I inquired about Beesemyer’s interview with Ethel Sheehy as part of her acceptance into the WASP program, she told me she reported being interested in dating boys in high school and college. She said, “there was a group of about six of us, we’d go to the Coconut

652 Bérubé, 262. 653 Bérubé, 262. 654 Bérubé, 262; 214. 655 Bérubé, 207-9. 656 Bérubé, 201.

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Grove every weekend.”657 She went on to describe herself as “shy,”658 and “a loner…(who) wanted to do things my way.”659 She was never serious about any particular guy, and admitted that secretly she harbored some suspicion as early as high school that she might be more interested in girls than boys. I suspect as a young woman, by avoiding intimate friendships with other women she could deny her same-sex desire to both herself and others. Later on as we got to know each other better, she confessed: I had a little of that [lesbianism] in high school, with a couple of the gals that were twins, until their mother found out. Subconsciously, I probably knew I had an interest in other women, even though I was dating men and everything.660 Beesemyer’s comments about the twins did make me wonder if this incident in high school was the reason her father made her attend an extra year of high school at the Sacred Heart Academy. “Father sent me there, he decided I should take a little more schooling before I go to college. I think he wanted to put me away for a while.”661 In Bad Girls: Young Women, Sex, and Rebellion Before The Sixties (2015), historian and gender studies scholar Amanda H. Littauer, writes that “Experts of various stripes, including psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, and cultural commentators, agreed on one bottom-line: no matter how and why women became lesbians, all lesbians were fundamentally immature,”662 a term her father used to describe her. Beesemyer told me, “When I got into the service I grew up, I really had to be responsible for myself.”663 This was also when she grew to understand her own same-sex desire. Beesemyer admitted her interest in another woman while she was attending training, but the other woman married a man after the War. Beesemyer also mentioned her awareness

657 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 30. 658 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 31. 659 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 32. 660 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 33. 661 Beesemyer, conversation with author, Laguna Woods, January 19, 2018, 1. 662 Amanda H. Littauer, Bad Girls: Young Women, Sex, and Rebellion Before The Sixties (Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press Books, 2015), 157. 663 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 34.

200 of other lesbians while she was attending WASP training. “Two gals and I got together, we were at opposite ends of training. We called ourselves the three musketeers.”664 Beesemyer also told me there were others like her in the program: There were gals that would manage to be together, and sleep together. Until somebody said, jiggers, there is someone coming and to watch out and then they went and got back into their own beds. Oh sure there was a little homosexuality going. But it was hush hush and very carefully (sic).665 There were other WASP in the room, but “…they didn’t say anything or maybe they were nice enough to keep their mouth shut.”666 Beesemyer “came out” when she realized that she was “was very fond of a girl, and she was helping me go through practicing instruments [at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas]. We’d be sitting out by the windsock and one day, that’s when I met her husband to be.”667 Clearly, Beesemyer was interested in the other woman, but was disappointed to learn the woman was not a lesbian. She described another incident at Sweetwater when three women invited her to go to the lake with them on her day off. As soon as they arrived at the lake, two of the three girls headed out into the bushes leaving her with the other woman. Beesemyer told me nothing happened, all she and the other woman did was talk. But she went on to say, “I never got invited out by them again.”668 My question about “coming out” was definitively answered when she eventually told me about her life partner Patricia Cross and how the two met. They met at a party in the 1950s in Beverly Hills, California. She admired her from across the room. Beesemyer told me when she first met her, Cross was unavailable, she was dating another woman, who cross- dressed as a man and performed in a drag show on Sunset Boulevard. Cross’ partner was also married and had a young child. Needless to say it was a complicated relationship, even by

664 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 35. 665 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 36. 666 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 37. 667 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 38. 668 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 39.

201 today’s standards. It wasn’t until later that the two women began courting, and, as Beesemyer described it: “She brought me out.”669 Besides Beesemyer, Millicent Young provided other insights on this topic. Young said a woman was kicked out of her training class and sent home for being a lesbian.

The only one that I know that was kicked out—about moral issues, was they said that she was a lesbian, [Eleanor] Pepper. They kicked her out, because she was not a heterosexual. There were others that were lesbians, but they didn’t make any moves on anybody or they were more careful…who they made moves on or something. I know some of them that were also lesbians, but she’s the only one I know that was kicked out [of training for being a lesbian]. I don’t know, she must have made a move on somebody wrong. I know that the Morrison [sisters Nina and Jane] were both lesbians.670 When I asked her how she knew they were lesbians, Young said: “Because I knew them later.”671 Then I clarified, so, you didn’t know they were lesbians while you were in training? “No, I didn’t, and I didn’t know that Pepper was either, because I wasn’t busy picking up on that sort of thing. In my hometown, I did pick up on it, but I didn’t there…I wasn’t paying attention, is the reason.”672 When I talked to Reynolds about the same topic, she told me she learned a lot about both sex and sexual orientation while attending pilot training. You could well imagine that I wasn’t told much about the facts of life [by my parents]. They [the other WASPs] knew this and what they did is they formed a protective circle around me. If we would go out in this group and a bunch of guys would come by, GIs you know, trying to pick girls up. They always made sure that I was covered. I mean, it was like a family. It was like, what I figured a family would be [like].673 Reynolds said she learned a lot about life and sex after lights out.

669 Beesemyer, Interview, January 19, 2018. This terminology is used to mean Patricia Cross was Beverly’s first lesbian partner and after this point she came to realize she was a lesbian. 670 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 38-39. 671 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 39. 672 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 39. 673 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 6.

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When we had lights out at ten o’clock they would talk…They talked about their affairs. It was for my benefit. They knew that I had no experience and out there I’m going to be very vulnerable. By the time I graduated I’d learned a lot more than flying believe me.674 Reynolds saw her older and more experienced roommates as worldly. Her parents expected her to remain a virgin until she was married. Of course, my parents were very strict. They were very strict disciplinarians… I wasn’t allowed to date…until I’m eighteen…But every time I would walk out the door he’d put down his evening paper and he’d look at me and he’d shake his finger and say, “Now remember young lady, honor is your first consideration. Don’t you dare bring disgrace on this Shutsy name.” [To which she replied,] “Yes, sir.”675 I asked Reynolds if she knew about same-sex desire or lesbianism, and she claimed to be uninformed. I didn’t even know what a lesbian was, when I went to war. That was part of the education that I was denied. I got my education after lights out which they would explain because every now and then I’d ask a question. No. I didn’t know about gay people. I didn’t know about lesbians.676 But during the War much of the social taboos about sex and intimacy went out the window, “I do know that most of the guys you met during the War figured you were ready to jump into bed anytime. It was sometimes difficult to explain to them…I don’t do that. Shove off.”677 Yet, because the women were perceived to be performing work that was considered traditional men’s work society perceived them to be mannish, and mannish women are often assumed to be lesbians. Women who fail to conform to their socially dictated roles as wives and mothers have been associated with prostitution. This was also the case with women that served in the military during WWII. Reynolds relayed details of a conversation that took place between her mother and a neighbor:

674 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 6. 675 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 6. 676 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 58. 677 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 58.

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When I went into the service my mother had a visitor…and the subject came up about the fact that I was now in Texas learning how to fly. My mother asked this neighbor, “Would your daughter go into the service?”…She said, “No, they got enough whores in the Army.”678 I wondered if Reynolds had been aware of any same-sex or lesbian relationships amongst the WASP. That came later…I didn’t know all that. I knew there was a couple. I figured it out. I said [to a classmate], That one, do you think she’s gay? [Her classmate replied,] Yeah! That’s one, right? No, not that one, she’s straight. Okay. I just wanted to know.679 Reynolds added, “it makes no difference to me. I don’t care what you are. I’ll take you based on what you think and you do.”680 She added, “Well, from where I stood I could pick a dozen right now that are gay or that are lesbian.”681 I inquired whether some of the women brought their partners to the WASP Homecomings. Reynolds replied: At the reunions. I remember there was one…We became good friends…I invited her to join our table and so on and one of them said to me,” You know she’s a lesbian.” I said, You’re kidding? “No, I’m not.” So, that was the end of that….I never cut off a relationship or a friendship. I don’t care what you are. If you want to be Mickey Mouse for all I care, if I like you, I like you.682 Reynolds told me she evaluates people on how much they contribute to the organization and not based on their sexual orientation. Unlike some of the other WASP, Heinrich claimed she was not aware of any lesbians during her tenure in the WASPs. Her focus was on flying, and boys. She indicated she wasn’t too interested in what others were doing in their intimate lives. But when I mentioned a rumor that there were issues with alleged lesbians in the WACs at Camp Oglethorpe during WWII, Heinrich responded, “It could be.”683

678 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 59. 679 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 59. 680 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 59. 681 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 60. 682 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 60. 683 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 65.

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BLUE DISCHARGES, THE ERA OF CONFORMITY AND THE GOVERNMENT PURGE OF HOMOSEXUALS During and after WWII, many veterans deemed unsuitable for military service returned home with a blue discharge,684 which was one of the most vindictive punishments “meted out to veterans of World War II,” because it meant the Veterans Administration would deny them benefits guaranteed under the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944.685 The Armed Forces blue discharge policy became the standard in the U.S. for institutional discrimination of lesbians, gays and bisexuals.686 Once the War concluded and their services were no longer needed, the military sought to purge itself of all the “undesirables,” including homosexuals, women, and people of color.687 Bérubé writes, “The post war campaign to correct injustices of blue discharges was initiated by advocates for black civil rights, who willingly fought for the rights of 37,000 whites, 10,000 homosexuals, as well as, the Negroes involved.”688 In fact, “veterans who fought to upgrade their undesirable discharges for homosexuality began to define their struggle with the government as one for justice and equal rights…ideas that became prerequisites for a political movement.”689 One of the first homophile organizations in the U.S., the Veterans Benevolent Association (VBA), was founded in New York City in 1945 by four honorably discharged gay veterans. The VBA formed in part in response to the injustices associated with Blue Discharges.690 After WWII the U.S. grappled to find stability at home and to establish itself as a world leader amidst the seemingly ever growing spread of Communism worldwide. President

684 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 139; 141. Homosexuality often resulted in Dishonorable Discharges, nicknamed “Blue Discharges,” because they were typically printed on blue paper. A blue discharge resulted in loss of GI Bill benefits, veterans’ preference for post military employment, and often led to estrangement from one’s family and community. 685 Bérubé, 229. 686 Bérubé, 213. 687 Bérubé, 216. 688 Bérubé, 232. 689 Bérubé, 7. 690 Archer, The End of Gay, 111; Bérubé, 249.

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Harry S. Truman assumed the Presidency on April 12, 1945 following the death of President Roosevelt. Six months later, Truman was praised for bringing an end to WWII after he approved the use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima on August 6, and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. This led Japan to capitulate and sign an unconditional surrender om September 2, 1945. Then President Truman won a surprising re-election battle against Thomas E. Dewey in 1948, but in the ensuing years of post-War conformity, conservative Republican leaders in Congress successfully convinced the U.S. voting population that the existing administration was corrupt and rife with communist sympathizers and homosexuals. Barbara Gittings says, “People were paranoid, and they were looking for enemies of all sorts, and everywhere. Not just communists, but queers, and anyone who was deviant, people who were dissidents of any kind, sexually, socially, politically, what have you and they were looking for this in every corner and behind every door. It was a whole different spirit.”691 After the 1948 election, Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) was appointed to lead the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Seeking to make a name for himself, McCarthy pronounced a “War on Communism,” promised to purge the U.S. of communists, and portrayed himself as a patriotic American. Conservative Republican legislators, led by McCarthy and others, successfully convinced society that excessive alcohol consumption and loquaciousness, also deemed to be security risks, were qualities closely associated with homosexuality, and would result in government employees unwittingly sharing national secrets with communist sympathizers.692 Ultimately, in the 1950s and 1960s, homosexuals came to be viewed as an even greater threat to national security than individuals accused of committing espionage, sabotage, treason, or acts of sedition.693

691 Before and After Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community - 25th Anniversary Edition, directed by Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg, (New York: First Run Features, 1985), DVD, 87 min. 692 Johnson, The Lavender Scare, 7-8. 693 Johnson argues in The Lavender Scare that homosexuality was believed to be Stalin’s “Atom Bomb,” given the belief that Russians practiced “free love” and were opposed to marriage (36). He further argues some conservative Republicans began calling the apparent rise in homosexuality in the U.S. specifically in the DOS the “Homintern,” which was a conflation of homosexuality with communism (40-43). The Comintern was an international organization of international communists. Due to the conflation of communism and homosexuality, homosexuality was seen as a double threat (40-43).

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Hoover’s FBI supplied McCarthy with much of the material he used to sustain his crusade.694 David K. Johnson argues in The Lavender Scare (2004) that statements made by government officials in early 1950 led to the “Lavender Scare” and dismissal of several thousand homosexuals from their government positions.695 McCarthy alleged more than 200 communists worked for the State Department. John Peurifoy, Deputy Secretary of State, countered that and argued that 91 of the 200 were identified as potential security risks for moral reasons solely because they could be blackmailed for being homosexuals. This explanation contributed to McCarthy’s conflation of homosexuality with security risks.696 According to Johnson, the U.S. Government began purging the federal work force of homosexuals shortly after the end of WWII.697 By labeling alcoholics, philanders, and homosexuals as moral reprobates, sexual deviants and security risks, Senator McCarthy effectively convinced the U.S. public that homosexuals were a greater risk to U.S. values, democracy and freedom than suspected spies and actual communists. Aided by the FBI and the HUAC, McCarthy, using uncorroborated data and inflammatory rhetoric, claimed moral deviants were corrupting U.S. society and, more importantly, were vulnerable to exploitation and blackmail from communist agents seeking to overthrow the U.S. Government. The FBI conflated homosexuality with mental illness and launched countless witch hunts, seeking to identify and punish those whose sexual proclivities were deemed deviant or outside the heterosexual norm. Like the Red Scare, which sought to punish alleged communist and communist sympathizers, Hoover’s pursuit of alleged homosexuals and sexual deviants became known as the “Lavender Scare.” The media were also involved in promoting the belief that homosexuals were communists. A series of tabloid articles appeared in a magazine entitled Vitalized Physical Culture, where Johnson states, “Arthur Guy Mathews advocated a ‘crusade’ against

694 Mark Hamilton Lytle, America's Uncivil Wars: the Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon (London: Oxford University Press, 2005), 20. 695 Johnson, The Lavender Scare, 1. 696 Johnson, 1. 697 Johnson, 2.

207 homosexuality to save the nation from a Communist victory.”698 Apparently, Mathews suggested newspapers run articles with the headline: “EXTRA, EXTRA! COMMUNISTS ARE NOW CONVERTING AMERICAN YOUTH TO HOMOSEXUALITY TO DEFEAT US FROM WITHIN.”699 Matthews also labeled homosexuals “pink pansies,”700 argued homosexuality was a communist plot to make the U.S. “weak,” and claimed that homosexuality was “Stalin’s Atom Bomb.”701 Accordingly, “(e)very authority—from churches to the federal government to the American Psychological Association—agreed that homosexuality was a form of ‘perversion’ whose victims had to be cured, lest their depravity spread to others.”702 By the 1952 presidential election the atmosphere in the U.S. had changed dramatically, focusing on conformity with U.S. values, traditional gender roles, and moral conservativism. Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower, a good friend of Jacqueline Cochran and her husband Floyd B. Odlum, ran for office in 1952 on a morality platform that promised to return to the “moral standards of the American people,” eliminate corruption, incompetence, disloyalty in public office, and contain communism.703 As a result, upon assuming power in 1953, Eisenhower issued his executive order [10450]704 that made ‘sexual perversion’ grounds for not hiring as well as firing

698 Johnson, 37. 699 Johnson, 37. 700 The Communists were referred to as “reds.” Given that pink is a lighter shade of red, the nickname pink pansies indicates the association of lesbians and gays with communism. The pansy portion was a reference to emasculated men. 701 Johnson, The Lavender Scare, 37. 702 Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (London: Oxford University Press, 1999), 147. 703 “Republican Party Platform, July 7, 1952,” The American Presidency Project, accessed November 17, 2017, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25837. 704 “Security Requirements for Government Personnel,” Exec. Order No. 10450, accessed September 13, 2017, https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html. Executive Order 10450, was signed by Eisenhower on April 24, 1953. Section 8 a reads: (1), the investigation as to whether potential employees should be hired or existing employees retained in the Federal Service on the basis of five perceived threats to national security. (i) Any behavior, activities, or associations which tend to show that the individual is not reliable or trustworthy. (ii) Any deliberate misrepresentations, falsifications, or omissions of material facts. (iii) Any criminal, infamous dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use

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federal employees. This policy extended not only to government agencies and departments but to all businesses with government contractors, affecting a total workforce of about six million.705 More interesting was that deviancy from the heterosexual norm was listed as a disqualifying factor in the Executive Order prior to treasonous offenses, such as sabotage, espionage, sedition, or aiding and abetting the enemy,706 indicating that the Eisenhower administration perceived homosexuals to be a greater threat to national security than an act of aiding and abetting their enemies (the Communists). The FBI, through its networks of confidential spies, was essential in leading the purge of homosexuals from the U.S. Government. In this regard, the Bureau provided evidence to departmental agencies accusing suspects of homosexual activities or of associating with known homosexuals. Individuals accused of the crime of indiscretion, immoral behavior and sodomy were subsequently denied legal representation, denied access or opportunity to review the evidence against them, and forced to sign confessions. Worse yet, they were often intimidated into divulging the identities of other associates and friends with false promises they and their associates wouldn’t be fired or publically outed.

COUNTER NARRATIVE IGNORED BY U.S. GOVERNMENT In addition to the Kinsey Reports other reports emerged in the late 1950s that countered the Hoover and McCarthy narratives. Dr. Evelyn Hooker, a clinical psychologist, published the first empirical research to challenge the prevailing psychiatric assumption that homosexuality was a mental illness. Her study, “The Adjustment of the Male Overt

of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, sexual perversion. (iv) Any illness, including any mental condition, of a nature which in the opinion of competent medical authority may cause significant defect in the judgement or reliability of the employee…, (v) Any facts which furnish reason to believe that the individual may be subjected to coercion, influence, or pressure which may cause him to act contrary to the best interest of national security. 705 Archer, The End of Gay, 114. 706 Executive Order 10450, “Security Requirements for Government Personnel,” Section 8 a. (2) reads: “Commission of any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, sedition, or attempts thereat or preparation; therefore, or conspiring with or aiding and abetting, another to commit or attempt to commit any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, sedition.”

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Homosexual” (1957),707 was the first of its kind to include research on “normal homosexuals.” Her groundbreaking research discredited the belief homosexuals were inherently less mentally healthy than heterosexuals and ultimately led to the removal of homosexuality as a mental health disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM II) in 1973.708 Also in 1957 Captain S.H. Crittenden completed a study of homosexuals in the U.S. Navy709, which concluded “there was no evidence to support the idea that homosexuals as a class ‘cannot acceptably serve in the military’ or that they were a security risk. The board even suggested that homosexuals might be more reliable in espionage and other top secret jobs than some heterosexuals.”710 Neither Dr. Hooker’s research on homosexuals nor the Crittenden Report received wide distribution. “It was only under orders from a federal judge in 1977 that the Crittenden Report and other Navy studies were released.” More importantly, during the years EO 10450 was in place, not a single homosexual was ever found to have been blackmailed or to have provided aid or assistance to the Communist Party.

THE GOVERNMENTS WAR ON HOMOSEXUALS DURING THE ERA OF CONFORMITY I sought to understand the WASPs’ awareness of what historian David K. Johnson described as the “Lavender Scare,” or an abnormal fear of homosexuals that existed in U.S. society during the 1950s.711 After briefly describing the Lavender Scare, Beesemyer recalled “I was aware of it then, at that time that they were really afraid of it, and there was really a kind of warning to don’t be (gay), or don’t get into anything (employment) in the

707 Evelyn Hooker, “The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual,” Journal of Projective Techniques 21, no. 1 (1957): 18-31. 708 Schiller and Rosenberg, Before and After Stonewall. 709 S. H. Crittenden., Report of the Board Appointed to Prepare and Submit Recommendations to the Secretary of the Navy for the Revision of Policies, Procedures and Directives Dealing with Homosexuals, 21 December 1956 – 15 March 1957 (Washington, DC: Pentagon, 1957). Often referred to as the “Crittenden Report.” 710 Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire, 277-78. 711 Johnson, The Lavender Scare, 1-7.

210 government,” for fear of being investigated for homosexuality.712 She went on to add, “In our business we could tell sometimes they (people looking for jobs) suspected Pat and I were together, you know.”713 I asked, “So your situation was very similar to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy I served under?”714 She replied, “Right, it was exactly the same thing!”715 When we met again in October 2017, Beesemyer recalled the 1950s era of conformity as a problem, saying: “Yeah, I had to be real careful. People wanted to come by the house and we had to say no!”716 She told me that she and her partner Pat had to hide their relationship from their clients, and went so far as to say, “Some homosexuals looking for work sought us out because they suspected we were gay.”717 After the Hollywood Ten incident,718 Beesemyer had to be particularly careful especially living near Hollywood, she owned a business with another woman who was her life partner. Beesemyer said of course it was a problem, “two women owning a business people always suspected.”719 She went on to say, “It literally felt like you had someone on your shoulder, all the time.”720 Beesemyer remembered it “was the worst time to be gay.”721 To protect themselves from the witch hunts

712 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 40. 713 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 41 714 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 42. 715 Beesemyer, Interview, September 30, 2017, 43. 716 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 3. 717 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 4. 718 “In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business. These prominent screenwriters and directors, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, received jail sentences and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios. Their defiant stands also placed them at center stage in a national debate over the controversial anti-communist crackdown that swept through the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s.” Source: “Hollywood Ten,” History.com Staff, accessed December 9, 2017, http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/hollywood-ten. 719 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 5. 720 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 6. 721 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 7.

211 and harassment of homosexuals during the era, she said “Our only friends were gay.”722 She described attending house parties and the security of remaining within a small community of friends and allies. I also asked if she ever ran into any WASP who were involved in same-sex relationships or who identified as lesbians after the program ended. She relayed a story about taking a trip to Big Bear, California for a long weekend after the program was disbanded. She said the woman that invited her had been one of the administrative officers that oversaw WASP training in Sweetwater. She went on to say that “two women locked themselves in the bathroom and stayed there all weekend.”723 She admitted that obviously the two women were lesbians.724 Beesemyer also mentioned her frequent attendance at the bi-annual WASP Homecoming Reunions, and taking her partner along. She told me that she along with other lesbian WASP over the years attended WASP events with their partners, which I attribute to expanding the some of the heterosexual WASP awareness of lesbianism. It also may have attributed to the more positive understandings of lesbianism by the WASP I interviewed for this thesis. With regard to Heinrich’s knowledge of the 1950s era of conformity, she said “There were a lot of people who were – against the gays.”725 When I asked if she personally knew any gays or lesbians, she denied knowing any. Heinrich’s daughters reminded their mother she has a gay male friend named Bob.726 Seeking to understand Reynold’s take on recent Department of Defense policies that affect lesbian, gay and transgender service members, when asked her views on the validity of the DADT policy, Reynolds responded, “Oh yeah. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell [policy]? I

722 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 8. 723 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 9. 724 Beesemyer, Interview, October 14, 2017, 10. 725 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 65. 726 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 66.

212 think it’s a waste of time. I think if they want to serve, let them serve.”727 This was a very progressive stance for a political conservative. I was even more surprised when I asked her about the Trump administration’s controversial reversal of the transgender policy. She responded, “I don’t agree with him.”728 “It’s their country. They’re entitled to stand up for it.”729 She added, “What their sexual orientation is, is their business. It’s their choice…The job is what’s important. You’re not going to grade him on his sexual ability or at least I hope not. It’s very unfair. I don’t agree with Trump on that one …”730 When I asked Young if she thought it was appropriate for the military to discharge individuals from the military based solely on sexual orientation, she replied, “I think that’s stupid to kick out somebody about that. Whether they’re males or females, I think it’s just stupid to do it.”731 Historian Douglas M. Charles argues, “In many ways the Second World War gave rise to the homophile movement of the 1950s and 1960s.”732 The U.S. had won the War, and having supposedly rid the world of fascism, returning gay WWII veterans wanted to achieve equality at home; these individuals decided to found the first homophile group in the U.S. in 1950 called the “Mattachine Foundation.”733 Based in California the Mattachine Foundation began as a social organization initially, but quickly moved on to activism. While investigating the Mattachine Foundation (which later became the Mattachine Society), the FBI became aware of an affiliated “secret society of lesbians,” which was a social organization started by Rose Bamberg, a young Filipino lesbian. Later this organization became known as the Daughters of Bilitis (DoB), formed in 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and her

727 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 62. 728 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 62. 729 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 62. 730 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 62. 731 Young, Interview, September 2, 2016, 39. 732 Douglas M. Charles, Hoover's War on Gays: Exposing the FBI's “Sex Deviants” Program (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2015), 154. 733 Charles, Hoover’s War on Gays, 154; 156.

213 partner Del Martin.734 Ultimately the DoB would become a political and activist organization focused on providing positive information to the public on gay and lesbian lifestyles, as well as a social organization. One individual became especially well known for his persistence in fighting the homophobic U.S Government bureaucracy, Frank Kameney. Kameney was a WWII Army veteran with a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University who was fired from his job at the Army Map Service in Washington, D.C. after the police arrested him for gay cruising in Lafayette Park.735 Unlike countless other gay men and lesbians who were fired after their orientations were discovered, Kameney didn’t fade away into obscurity. He formed the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC, and along with others dismissed by the Government took to the streets of the capital to protest and bring attention to the plight of homosexuals. He built a coalition of like-minded individuals willing to push back against the government’s oppressive policies that discriminated against homosexuals. His fight for lesbian and gay equality went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1961 refused to hear his case.736 Frank Kameney’s activism, and the proliferation of homophile organizations in the 1950s and 1960s, would ultimately spawn the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970s.

SURPRISES, SECRETS AND PROMISES KEPT I was pleasantly surprised at how open minded and progressive these WWII veterans were with regard to their acceptance of lesbians and the entire LGBT community. All of the women I interviewed agreed that sexual orientation and gender non-conformity should not be used to discriminate against those who want to serve in the U.S. military. I was flabbergasted when some of the women shared the names of others who they alleged were involved in same-sex relationships. This private information has been an insider secret for decades. Most of the women indicated an awareness of the McCarthy era witch hunts and the implications

734 Charles, 193-94. 735 Isserman and Kazin, America Divided, 147-48. 736 Isserman and Kazin, 148.

214 for those who might be found out in the purge that Johnson refers to as the “Lavender Scare.” Yet, since they disagreed with this discrimination, they chose to withhold information from others who might seek to do their sisters harm. It’s only been in recent years as the population of living WWII veterans has slowly decreased, and with the retrospect of time, that a few of the women are willing to share this private knowledge they have so long held in confidence.

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CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. - Charles Kettering

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. - Harold Wilson

FIGHT FOR MILITARIZATION Beginning with the WAFS the Army Air Force’s leadership had always planned to commission women, as soon as Congress made the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps part of the Regular Army.737 Such an addition was agreeable to Colonel Hobby (Director of the WAAC), Colonel Betty Bandel (the Air WAAC Officer), and General George C. Marshall (Chief of Staff of the Army), especially since the number of women pilots was relatively small in comparison to Colonel Bandel’s 40,000 Air WACs, and could have been administered without any additional expense.738 However, as early as 1942 Cochran had pressed military leaders and Congress for full militarization of the WASP as a separate program. She insisted the WASPs could not be absorbed into Colonel Hobby’s Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She staked her reputation on a belief that not more than 20 percent of

737 This means as soon as the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) converted to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) it became a regular branch of the U.S. Army. 738 Approximately twenty non-pilot WACs drew flight pay and were awarded crewmember wings during WWII. Two WACs were radio operators on B-17s at Mitchel Field. Others served as flight clerks, radio operators, mechanics, and photographers. “Several such WACs received Air Medals, including one in India for her work in mapping the Hump, and one posthumously after the crash of an aerial broadcasting plane.” Source: Treadwell, The Women’s Army Corps, 285.

216 the WASP would join if they were forced to become WAACs. The Air Forces Headquarters agreed with Army leadership. Correspondence between the General Headquarters, Air Forces and the Chief of the Air Corps went so far as to state: “This headquarters would recommend a separate and distinct organization, except for the fact that there should be only one Women’s Corps serving with the Army.”739 In the end Cochran remained adamant that the WASPs should be a separate organization controlled directly by the Army Air Forces under her command, and that the aviators only be assigned to flight duties. In January of 1944 General Arnold asked permission from General William E. Han, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, to commission the WASP directly into the Air Forces as pilots, a procedure the Air Transport Command routinely used with male civilian pilots. The Comptroller General ruled against this practice. Later that same month, Arnold closed all the primary flight-training schools, terminated the WTS, and transferred 35,000 young male officers who had been on the waiting list for flight training to the ground forces. A month later, Arnold submitted a bill to Congress to militarize the WASP; he wanted the women pilots to take over domestic flying to release the remaining men for overseas duty. The plan seemed logical to both Cochran and Arnold, but the two completely ignored the possibility that the recently fired male instructors and displaced officers would not want to give up flying for an infantry role. A supportive Representative John Costello (R-CA) introduced a bill, H.R. 4219 - Providing for the Appointment of Female Pilots and Aviation Cadets in the Army Air Forces, into Congress in February of 1944. The bill provided full militarization of the WASP, and it included an authorization for the AAF to commission the women;, it would have also granted the women the same privileges, insurance, hospitalization, and death benefits given to men of the Army Air Forces. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had endorsed the measure, and the Roosevelt administration had given its approval. In March of 1944, the Military Affairs Committee held a hearing on H.R. 4219, but only had one witness, General Arnold. Throughout the War Congress never in good

739 Treadwell, 286.

217 conscience defeated a bill that Arnold declared necessary to win the War. Arnold argued: “for some time it has been apparent that there is a serious manpower shortage. We must provide fighting men whenever we can, replacing them by women wherever we can.” 740 He also spoke glowingly about the WASPs’ accomplishments and he argued in favor of equal treatment for equal work, explaining that the women should be afforded the same benefits as men based on the duties they were performing, adding the women should have the authority to live on-base. All of these benefits were not afforded to them based on their status as civilians. The committee listened to Arnold politely, then asked if the women were needed so badly why were their Congressional offices being inundated with letters and office visits from groups of civilian CAA male pilots demanding they be commissioned in lieu of the WASP.741 Instead of being regarded as heroines, the WASPs were now being viewed as competitors with men for jobs. Regardless of the initial resistance the bill reported favorably out of committee, and the report even included a letter from the Secretary of War Henry Stinson indicating the Roosevelt administration approved the bill. Furthermore, there was a parallel funding effort in Congress. The House Appropriation Committee had already funded the WASP with an earmark of $6 million. Throughout the summer of 1944 Cochran and Arnold continued to seek Congressional approval for the militarization, but by June of 1944 the experiment had been deemed a failure and a waste of taxpayer dollars by the media. Although the women’s competence and contributions to the War were never disputed, the program was deemed “unnecessary and undesirable”742 by Congressman Ramspeck (D-GA) and on June 21, 1944 HR 4219 was defeated by 19 votes. Despite having the support of the War Department, the

740 Sally Van Wagenen Keil, Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War II (Minneapolis, MN: Four Directions Press, 1990), 290-91. 741 Keil, Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines, 291. 742 Keil, 291.

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President, and vigorous lobbying efforts by the Army Air Forces and the WASP themselves, the bold and innovative WASP experiment was forced to end.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS LEADING TO THE DEMISE OF THE WASP PROGRAM The program’s notice of death arrived shortly after the D-day invasion at Normandy and the Navy’s battle of the Philippine Sea in the South Pacific. Yet, one could question if the militarization had enjoyed so much support in March how the militarization could be defeated just three months later. There is not a single explanation for the program’s demise. I identified four major reasons contributing to the failure to militarize the WASPs: first Cochran and Arnold failed to engender the support of powerful allies to lobby on behalf of the program; second, they underestimated the challenges that came from the CAA and male contract pilots and overestimated Congressional support for the tenuous program; third the negative media coverage impacted public support; and, lastly they underestimated the ways in which the program would be seen as a challenge to rigid gender norms.

A FAILURE TO ENGENDER THE SUPPORT OF ALLIES General Arnold failed to obtain the support of his own staff. The Army’s Air Forces own A-1 (Chief of Personnel), Brigadier General M.G. White, led the Army’s liaison efforts with Congress. It was in a White memorandum to Arnold in June of 1943, where White described the legislation to militarize the WASP as “unnecessary and undesirable.” It could be argued that White was only reiterating the points of General George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff, of the Army’s intent. Marshall and Arnold did not see eye to eye on many issues. Marshall was opposed to a separate Women’s Air Force program for the WASP. Although the Chief of Staff was a huge proponent for the use of women during the War, he wanted centralized control of them under the WAAC and its successor, the WAC program. 743 The tense relationship between

743 Information gleaned from reading the files on the WASP Militarization, sub-file entitled WAC Data

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General Marshall and General Arnold regarding the extensive cost of the Army Air Forces and its detrimental impact on the Army’s overall funding cannot be underestimated. Funding differences eventually led to the creation of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service in the Department of War in 1947. An Air Transport Command memorandum dated June of 1944 was circulated that suggested Cochran was determined to take the entire WASP program down with her, if the efforts to militarize the program were not successful. It’s questionable if this allegation is true, given how hard Cochran fought for the program. Cochran also knew that there were only 2,733 licensed women pilots in the United States in 1941 that many did not meet age requirements (too young or too old), and that others would be disqualified due to their race. Given that Arnold terminated the CPT program in 1942, and because gas was rationed, very few middle-class or working-class women were able to obtain their pilot’s licenses since her analysis. Cochran had to have known that, with her selection of 1,830 female aviators, she had inducted approximately 67 percent of all the licensed female pilots in the U.S. Had the training program been allowed to continue past December of 1944, Cochran would likely have run out of qualified female candidates. This would have required her to begin inducting women without any experience, which would have directly threated hegemonic masculinity. Cochran also failed to build allegiances in her battle to militarize the WASP. Colonel Hobby did not have a favorable relationship with Cochran, and she was a powerful political figure that enjoyed the support of Congress. Cochran’s personal animosity toward Hobby knew no bounds after Hobby made it known she did not believe a separate women’s pilot’s corps was required. Additional Congressional inquiries were made in April of 1944. Love was called in to testify, and she was neutral on the matter. Love was also a proponent of militarizing the WASP under the auspices of the WAC program, and had testified as such to Congress. Love

(2), compiled by Jacqueline Cochran, 20 June 1943, National Archives, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Jacqueline Cochran Collection.

220 was vitally concerned that the reputations of the women pilots remain untarnished, and was less concerned with the verdict on the militarization question. The women’s future still remained uncertain, however, because combat pilot casualties in Europe were much lower than expected. In the end Love washed her hands of the matter. Her love of flying and patriotism had been her motivation for suggesting the use of women pilots. Yet she remained deeply troubled by the fact that the lack of a military commission made it difficult for women to be perceived as equal participants by their male colleagues. She also was outraged that women’s civilian status exempted them from receiving any death benefits. The greatest indignity for Love was having to pass the hat for funds to transport a woman’s body to her home following a crash. Cochran’s success in playing hardball politics came at a stiff cost. She lost two of her most important allies: Oveta Culp Hobby and Nancy Harkness Love. Later, when Cochran was wrapped up in the day-to-day details of planning, managing and executing the WASP program, she failed to take note of the shifting political climate that would ultimately doom militarization. By June of 1944 Arnold and Cochran’s bill seemed to have no visible supporters or allies other than the Secretary of War and President Roosevelt. No one in the Army’s leadership, Army Air Forces Staff, the WAC program or even Love herself appeared to be allied with Arnold’s and Cochran’s plans.

THE CIVIL AERONAUTICS ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRESSIONAL RESISTANCE Arguably the most vocal opponent to the militarization of the WASP were the extensive lobbying efforts led by the CAA contract pilots. As the War began to wind down, and the Army Air Forces decided to close down the WTS program, men began to see the WASP program as a direct threat to hegemonic masculinity: During an executive session with the House Military Affairs Committee, General Arnold [again] expressed strongly his preference for the services of the more highly qualified, better trained, better disciplined, and better motivated WASP

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over the male civilian pilots. The men’s demands for preferential personal treatment …disgusted Arnold. He questioned the integrity of the men, who secured “safe” non-combat jobs and then insisted on dodging…more hazardous duty when needed.744 Although the Military Affairs Committee agreed with Arnold, and released a two- page report recommending passage of the bill, the “lobbying efforts of the male pilots grew louder, more bitter and vindictive.”745 These men had been draft exempt while the CPT program was active, but once the program was terminated became eligible for the draft didn’t want to go to War as foot soldiers. The men launched a public assault on the women pilots, arguing that it was unfair for a woman with 35 hours of flight time to undergo expensive training to learn how to fly military planes when there were men already capable of doing so. Adding more fuel to the fire, the House Civil Service sub-committee evaluating the program claimed (based largely on false information provided from the CAA) that when the WTS program was terminated in January of 1944 that there were some 6,000 male instructors that were now available for immediate employment as ferry pilots. However, they failed to note these male instructors were not qualified in the mission, type, class and series of aircraft the WASP had been flying nor did they have any experience flying military aircraft. The Committee also failed to take into consideration the testimony of the U.S. Army Air Forces or the Air Transport Command, who argued that it would take millions more to train the men, and delay the delivery of aircraft to European and Pacific theaters of operation. A conservative Congress was exceptionally sympathetic to the male pilots and the matter was turned over to Robert Ramspeck’s Civil Service Committee for investigation. The CAA had successfully argued that their contract pilots should not have to be made infantry officers simply so that the “girls” could continue to fly. Furthermore, the committee argued, there was no need “to recruit teen-aged schoolgirls, stenographers, clerks, beauticians, housewives and factory workers to pilot the military planes of this Government.”746

744 Douglas, American Women and Flight Since 1940, 13. 745 Douglas, 13-14. 746 Douglas, 17.

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Doris Tanner, WASP Historian (class 44-W-4), writes: “The message from the legislative branch of government was clear. Women were a losing issue, for women must not occupy positions if men, regardless of qualifications, were available to hold them.”747

THE POWER OF THE PRESS The impact the media had on public opinion regarding the fate of the WASP program cannot be overstated. On May 19, 1944, Time magazine published an article entitled “Unnecessary and Undesirable,” in which they described the ongoing debate in Congress regarding the future of the WASP program. They described the fight against the militarization of the WASP, which was spearheaded by Congressman Ramspeck (D, GA), Chair of the House Civil Service Committee, who argued the WASPs’ service was neither necessary nor desirable. The press deemed the “WASP experiment” absurdly expensive (twice the cost originally estimated), they claimed a sixty percent washout rate among the women pilots (which was not factual, and failed to recognize Air Force mandated reductions in student graduates), and, most damningly, stated that after more than a year, only three pilots had been qualified to fly four-engine bombers. This was a skill set WASP had been excluded from by Air Force assignment policy as the WASP were prevented from deployment to combat zones. In June of 1944, Drew Pearson, a syndicated columnist, published in the Washington Merry-Go-Round an article entitled “Squabble Over WASPs,” which summarized the situation in Congress. “The congressmen are aroused over Arnold’s efforts to side-track the law by continuing to use WASPs while more than 5,000 trained men pilots, each with an average of 1,250 flying hours remain idle. All this has happened after Congress refused to let the WASPs be incorporated into the Regular Army.” The article went on to say, “The government has spent more than 21 million dollars training women flyers, primarily at the behest of Aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran, wife of Floyd Odlum.”

747 Douglas, 17.

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Tanner says, “Editorials appeared throughout the country supporting the men pilots against the women pilots.”748 Ultimately, these voices grew so pervasive and loud that many “such articles were read and recorded in the Congressional Record.”749 One such media report entitled “These Charming People,” by Augustine Cassini, published in the Washington Times Herald, June 17, 1944, alleged Arnold was fighting for Cochran’s commission personally. Reports like these had the power to turn the tide of public opinion against the WASP. In short, what caused the WASP program to be terminated was the social construct of gender, which posited that men were breadwinners and women were wives and mothers. Pitting men who needed jobs and who were perceived by society to be breadwinners against women who were expected to marry and create a family and home was a losing proposition. After the War, when their employment options in aviation all but evaporated, many of the WASP veterans did just what was expected of them, they conformed to societal norms and cultural expectations: they married and had children.

THE FINAL MOMENTS In a letter to Jacqueline Cochran dated October 5, 1944, Arnold stated emphatically, “There will be no—repeat—no women pilots in any capacity in the Air Force after December 20, except Jacqueline Cochran.” Later that month both General Arnold and Jacqueline Cochran sent letters to the WASPs notifying them that the program would be terminated effective December 20, 1944. Cochran’s letter distributed to “ALL WASPs,” forever dashed their hopes of the women becoming commissioned officers and aviators in the Army Air Forces. Her letter read, “General Arnold has directed that the WASP program be deactivated on 20 December 1944. Attached is a letter from him to each of you, and it explains the circumstances leading up to his decision.”

748 Douglas, 16. 749 Douglas, 15.

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Although many women scheduled to attend Class 44-W-11 had already arrived at Avenger Field they were returned home having never been given the opportunity of becoming a WASP. Meanwhile, class 44-W-10, already in training, would become the last class of WASP. These WASP graduated on December 7, 1944, and less than two weeks later the WASP experiment was officially terminated and the organization disbanded. WASP were simply told to park their aircraft, wherever they were at the end of the day, turn in all but one uniform (even though they purchased all of them with their own money), and the women were unceremoniously dismissed without fanfare. They were not given severance or travel pay. It was just five days until Christmas and many of the women struggled financially to make their ways home. When the program ended Reynolds, penniless and unemployed, had no financial resources to get back home to Pennsylvania. She hitchhiked and caught hops across the U.S. to get there. She arrived home five days later on Christmas morning.750 In Beesemyer’s case she was towing targets and was simply told one day to pack her bags and find a way home. She had to call her mother for a loan so she could purchase a ticket to get home. Another WASP described her last day on the flight line: “As they stood at attention, a lone bomber with four fighter escorts took off, circled, and headed eastward toward the Atlantic Ocean and the warzone…Unmilitary like tears of pride sprang to her eyes; she thought herself blessed with the greatest of luck, to be part of the defense of her country.”751

POST WAR – A NEW NORMAL Those that returned home found people in their local communities didn’t believe they had served in the Armed Forces and especially not as military aviators. Since they weren’t technically in the military they were not issued discharge papers, nor were they offered GI Bill benefits. Since they weren’t veterans of the War, they did not receive veteran’s hiring preference, and most were not hired by their previous employers. Although some women

750 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 68. 751 Tanner, “Cornelia Fort: Pioneer Woman Military Aviator, Part II,” 76.

225 would continue to fly and a few would even manage to earn a living in aviation, the overwhelming majority made the transition to the only socially acceptable occupation of the immediate postwar period–motherhood. Beesemyer wasn’t technically a veteran, but her employment was civil service, yet she couldn’t even prove that since the WASP documents were classified until 1981.752 Reynolds described her community members’ reaction when learning about her wartime service. I was walking up the street and there were a couple of my classmates from high school. “What did you do during the war?”753 “I flew for the military. [to which they responded] “Yeah, sure. You’re fantasizing. You’re dreaming.” So after that I just told them I had a defense job and let it go at that.754 By the end of 1944 men were beginning to return home from the European Theater of Operations and displacing women from work in military industrial plants. Beesemyer said, “Everyone wanted to stay flying, so we put feelers out for the airlines, for the gasoline companies…it was hard to get a job.”755 When the program ended and the women sought jobs with commercial airlines they were told they would be hired as stewardesses but not as pilots. The timing was horrible, “Cochran felt they were disbanding us at our prime.”756 Heinrich and Connie Kafka applied to become airline pilots. The airlines’ response: “They basically said, Are you crazy? Go home.”757 Heinrich dismissed their behavior. “Well, of course, I hadn't really flown in the right kind of planes…. I had a twin engine certification. But, I hadn't flown much twin engine time.”758 After her tenure in the WASP program ended,

752 Cochran’s Final Report on Women Pilot Program was declassified September 8, 1981, as per the downgraded classification marking on the cover page of the report. 753 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 22. 754 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 22. 755 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 22. 756 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 22. 757 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 54. 758 Heinrich, Interview,July 13, 2017, 55.

226 she said, “I never worked [again].”759 She became a housewife, homemaker, and mother of five children.760 Young also married after her wartime service ended. Then she went back to school and completed her undergraduate degree. Young claimed to not even know why the WASP program ended. “I don’t know that I had any understanding. I was just in a rage about it. I was furious. I don’t know that I considered any reasons.”761 Landis, like many women of her era, married during WWII but divorced shortly thereafter, she said “I was too independent.”762 I gathered from our various conversations that she was resistant to the post- War era push for women to conform to traditional gender norms. Landis one true love was flying. Landis got the opportunity to take a flight in a P-51 Mustang just off the coast of California again in 2009, and she took it. Beesemyer was the only WASP I interviewed that had the opportunity to continue flying after the War. But that too dried up after three years and she was forced to take work in a career field deemed typical women’s work. The women themselves felt like they had been labeled excess baggage, and they were no longer needed by the military which they had served so faithfully. Reynolds said, “I loved military life. I would have loved to have stayed in.”763 Her sentiments were echoed by her sister WASPs. The old boys club finally won out. They were getting rid of us. They used us when they needed us and that was it. They told us the critical shortage of pilots had been resolved. But I go back to what they told us and they weren’t fulfilling any of it. I felt betrayed.764

759 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 70. 760 Heinrich, Interview, July 13, 2017, 70. 761 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 41. 762 Jean Landis (WASP), conversation with author, April 10, 2017. 763 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 44. 764 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 64.

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WASP LEGACY According to the WASP Program’s Final Report dated June 1, 1945, the program conducted a total of 18 training classes during the 26 months the program existed and graduated 1,074 or 58.7% of its students. Nine women were discharged for disciplinary reasons, and 150 women resigned. Tragically, thirty-eight women died in the service of their country. On December 20, 1944 nine hundred and sixteen women were serving in the WASP program. Collectively the women of the WAFS, WFTD and WASP programs flew over 60 million miles and 16,000 flight hours for the Army Air Forces. The WAFS delivered over 12,652 planes with only three fatalities.765 The WASP flew other missions besides ferrying aircraft. They towed targets for air-to-air aerial gunnery training, they conducted tracking and searchlight missions, simulated strafing, smoke laying and other chemical missions, as well as basic and instrument flight training, and maintenance and engineering test flights. Collectively the WASP were qualified in over 77 aircraft, and on average they flew over 1,400 hours per WASP. By the end of WWII, 31 of the WASP assigned to the Air Transport Command’s Ferrying Squadrons had qualified at the Class Four level.766 Dora Dougherty Strothers was one of four women to reach the qualification level of Class Five, the highest level of military pilot certification.767 Strothers was one of only two women qualified to fly the B-29 (Superfortress),768 and her instructor was none other than Paul Tibbitts, the man who would fly the Enola Gay and drop “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, leading to the Japanese capitulation

765 William H. Tunner, Over the Hump (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1964), 39; Schaffter, What Comes of Training Women for War?, 7. 766 Gott, Pursuit, 62-65. 767 Gott, 62-65. 768 Gott, 46.The other woman qualified in the B-29 Superfortress was Dorothea Johnson, who was chosen to fly the B-29 as a demonstration pilot to goad or shame the male Army Air Forces pilots into flying the aircraft.

228 and unconditional surrender ending WWII. Strothers would go on to become a human factors engineer and test pilot for Bell-Textron Helicopters. There was absolutely no evidence to support any belief that women, as a group, were any less capable of being taught to pilot a plane than men are as a group. Nor was it proven that different or higher qualifications standards should be set for the training of women pilots.769 Many women who were competent in the field of aviation believed that the greatest hindrance to the future of women in aviation lay in the postwar conditions rather than in women’s ability or desire to enter aviation.770 During the War, U.S. women demonstrated to themselves and to the country that women are capable of excelling in aviation occupations. It became well known that women could design, build, test, repair, direct, and fly military aircraft. This fact ultimately became one of the lasting legacies of women’s participation in aviation endeavors during WWII. Their impact was felt not only in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, but also in countless other countries around the world. Women’s participation during WWII was a major turning point in their relationship to the military.771 By the end of WWII, women had proven they could do the job, they were valuable assets in the military’s arsenal, and they had a record of accomplishment to prove it. General Arnold pronounced at the final WASP graduation on December 7, 1944, “It’s on the record that women can fly as well as men…We will not again look upon a woman’s flying organization as experimental.”772 After the War, women were finally taken seriously as good, professional pilots. But at the same time, they had worked themselves out of the limelight and, in many cases, out of a

769 Schaffer, What Comes of Training Women for War?, 113. 770 Schaffter, 115. 771 “WWII: Women and the War,” Women’s Memorial Foundation, Women in Military Service for America Memorial, accessed January 7, 2018, https://www.womensmemorial.org/history/detail/?s=wwii- women-and-the-war. 772 General H. H. Arnold, Address by General H.H. Arnold, Commanding General, Army Air Forces, before WASP Class 44-W-10 Graduation Ceremony (Sweetwater, TX: War Department Bureau of Publication Relation Press Branch, 1944).

229 job. 773 Women pilots were no longer a novelty. With over a quarter million trained male military aviators having returned from the War, and looking for work in the U.S., commercial airlines did not need women pilots. Nor were they needed to ferry aircraft within the U.S. or to promote sales of aircraft because aircraft manufacturers no longer had the same market segment that dictated a need for women to demonstrate and sell private aircraft. Most of the major air races that women had participated in prior to the War had been suspended, most of the air races never returned. “Women were no longer viewed as oddities in any area of aviation. Be they stewardesses, engineers, businesswomen, or pilots, they had for the most part accomplished their goals of helping make air travel a standard means of transportation, and had proven to the world that women could be competent pilots.”774It could be argued that they were so successful that they were no longer relevant. In 1945, the American Council on Education performed the most comprehensive analysis of women’s work and participation during WWII. The agency commissioned a study to examine the question, “What comes of training women for war?” Dr. Dorothy Schaffter, former Professor of Political Science at Vassar College and then, Research Council at the Library of Congress, led the study and reported their findings to the Commission on Implications of Armed Services Educational Programs in 1947. The American Council on Education published the report in 1948.775 What is unique about this 220-page, three-part report covering women’s official military service during WWII, is that almost one quarter of the book discusses women in military aviation during World War II. Most of that occurred in the WASP, yet the WASP was not an official military service during WWII, although Schaffter argues that in all aspects except for in name they were military. The report concludes that although the number of women in military aviation were few their pioneering achievements were far-reaching.776 Traditional attitudes toward women’s limitations were

773 Oakes, United States Women in Aviation 1930-1939, 55. 774 Oakes, 55. 775 Schaffter, What Comes of Training Women for War?, v. 776 Schaffter, 109.

230 changed by the experience of the WASP experiment.777 There are many non-pilot jobs in aviation in which women have demonstrated capacity.778 Attitudes, economic conditions and employment prospects impacted the WASP post-War employment opportunities rather than women’s ability or desire to enter aviation career fields.779 Biological sex doesn’t need to be over emphasized in the planning or organization of Army training programs.780 By the end of the War, approximately 300,000 women served in the Armed Forces, although the percentage was small in comparison to the total male population of approximately 16 million men who served during the same timeframe. Schaffter’s analysis in 1948 confirms my conclusion that the leadership of the women’s officer corps were college educated women, and the enlisted recruits as a whole were more educated and better qualified than their male counterparts. As for the utilization of women only in non-combat roles, they “were used to either the increase the available manpower or to furnish some service, such as nursing.781 Schaffter writes that the most innovative use of women during WWII was “pilot duty of the WASP”782 because it was considered non-traditional women’s work. Furthermore, due to the extreme manpower shortages and because Army Air Forces was a relatively new entity, their training model differed from the rest of the Army. “The training of WASPs was planned and conducted by the AAF…the instructors were often men, rather than members of the women’s services. What was also unique, was that the WASP served as instructors and trainers for male Army Air Force pilots.”783 Nowhere else were women primary trainers for military men.

777 Schaffter, 112. 778 Schaffter, 113. 779 Schaffter, 114-15. 780 Schaffter, 116. 781 Schaffter, 7. 782 Schaffter, 8. 783 Schaffter, 8.

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FINAL THOUGHTS ON WOMEN IN COMBAT As an aviator and combat veteran myself, I wanted to know how these first generation women veterans felt about women’s roles in modern warfare. When I asked Reynolds if she had the opportunity to fly in combat during WWII would she have done it, her answer was an emphatic “Yes.”784 When, I asked Heinrich the same question, she replied, “If it would have arose we would have been the first ones there.”785 Young said “I think they should be able to do whatever…Women have always fought, with or without the men. Yes, they should [be able to serve in combat].”786 When I asked her if women should be required to register for the selective service or the draft, she replied: “I think that makes sense. I think there’s going to be a brouhaha if they do.”787 Beesemyer and Landis also agreed that women should be allowed to serve in combat alongside men. However, society has yet to fully get on board with the progressive views of these women. In practice today women fight and die alongside their brethren in percentages similar to their populations in the services.

784 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 53. 785 Heinrich, Beck, Interview, 1978. 786 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 50. 787 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 50.

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CHAPTER 8

EPILOGUE

AFTER WORLD WAR II When the U.S. Air Force became a separate service in 1947, the WASPs were offered commissions, yet none were offered positions as pilots, even though doing so would have saved the U.S. Government millions associated with the costs of training new male pilots. In 1947 the WASPs were offered an opportunity to serve in the newly-created U.S. Air Force. Beesemyer along with the other WASP veterans of WWII received letters from the U.S. Air Force offering them a reserve commission as second lieutenants. However, of the 1,102 WASP only 150 women accepted the commissions, and their new military duties as Air Force officers did not involve flight duties. On June 12, 1948, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine led the United States Congress to pass the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948,788 which officially integrated women into the Armed Forces. The new law gave women permanent status in the regular armed forces and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps; therefore, making women subject to military regulations, authority, military law and entitling them to veterans’ benefits.789 The legislation included two exclusionary statutes prohibiting assignment of female members to duty in aircraft engaged in combat and to vessels engaged in, or likely to be engaged in, combat missions. However, the legislation did

788 “Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948,” Public Law 625, 62 Stat, 356-375, June 12, 1948, accessed January 8, 2018, http://www.legisworks.org/congress/80/publaw-625.pdf. 789 “Women’s Armed Services Integration Act,” Kelly A. Spring, America's Military Women—The Journey Continues. Women’s Memorial Foundation, Women in Military Service for America Memorial, accessed January 7, 2018, https://www.womensmemorial.org/americas-military-women#8.

233 not specifically bar Army women from ground combat roles; instead this exclusion was implemented as a matter of policy by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The legislation further limited the proportion of women in the military to 2 percent of the enlisted force and 10 percent of the officer corps. On July 8, 1948, Staff Sergeant Esther Blake, already a veteran of the Army Air Forces, became the first woman to enlist in the Regular Air Force after the U.S. Air Force became a separate service.790 In this same spirit of equality on July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, establishing the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services and directing racial integration of the Armed Forces. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff historian Mickey Schubert, President Truman felt “America had just fought a war against militarism and racism overseas, making it hard to sustain a segregationist policy back home.”791 The arrival of the 1950s ushered in the era of conformity, and the post war migration to the suburbs reinforced the gender binary and women’s proper roles in society as wives and mothers, thus reinforcing patriarchal norms. But once again fractures emerged. During the Korean War (1950-1953) U.S. Air Force reserve officers were involuntarily recalled to active duty and for the first time in U.S. history women were included in the recall. Both Reynolds and Beesemyer were called to serve. Beesemyer was recalled to active duty as a Classification and Assignments officer (or Human Resources/Personnel officer) for the Fourth Air Force Headquarters at Hamilton Air Force Base in Sausalito, California.792 Reynolds served as a Link simulator operator and instrument instructor pilot in Alaska. Others like Ola Rexroat (class 44-W-7) were assigned as Air Traffic Controllers in Oklahoma. All of these positions were considered traditional “women’s work.” In addition to

790 “Here are the Women Who first Joined Each Branch of the Military,” James Clark, Task and Purpose, last modified January 21, 2016, https://taskandpurpose.com/here-are-the-women-who-first-joined-each-branch- of-the-military/. 791 “Truman's Order Begins Long Process of Desegregation,” Douglas J. Gillert, American Forces Press Service, last modified July 17, 1998, http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=41900.. 792 Beverly L. Beesemyer (WASP), telephone conversation with author, December 27, 2017.

234 the former WASP more than 120,000 other women served during the Korean War – many as battlefield nurses. At least 16 women were killed during the Korean War. In 1951 the Secretary of Defense, George C. Marshall, created the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS)793 to oversee the implementation of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the Armed Forces in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and the recently established Air Force. After the Korean War when the Air Force offered to promote Reynolds, she told them: “I don’t want it.”794 She did so because when she told her husband she was being considered for a promotion, he said: “You’ll outrank me. I said, ‘I’ve always outranked you.”795 But she figured it was just easier to let it go. It was in response to the era of conformity that women’s activism for equality and liberation emerged as political movements in the U.S. Throughout the 1960s women continued to make strides towards equality in social institutions. Between 1965 and 1975 more than 265,000 women volunteered for active duty in the U.S. military and some 10,000 served in the U.S. War in Vietnam, mostly as nurses. Sadly, eight women would lose their lives during the U.S. war in Vietnam. In 1967 Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which lifted the two percent cap on women personnel and eliminated the restrictions on women’s ranks. Female officers for the first time were eligible for promotion above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The draft ended in 1973 in the U.S. and for the first time the military began to actively recruit women to serve in the all-volunteer military. In 1974, under the threat of lawsuit, the military ceased mandating discharges for pregnancy. Women could still opt to

793 The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) was established in 1951 by Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall. The Committee is composed of civilian women and men who are appointed by the secretary of defense to provide advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to the recruitment, retention, treatment, employment, integration, and well-being of highly qualified professional women in the Armed Forces. Additional information available at http://dacowits.defense.gov/. 794 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 44. 795 Reynolds, Interview, September 16, 2017, 44.

235 resign from the service based on motherhood. Two years later, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy became the first U.S. academy to admit women to its ranks and beginning in the Fall of 1976, Congress opened the other military academies to women. When the Air Force Academy announced that within four years it would have its first female fighter pilot in the U.S. the WASP were incensed, and wondered how in just 32 short- years their entire legacy could be made invisible and their accomplishments forgotten. After a two year battle, on November 23, 1977, President Carter signed The G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977, which retroactively recognized the WASP military service, and granted them the honors, rights and privileges so long denied. This recognition would not have been possible had it not been for two powerful male allies, Senator Barry Goldwater, a former ferrying pilot himself from WWII, and Colonel Bruce Arnold, General Arnold’s son, who provided Congressional testimony regarding the original plan for the WASP submitted to Congress by his father. Their testimony was accompanied by volumes of supporting evidence provided by the WASP themselves, detailing the program in which they served. But this recognition came without veterans’ benefits. On March 8, 1979, the Department of Defense released a report stating: Upon the recommendation of the Department of Defense Civilian/Military Service Review Board, it is the determination of the Secretary of Defense that the service of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) shall be considered active military service in the Armed Forces of the United States for the purposes of all laws administered by the Veterans’ Administration.796 Although this was an acknowledgement that the WASP were veterans, and had served honorably, they were still not granted the same benefits as male WWII veterans. The women veterans remained excluded from GI Bill education benefits, and were not automatically granted burial rights in national cemeteries. Young said: “I just thought it was about…33 years late.”797

796 Betty Cross, WASP News, April 1979. 797 Young, Interview, September 2, 2017, 48.

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Heartbreakingly, Nancy Harkness Love passed away on October 22, 1976 prior to the U.S. Government’s formal recognition of the WASP wartime military service as active duty. Almost three years later on August 9, 1980 Jacqueline Cochran would also pass away. In the absence of their leaders the WASP would continue to fight for proper recognition of their military service, and in 1984 the WASPs were awarded the World War II Victory Medal (Figure 50). Those that served on active duty for more than a year were also awarded the American Campaign Medal (Figure 51). Regrettably many of the WASP never lived to see this day. The most important recognition for many of the WASP came on July 1, 2009. In the presence of three WASPs President Barack Obama signed Senate Resolution 614 (Figure 52), awarding the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal (Figure 53). At that time, only 300 of the 1,102 WASP remained alive. Eight months later in March of 2010 two hundred living WASP attended the Congressional Gold Medal award ceremony (Figure 54) at the U.S. Capitol with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders (Figure 55). Among those in attendance that day were Bobbi Heinrich, Shutsy Reynolds, Millie Young, Beesie Beesemyer, and Jean Landis. On being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal Young said: “I was surprised. I thought it was neat.” Her son William A. Young wrote a book entitled Going for the Gold,798 which provides details on the award of the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for the WASPs in 2010.

798 William Young, Going for the Gold (Colorado Springs, CO: Ripple Effect Publishing, 2012).

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Figure 50. World War II Victory Medal.

Figure 51. American Campaign Medal.

Figure 52. President Obama authorizing award of the Congressional Gold Medal.

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Figure 53. WASP Congressional Gold Medal.

Figure 54. WASP Congressional Gold Medal Award Ceremony with hundreds of WASP in attendance.

Figure 55. Deannie Parrish receiving Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the WASP.

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Figure 56. Elaine Harmon funeral Arlington National Cemetery.

Figure 57. Elaine Danforth Harmon columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery.

A final battle for recognition and equality would be fought in 2016. During a periodic review of burial policy at Arlington Cemetery in March of 2015, then Secretary of the Army John McHugh determined the 1977 legislation, as written, did not authorize WASP veterans to be interned at Arlington National Cemetery. The review came about when the family of

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Elaine Harmon (class 44-W-9), who died in 2015, was denied internment of her remains. Representative Martha McSally (R-AZ), a retired Air Force colonel, fighter pilot and combat veteran, could not believe they “quietly closed the gates without telling anyone.”799 It was a stunning blow to the WASP and their families to learn after all these years, and despite previous battles for recognition of their service, that one of their sisters was denied burial at Arlington. It was simply incredulous. It took almost five months of fighting, but, Representative McSally prevailed, and the House and Senate granted the WASPs their much- deserved burial rights.

TRANSITION OUT OF THE MILITARY One of the more important but never previously published topics regarding the WASP military service was their transition out of the military. The termination of the program caught many of them by surprise. It seemed to come without warning. They were focused on doing an important wartime mission; most never imagined their service would end before the War. All of the women I interviewed, every oral history I read, and each documentary discussed the women’s disappointment in being sent home before the War’s official end. For all of them terminating the program and dismissing the WASPs amidst an ongoing War was inexplicable. Their frustration, anger and disappointment at being dismissed before the War’s end was compounded by the lack of personal, professional and governmental recognition. Transitioning out of the military at the end of one’s service is a difficult and alienating process for most soldiers. Historian David Chrisinger writes in See Me for Who I Am (2016), “Whether a military service member serves in a war zone or not, transitioning from the military to civilian life can be an extremely alienating and difficult process.”800 I

799 “At long last, WWII WASP pilot Elaine Harmon is home at Arlington,” Meredith Tibbetts, Stars and Stripes, last modified September 7, 2016, https://www.stripes.com/news/us/at-long-last-wwii-wasp-pilot-elaine- harmon-is-home-at-arlington-1.427789. 800 David Chrisinger, See Me for Who I Am (Albany, NY: Hudson Whitman Excelsior College Press, 2016), 1.

241 imagine for the WASP the added difficulty of being forced to leave a career that they loved, and being told they were expendable had a negative psychological effect on many of them. I envision the injury to their psyche that was caused by being told to turn in their uniforms – the most tangible evidence of their military service. For the WASP this experience was worsened by the fact they were summarily fired, given no benefits, no severance pay, nor transportation home. It was also financially devastating for many of the women that sacrificed other career opportunities in favor of the opportunity to serve as pilots for the Armed Forces. For many of the women flying had provided them with the ultimate in freedom and financial independence as well as life-long friendships. With the program’s end they were left with an overwhelming sense of loss. Chrisinger writes, “One of the bigger problems for many [veterans] was dealing with the fact that they had given some of the best years of their life to the military, sometimes without receiving much in return.”801 Even today, veterans “fall through the cracks, and ended up addicted to alcohol, or drugs, jobless, or living on the street.”802 Chrisinger says, “Sadly…some [veterans] come home and commit violent acts of aggression or choose suicide over life.”803 The Veterans Administration and media report that over the past seventeen years of the “war on terrorism,” an average of 23 veterans commit suicide each day. The women that served as WASP were not immune to the effects of war. They tasted freedom and temporarily usurped male privilege, but were quickly dismissed, and deemed unnecessary and undesirable. When the WASP program disbanded in December 1944, it was devastating to some. Imagine having to return to life as it was before. After WWII, some 22 or 23 WASP were so despondent that they took their own lives.804 In addition to those who

801 Chrisinger, See Me For Who I Am, 1. 802 Chrisinger, 6. 803 Chrisinger, 6. 804 Kimberly Johnson (Director, Special Collections, the Women’s Collection and WASP Archives at Texas Women’s University) reports that twenty-two or twenty-three women are known to have committed suicide post-WWII. Another nine women who participated in the WASP program have yet to be located.

242 are known to have committed suicide, there are an additional 9 WASP that simply disappeared without a trace; I argue it is possible these women too may have also chosen suicide as an option. It’s statistically significant that some 2-3% of the WASP population chose suicide over life during their post-war transition back into civilian life.

FINAL THOUGHTS The Women’s Airforce Service Pilot program was only one of the many experiments U.S. undertook during the early twentieth century in its attempt to bring traditionally marginalized and disenfranchised minorities from the margins of society closer to the center and one step closer to realizing the “American Dream.” The bold and innovative WASP experiment was forced to end because it could not continue without Congressional appropriation. Ours is a history of progress, but always at a cost. For every giant step forward there seem to be two steps back. The burdens of lasting progress always seem to be borne by those who remain disenfranchised and marginalized in their quest to achieve the illusive American dream. This thesis is the story of 1,102 women, who along with other marginalized populations during WWII, believed in the concept of “American Exceptionalism” and how their resiliency enabled them to resist and persevere in the face of widespread systemic and institutional discrimination. Even today, the struggle to end racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism and homophobia remain important battles in the war for equality! On March 15, 2018 Florence G. “Shutsy” passed away at age 95 at her home in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. I met Shutsy in Sweetwater, Texas in May of 2017 during the WASP Homecoming. She was one of the first people that agreed to participate in an oral history interview for my master’s thesis. “Shutsy” was generous, loving, kind and a passionate aviation enthusiast. Honor was her touchstone, and when it came to the WASP legacy she was a force to be reckoned with. She was a tireless advocate for the militarization and recognition of the WASP for their service during WWII. She also helped the women earn their veterans’ benefits. She was present at the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal, and most recently she fought tirelessly to ensure Elaine Harmon and other WASPs were able to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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I talked to Shutsy several times over the past nine months. Since then we had communicated frequently since we met back in May. She told me so much about the WASP history, and her role with the shops and her artistry. She was always so patient, kind, and generous with her time. I told her I missed my grandmother who was close to her in age, and if it was all right with her I’d adopt her as a mentor. We shared our love of history and aviation. We delighted in sharing knowledge with each other, and the latest tidbits and happenings in politics. I also enjoyed sharing with her things I had discovered during my research of the WASPs. Some things surprised her, but mostly she taught me a lot about the WASPs. We exchanged a couple of letters, but mostly we talked on the phone at least once a month. I even sent her a book I had found while attending the twentieth anniversary of the Women’s in Military Service for America Memorial in October of 2017. The book entitled Flying Machines, was written by Doris B. Tanner a fellow WASP, and it was for sale at the memorial. But when I opened it, the book had been autographed with an inscription addressed to Shutsy.805 It read: “To Florence G. Reynolds, “Shutsy” with Love, D.B. Tanner.” I called Shutsy and told her I’d found the book, then I mailed it to her in late October 2017. Each time we talked after that she told me she was going to send it back to me but that she hadn’t been feeling well enough to get to the post office. I called her on December 26, 2017 when I learned her sister had passed away at age 99, just two days prior to Christmas. Shutsy was sad. She reminded me that the two had never told each other they loved one another. She said her sister would have thought her weird for doing so, but she also told me they just knew the love existed between them. I talked to her again on March 3rd, 2018, the day before her birthday, and she told me she didn’t think she was going to live too much longer. During our talk her spirits seemed to lift. Beverly L. Beesemyer and I would frequently talk about our admiration for Shutsy. Beesie told me she had such love and respect for Shutsy, and she really wanted to talk to her. So on March 3, 2018, Shutsy agreed to take a phone call from Beesie. I was delighted to have

805 Doris B. Tanner, Flying Machines (Union City, TN: Lanzer Printing, 2008).

244 reconnected the two classmates. On March 8th, 2018 Shutsy finally mailed the book signed by Tanner back to me; I was surprised. It arrived with an inscription added: “To Kim: Thanks for sharing! - Shutsy Reynolds, WASP WWII.” On March 12, 2018 amidst final edits to my thesis and in preparation for my defense, I called to talk to Shutsy, to see how one of her recent surgeries had gone. She told me she hadn’t been feeling very well. I told her how much I appreciated her returning the book. I suggested that I would like to visit with her during my trip to the east coast over myspring break at the end of the month. She was delighted at the thought of me visiting. We had agreed I would drive over on March 30, 2018 before returning home to California. She told me she looked forward to reading my thesis. I told her I would bring her a copy when we met later in the month. Sadly, this was to be the last time we talked. I feel honored to have known her for the short time I did. She was an inspiration. A true patriot and a shining star. The world will be a far less beautiful place without her, and I, along with many others, will miss her shining presence. In her passing she leaves her lasting legacy on the world of aviation.

AREAS FOR FUTURE INQUIRY Other potential areas for inquiry might include the following. 1. Developing programs to integrate information on the WASP into elementary, and secondary schools as well as college history programs. 2. Conducting additional oral history interviews with living WASPs. 3. Researching what became of the Black women pilots that trained with the Tuskegee Airmen at Tuskegee Institute in the 1940s. 4. Examining how many of the WASP identified as Hispanic, Latina, Chicana, or other than white. 5. Validating the actual number of WASP that were killed during the entire tenure of the program. During my research at the WASP Museum in Sweetwater, Texas I located a document that indicated a dozen or so additional WASPs were killed in a plane crash in Wichita, Kansas after December 7 but prior to December 20, 1944. However, these women are never counted in the number of WASP casualties. 6. Furthermore, it would be interesting for an individual with aviation maintenance and safety expertise to analyze the causes of WASP crashes to determine factors contributing to the aircraft mishaps other than pilot error. 7. Determining how the divorce rates of WASP post WWII compared to the remainder of women of their era.

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REFERENCES

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———.Women in the Wild Blue: Target-Towing WASP at Camp Davis. Self-published, 2006.

Strebe, Amy Goodpaster. Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. ———.“Women of the Air Force: The World’s First Female Military Pilots – American and Soviet – helped win the War.” Warfare History. Updated February 6, 2018. http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/women-of-the-air-force/. Suchy, Bill, dir. Silver Wings/Flying Dreams: The Complete Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Orlando: Bill Suchy Productions, 2015. DVD. Tanner, Doris Brinker. The Flying WASP. Union City, TN: Lanzer Printing and Office Supplies, 2010. Taylor, Heather A., dir. Breaking Through the Clouds. Baltimore: Archtepal Images, 2010. DVD. Texas Women’s University. “Women’s Collection.” Blagg-Huey Library. Updated 2018. https://www.twu.edu/library/womans-collection/about-the-womens-collection/. Thompson, Chas H. “The Basis of Negro Morale in World War II.” Journal of Negro Education 11, no. 4 (October 1942): 454-64. Ure, James W. Seized by the Sun: The Life and Disappearance of Gertrude Tompkins. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2017. U.S. Army. “U.S. Army Five-Star Generals.” U.S. Army Center of Military History. FAQs. Updated September 27, 2017. https://history.army.mil/html/faq/5star.html. ———. “Women Airforce Service Pilots.” Women in the Army. History. WWII. Accessed January 22, 2018. http://www.army.mil/women/history/pilots.html. ———. “Women’s Army Museum.” Updated 2018. http://www.awm.lee.army.mil/ Veca, Donna, and Skip Mazzio. Just Plane Crazy: Biography of Bobbi Trout. Springfield, MO: Osborne Publishing, 1987. Verges, Marianne. On Silver Wings: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, 1942-1944. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991. Vernon, John. “Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson: A 1944 Court-Martial.” US National Archives 40, no. 1 (Spring 2008). https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/sring/robinson.html. Veterans Museum. “Visit Us.” Updated June 19, 2018. http://www.veteranmuseum.org/visit. Walton, Francis, ed. The Airman's Almanac. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1945.

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Waxman, Olivia B. “The Hidden Risk Faced by Female Pilots during World War II.” Time.com. Updated September 7, 2017. http://time.com/4923054/world-war-ii-sugar- engines/. Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood : 1820-1860.” American Quarterly 18, no. 2 (1966): 151-74. Weatherford, Doris. American Women During World War II. New York: Routledge, 2010. Weingarten, Debra L. Oveta Culp Hobby: Colonel, Cabinet Member, Philanthropist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014. Wellesley College. “Wellesley Bulletin Catalogue Number 1948-1949.” The Wellesley College Catalogs. Book 38. Last modified October 28, 1948. http://repository.wellesley.edu/catalogs/38. Willenz, June A. Women Veterans America’s Forgotten Heroines. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1983. Williams, Vera S. WASPs: Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. Minneapolis, MN: Motorbooks International, 1994. Women of Courage: The Story of the Women Pilots of World War II. Secaucus, NJ: KM Productions, n.d. VHS. “Women Pilots Serve Country.” Senior Highlights, Orange County, October/November 1984. “Women Pilots in World War II.” CAF Dispatch, September/October 1988. Women’s Memorial. “Asian-Pacific -American Service Women in Defense of a Nation.” Women’s Memorial Foundation. Women in Military Service for America Memorial. Education Resources. Accessed July 2, 2017. https://www.womensmemorial.org/defense-of-a-nation. World War II: War in Europe. Renton, WA: Topics Entertainment, 2010. Wortz, Eleanor Thompson. Fly Gals of World War II: Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Freemont, CA: Robertson Publishing, 2011. Wright, Marsha H. Maggie Ray: World War II Air Force Pilot. Bloomington, IN: Pen & Publish, 2007. Xiaofei, Wang. "Movies without Mercy: Race, War, and Images of Japanese People in American Films, 1942-1945." The Journal of American-East Asian Relations 18, no. 1 (2011): 11-36. Yellin, Emily. Our Mothers’ War: American Women at Home and at the Front during World War II. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004. Williams, Sue, dir. American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt. Arlington, VA: PBS, 2010. DVD. Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) Museum. “A History of the Women Airforce Service Pilots.” Updated 2017. http://waspmuseum.org/.

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Women’s Memorial Foundation. “Women in Military Service for America Memorial.” Updated 2017. https://www.womensmemorial.org/.

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APPENDIX A

WOMEN’S AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOT DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE

1. Please provide your complete name: ______

2. Maiden Name (if different): ______

3. What is your date of your birth? ______

4. Where were you born (please provide the city and state)? ______

5. Where did you grow up (what city and state)? ______

6. How would you describe your race (please circle all that apply)? a. Black b. Japanese c. Chinese d. Asian e. Pacific Islander f. Mexican g. Chicano h. Hispanic i. European j. Native American k. Caucasian l. Other (please list)______

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7. What is your gender (please circle all that apply)? a. Female b. Male c. Both d. Neither e. Gender non-binary f. Other (please provide)______

8. How would you describe your socioeconomic class in 1940 (please select one)? a. poverty b. working-class poor c. middle-class d. upper-class/wealthy e. other (please specify) ______

9. What was your father’s occupation? ______

10. What was your mother’s occupation? ______

11. Did you have family members serving in the military during WWII, if so, who?

______

12. What was your highest level of education in 1942? a. Elementary School b. Middle school c. Technical School / Field of Study______d. High School e. High School Diploma f. Some college / Field of Study______g. Associate’s Degree / Field of Study______h. Undergraduate Degree / Field of Study______i. Master’s Degree / Field of Study______j. PhD/Doctorate Degree / Field of Study______k. Other (please provide) ______

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13. Marital Status when you joined the WASP (please circle one)? a. Never Married b. Engaged c. Married ______# of times d. Divorced______# of times

14. If you are married, when did you get married? ______

15. What did your partner/spouse do for employment? ______

16. Did you have children? (circle one) YES / NO. If so, (circle one) BEFORE or AFTER World War II? If so, how many? ______

17. Do you practice religion (circle one)? YES / NO If so, what religion did you identify with during the War? a. Catholic b. Protestant c. Christian d. Jewish e. Buddhist f. Muslim g. Mormon h. Atheist i. Agnostic j. Other (please list)______

18. Did you have an automobile license when you joined the WAFS, WFTD or WASP? a. YES b. NO

19. Did you have a pilot’s license when you joined the WAFS, WFTD or WASP? a. YES b. NO

20. What year did you learn to fly? ______

21. Where did you learn to fly? ______

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22. What was the source of funding for your flying lessons? ______

23. What year was it and how old were you when you joined the WASP? ______year ______age

24. Where did you complete your military flight training? ______

25. Were you a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Service (WAFS)? YES / NO

26. Were you a member of the Women’s Flight Training Detachment (WFTD)? YES / NO

27. Did you fly with the British Air Transport Auxiliary? YES / NO

28. Did you go through WASP training? YES / NO If so, what class were you in and where did you train? Class______Training Location______

29. Would you be willing to participate in an oral history interview with me for my Master’s Thesis? (please circle one) YES / NO

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY

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APPENDIX B

ORAL HISTORY SCRIPT Before we begin, I want to thank you for taking the time to talk with me and preserve the important history that you helped create. If you become tired at any point, or want to stop, pause or quit for the day, please let me know. Also, I’ll gladly repeat or clarify any question.

Begin recording Introductions I am Kim Enderle, a Women’s Studies Graduate Student at San Diego State University, conducting thesis research on the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) of WWII. Today is ______(date). I will be conducting an oral history interview with ______(full name). Today’s interview is being conducted in ______(location).

The purpose of this oral history interview is to discuss your life experiences before joining the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, your time in the WASP and your life after World War II. Thank you for being willing to share some of your life experiences with me.

Demographics / Societal Norms 1. Let’s begin by talking about your life before becoming a WASP. Can you please tell me when and where you were born and about your family? For example, what kind of work did your parents do, and the number of siblings you had, if any? (Try to identify birth order: So, were you the second, third or fourth of four children?) 2. How would you describe the race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class of your family? 3. Where did you grow up, in the city or in the country? 4. How would you describe your childhood? 5. Can you tell me about your educational opportunities? For example were you able to attend high school and college?

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6. What can you tell me about the education background of the average WASP? Was she a college graduate? Were there a lot of women with college degrees from women’s colleges? 7. Can you describe for me your recollections of the 1940s societal beliefs about women and women’s roles in society? What did your parents expect you to do after you graduated from school or college, for example? 8. Historians agree that in that era the societal norm was for girls to grow up, get married and have children. What did you think of women’s traditional roles as wives and mothers? Did you want to conform to that societal norm by becoming a wife and a mother? If not, what didn’t appeal to you about that norm? 9. Can you describe your life before the War, for example did you work? Were you married? 10. If you were married, or in a committed relationship before the War, what did your partner do for employment? Did you have children, before World War II? If so, how many? 11. Did you have any family members that served in the military? If so, whom? 12. What kinds of things were women expected to do to support the War effort?

Flight Training I always wanted to be a pilot, my dad was in the USAF and was a KC-135 (Aerial Refuel) pilot and then a UH-1N helicopter pilot with the 20the Special Operations Squadron, my mother’s brother, my uncle Sherod was a UH-1H (Huey) and AH-1 (Cobra) pilot in the Army during the Vietnam War, and my great uncle Sherod on my mother’s side was a B29 pilot that was killed in a training accident in Colorado during WWII. So, I understand wanting to fly. 1. Can you tell me your first memory of wanting to fly? 2. What did your parents, and siblings think of your desire to fly? 3. Why did you fly was it for work, or pleasure, adventure or patriotism? 4. Where did you attend flight training and what year was it when you learned to fly? 5. Can you describe how you were able to get your pilots license and how was your flight training paid for? 6. Were you familiar with the Women’s National Air Derby, the original 99s or had you heard of Jacqueline Cochran, Nancy Harkness-Love, or Amelia Earhart? Did famous women pilots inspire you to become a pilot or can you describe how they were generally perceived by society? 7. Do you remember how you found out and what your initial reactions were when you learned that the Empire of Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii on December 7, 1941? 8. How did you learn about the women flying for the Army Air Corps or Army Air Forces?

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9. Were you worried about what people would think about your decision to join the military?

WASP Experiences As I understand it, over 25,000 women applied to become a WASP. Only 1,800 were selected, and only 1,074 graduated from WASP training. 1. Can you explain the application process for me? 2. How long did it take to get notified you were selected? When did you learn you had been selected, and how were you notified? How did you feel when you learned you were accepted? 3. How did you become a WASP? 4. Were you a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Service (WAFS)? Did Nancy Harkness Love interview you for that position? If so, what questions were you asked? What did you think of Nancy Harkness Love’s leadership style, and her management style? How would you describe her to a stranger? 5. Were you a member of the Women’s Flight Training Detachment (WFTD)? Did Jacqueline Cochran interview you for that position? If so what questions were you asked? What did you think of Jacqueline Cochran’s leadership style, and her management style? How would you describe her to a stranger? 6. Did you go through WASP training? If so, what class were you in and where did you train? As I understand it, Jacqueline Cochran personally selected each WASP. Can you tell me a little about your interview for the WASPs? How was it conducted, in person or on the phone? What questions were you asked? 7. If you met them both, can you describe how was Nancy Harkness Love differed from Jacqueline Cochran? How did you perceive the relationship between these two women? 8. What were your first impressions of Jackie Cochran? How often did you see her at Sweetwater or your duty station? Can you tell me why she is often pictured in civilian clothes rather than a uniform? Not much has been written about the role Nancy Harkness Love played in the WASP after the WAFS and WFTD merged? What can you tell me about her role in the WASP organization? 9. Can you describe the pressures associated with graduating from military flight training? How many people washed out? Were the male instructors fair? Were there any issues with equal opportunity, sexual harassment or physical assaults or other impropriety? 10. Were you required to take a flight physical and a mental evaluation before become a pilot? If so, can you tell me about that experience? 11. Can you tell me about the evolution of the WASP uniform? Did you have to wear official uniforms when off-duty? What did you think of the WASP uniform?

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12. Were women perceived to be gender non-conforming by becoming pilots? By this I mean do you think people saw you as breaking the rules about women’s traditional roles in society? How did that make you feel? 13. What was it really like to be a WASP during WWII? Was it exciting, dangerous, and thrilling or just something you did to support the War effort? 14. What did you want to do career wise, was flying your passion and a dream career for you? 15. What aircraft were you qualified to fly? What one was your favorite? 16. In your opinion what was the best and worst thing about being a WASP? 17. Would you please share with me one of your most memorable flying experiences? 18. How much were you paid to be a contract pilot for the Army? How much less were you paid than men for the same work? 19. Where were you stationed during your military career? 20. How were you received by the male Soldiers and Airmen? 21. Did you personally experience any sexism, or harassment from male Soldiers in the Army? If so, can you share that/those experiences with me and how did you handle them? 22. How were you received by your male commanding officers and male co-workers? 23. I understand the Women’s Army Corps had female mechanics working in the Army Air Corps. Did you have any female mechanics working on your aircraft? 24. Did you trust the male aircraft mechanics? Were you aware of the rumors of sabotage of WASP aircraft? 25. Can you explain the difference to me between the Army Air Forces and the Army Air Corps or were they one in the same?

Community/Social/Gender/Race/Class Aspects 1. Can you describe your social circle during your time in service? 2. Who were your closest confidents during the War? Were they women or men? 3. How would you describe your close and intimate friendships during your time in service? The HBO Series “Band of Brother” details how men grew close in wartime due to shared wartime experiences. Did you feel like you were part of a Band of Sisters? 4. Can you describe the social component of WASP training, meaning, can you explain the significance or how important your relationships were with other women pilots? 5. Who were your closest confidants? Did you keep in touch after your time in service ended? 6. At the time did you feel like you were doing something ground breaking? Do you feel like a pioneer or a trailblazer? 7. Would you say you were a trailblazer in any other aspect of your life? If so, can you please elaborate? 8. If you had been allowed to fly in combat, would you have been interested?

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9. Tell me about the living conditions, how much space did you have, how did you sleep, what kind of privacy, how were the showers, did you eat in a mess hall? 10. I have seen the movies of the physical training of WASP. What did you think of the physical training? Was it the same exercises that the men performed for physical training? If not, how did it differ? 11. How would you describe your politics before the War, i.e. liberal, conservative, radical, etc.? 12. Were your parents concerned about your participation in the WASP and if so from what aspect (safety, danger, social mores, or segregation)? 13. Were your peers, friends, colleagues, and suitors concerned about your work for the Armed Forces? If so, in what ways? 14. Generally what would you say the socioeconomic class were of most of the WASPs? Were there working-class women in the WASP or middle-class? 15. Did you ever associate with women outside your own race or class? 16. What was your understanding of segregation during the War? Were there any women of color, Blacks, Hispanics, Chicana, Latina, Asian, Japanese-Americans, or Chinese- Americans? Were you aware that Black women applied to be WASP? 17. How would you describe the training environment in regards to religion? Did you have a chaplain and chapel on the post? Did most people attend church during this era? Do you recall knowing of any Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, or other non-Christian religious women in the WASP? 18. Were most of the women single or married? If married was spouse serving in the Armed Forces? 19. Were there any siblings in the WASP or mothers and daughters? 20. What rules (policies or regulations) governed women’s behavior in the WASPs? 21. How often did you work in close proximity to male aviators, did you ever fly with a male pilot/copilot? If so, did that create any problems? 22. Did you know of women who dated male officers/pilots? 23. Can you describe what you did during your free time when you were not flying? 24. Why did women get sent home or dismissed from the WASPs? Were they merely for flight training deficiencies or were women sent home for moral misconduct? Did any of the WASPs become pregnant during training? Were there policies to address pregnancy and flying? 25. Was there a perception that women that chose to serve in the Armed Forces during the War were transgressing gender norms? When I was in the military, there seemed to be a belief that women were either loose women or that they were lesbians. 26. Are you familiar with the Department of Defense’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that was in effect from 1993 to 2011? Did you agree with that policy? Do you support the belief that LGBT personnel should be allowed to serve openly in the Armed Forces? 27. The Army was very concerned about lesbians and gays in the military. Were you aware of any rumors about women serving in the Armed Forces during World War II, being homosexual, or lesbians?

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28. Did you hear any of the rumors about the Women’s Army Corps, having an issue with lesbians at Camp Oglethorpe during WWII? Were you aware of any lesbian pilots or in the WASP?

Terminating the WASP Program A decision was made to terminate the WASP program on December 20, 1944. I have read that it was because of Jacqueline Cochran, and I have read it was because male CAA pilots were complaining, or that the War was winding down. 1. Can you describe how you learned the WASP program was going to be terminated? 2. Were you surprised? What is your understanding of why the WASP program was terminated? 3. Are you familiar with a Time Magazine article entitled “Unnecessary and Undesirable?” 4. Can you tell me what you did after your employment as a WASP terminated, meaning did you go home to live with your parents, did you settle down elsewhere or do something else entirely? 5. How many hours did you have in military aircraft when your tenure with the U.S. Army/Air Forces ended? After the War 1. Can you describe your life after the War? 2. What did you do after the War? Did you ever fly again, or did you work outside the home, or did you marry, have children, etc.? 3. How was your life changed by your military service? Would you say your experiences made a lasting impact on your life? 4. What was your reaction to the WASP being granted Honorable Discharges from the Armed Forces and veterans status in 1977? 5. What was your reaction to being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in July 2009? 6. Were you ever honored by your hometown for your military service or written about in the local newspaper? If so, roughly when did that occur? What was the tone of the article? 7. Have you remained close friends with other WASP? If so, whom? If not, why? 8. How many reunions/home comings have you attended?

Closing Questions: 1. How would you describe your politics now? 2. Do you think women should have the opportunity to participate in Aviation combat operations on par with their male counterparts? 3. How do you feel about the possibility of women being drafted in the United States?

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4. If you had the opportunity to do it all again, would you? 5. Looking back at your life, what advice would you give to your 21 year old self today? 6. How would you like to be remembered? 7. Is there anything I did not ask you that you would like to talk about? 8. Is there anything else you would like to add?

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APPENDIX C

SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY - CONSENT TO ACT AS A RESEARCH SUBJECT - WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS FROM 1942-1944

You are being asked to participate in a research study. Before you give your consent to volunteer, it is important that you read the following information and ask as many questions as necessary to be sure you understand what you will be asked to do.

Investigator: The project investigator is Kimberly A. Enderle, MA Candidate, Women’s Studies at San Diego State University. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study is to learn more about the Women Airforce Service Pilots public image and their private realities and reclaim a portion of women’s history. Description of the Study: This is a two part study involving a short demographic survey, followed by an oral history interview either in person or by telephone. It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete the demographic survey, and approximately 1hour to complete the oral history interview. I will be asking you about your military experiences during the period of 1942-1944, including your experiences with racism, socioeconomic classism, sexism, gender normativity, and heterosexism between 1942 and 1944, as well as, how your military experiences shaped your post-war reintegration back in to U.S. civil society at the end of the War. I intend to make audio tapes of our discussion and your oral history narrative during the interview. These recordings will be transcribed into typed files. With your permission, a copy of the oral history interview will be provided to Texas Women’s University and San Diego

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State University historical research collections. I can also provide you with a copy of the recording if requested. What’s experimental in this study: None of the procedures used in this study are experimental in nature. The only experimental aspect of the study is gathering of the information for the purpose of analysis. Risk or discomforts: Because of the personal nature of the questions asked, you may reflect on unpleasant memories while responding the interview. If you begin to feel discomfort at any time, you may discontinue participation, either temporarily or permanently.

Benefits of the study: This study is being conducted in order to benefit social science and to reclaim women’s history by expanding information available about women’s roles in society and in the Army/Air Forces during World War II. It is possible that you may find the interview questions interesting or enjoyable in terms of thinking about your ideas now or in the past. I cannot guarantee, however, that you will receive any benefit from participating in this study. Confidentiality: Confidentiality will be maintained to the extent allowed by law. The interview tapes will be kept in a locked faculty office. The tape will be transcribed by a student at San Diego State University. Since this is an oral history interview, the tape will contain your name; however, you will be the narrator for the oral history interview, and all content provided will be at your discretion. I will send you a copy of the transcribed interview for your review and edit. I will also ask you to mark any sections that you do not want quoted in publications, academic books, journals, or at professional conferences. If, there is content you wish to be kept confidential, redacted or removed from the record, this will be done prior to any distribution. Once the recording has been transcribed and edited, with your permission a copy will be provided to Texas Women’s University and San Diego State University’s Historical Collections. Incentives to participants: You will not be paid for the survey or the oral history interview. However, your interview will be preserved for posterity so that future generations may have the opportunity to learn about women’s roles in U.S. history. Voluntary Nature of Participation: Participation in this study is voluntary. Your choice of whether or not to participate will not influence your future relations with San Diego State

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University or the San Diego Research Foundation. If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and to stop your participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are allowed. Questions about the Study: If you have questions about the research now, please ask. If you have questions later about the research, you may contact Kimberly A. Enderle, at (571)331- 4435 (cellular) or [email protected] (email) or Professor Susan E. Cayleff, at (619) 884-5946 (cellular) or [email protected] (email). If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this study, you may contact the Division or Research Affairs, San Diego State University, at (619) 594-6622 or [email protected] (email). Consent to Participate: The San Diego State University Institutional Review Board has approved this consent form, as signified by the Boards stamp. The consent form must be reviewed annually and expires on the date indicated by the stamp. Your signature below indicates that you have read the information in this document and have had a chance to ask any questions you have about the study. Your signature also indicates you agree to be in the study and have been told that you can change your mind and withdrawal your consent to participate at any time. You have been given a copy of this consent form. You have been told that by signing this form you are not giving up any of your legal rights.

______Name of Participant (Please Print)

______Signature of Participant Date

______Signature of Investigator Date

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APPENDIX D

BIOGRAPHIES OF BLACK WOMEN WHO APPLIED TO THE WASP PROGRAM Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you. – Amelia Earhart

JANET HARMON WATERFORD BRAGG Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg, was born in Griffin, Georgia March 24, 1907 to parents Cordia Batts Harmon and Samuel Harmon, a brick contractor.806 (Sobers. np) Her maternal grandfather was a freed slave of Spanish descent, and her maternal grandmother was a Cherokee.807

Figure 58. Janet Harmon Waterford Bragg.

806 “Janet Harmon Bragg: Female Aviator,” Kiara M. Sobers, Smithsonian Institution Archives, last modified March 22, 2011, https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/janet-harmon-bragg-female-aviator. 807 Gubert, Sawyer and Fannin, Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science, 36.

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Bragg was the youngest of seven children, including four brothers, and according she became a “regular tomboy.” Janet Graduated from high school in Fort Valley, Georgia and in 1927 and matriculated at Spelman College in Atlanta. Bragg graduated from Spellman in 1929 with a degree in Nursing, and moved to Chicago, Illinois to begin her nursing career. In 1933 Bragg became the only woman to enroll in her Class at the Curtis Wright Flying School in Chicago, Illinois with 24 men. Although all the students were all black, none of the other students would help her because she was a woman. She earned the respect of her classmates when she purchased her own plane an OX-5, for $600 and contributed to the building of the school’s first airstrip in Robbins, Illinois. Bragg along with Cornelius Coffey and John C. Robinson, then, formed the Challenger Air Pilots Association, later known as the National Airmen’s Association of America, to connect Blacks across the country who were interested in learning to fly. (After graduation, Bragg earned her private pilot’s license. Around 1934, the school moved to Oaklawn, Illinois and expanded. In 1939, based on the program’s success Bragg and her colleagues were awarded the privilege of operating the only CPTP for blacks that was not co-located with a college campus. In 1943, amidst WWII, one of the white women Bragg was teaching to fly encouraged her to apply for the WASP program. When she met with Ethel Sheehy, one of the WASP recruiters, Sheehy was surprised Bragg was Black. Sheehy said, “Well, I’ve never interviewed a colored girl for flying.” To which Bragg replied, “Well, we have plenty of them flying.” Sheehy refused to interview her and sent her home, but told Bragg she would be in touch. A few weeks later, Bragg received a letter from Cochran underscoring what Sheehy had implied. Even though Bragg trained women who later became WASPs, she was not admitted to the program herself. Later in 1943, Bragg enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to earn her commercial pilots license. She passed the check flight, but the instructor refused to grant her the license, so she returned to Chicago and retook the examination and passed. She married Sumner Bragg in 1953. 808Bragg passed away on April 11, 1993.

808 Sobers, “Janet Harmon Bragg: Female Aviator,” last modified March 22, 2011.

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DOROTHY LAYNE MCINTYRE Dorothy Layne McIntyre was born in Le Roy, New York in 1917. As a child McIntyre acquired her love of aviation attending annual airshows in her hometown. McIntyre learned to fly at West Virginia State College in 1939, after becoming one of the first women accepted into the CPTP program. When she received her pilot’s license from the Civil Aeronautics Association in 1940, she became the first Black woman in the U.S. to earn her commercial pilot certification. McIntyre moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1941 after completing her degree in business administration, later that year she married F. Benjamin McIntryre. She moved to Baltimore to live with her sister when her husband shipped off to the War. In 1942, she applied for the WASP program but was refused entry due to her race. So, she went to work instead teaching aircraft mechanics at the War Production Training School in Baltimore, Maryland while working as a secretary for the Urban League. After the War the couple settled in Cleveland, Ohio where she became a teacher and social worker. She died August 30, 2014. Cleveland was also a member of the Tuskegee Airman’s Alumni Association.809

Figure 59. Dorothy Layne McIntyre.

ROSE AGNES ROLLS COUSINS Rose Agnes Rolls (Cousins) was born March 26, 1920 in Fairmont, West Virginia. Rolls matriculated at West Virginia State College at age sixteen. In 1939, West Virginia State and became one of the first of six historically black colleges and universities in the nation

809 “WASP Legacy,” WASP News, 2016.

277 authorized to establish a Civilian Pilot Training (CPTP) program. The CPTP program rekindled Rolls’ childhood desire to fly airplanes. Rolls became the first black woman to solo pilot through the college’s CPTP program. In 1941, she went to Tuskegee Institute, with the first group of ten male students from West Virginia State College, and tried out for the Air Force training program for black combat pilots. However, she was denied because of her gender. Cousins later applied to the Women’s Flying Training program but was also denied because of her race. Cousins died on July 30, 2006, at age 86.

Figure 60. Rose Agnes Rolls (cousins).

MILDRED HEMMONS CARTER Mildred Hemmons Carter, born September 14, 1921, in Benson, Alabama was the youngest of five children born to Mamie a postmistress at the local post office and Luther Hemmons a white foreman at the local sawmill. Mildred Graduated from Rusk College high school at 15. Mildred matriculated at Tuskegee Institute in the fall of 1937, and began working for the Dean responsible for overseeing the CPTP program. When she learned the program was open to women she signed up. Initially rejected due to her young age she was eventually accepted into the program once she turned 18. She received her pilot’s license on February 1, 1941. Later in 1941, after one of her solo flights she landed at Kennedy Field, and had the opportunity to meet Eleanor Roosevelt, who had just finished her now famous flight with C. Alfred Anderson, one of the Tuskegee Airmen. Mildred was hopeful she would be accepted

278 into the Women’s Flight Training program, but she received a letter from Jacqueline Cochran “It stated that I was not eligible due to my race. It left no doubt.”810 She goes on to say, “I didn’t keep it. I didn’t keep any of that stuff. I didn’t want to look at it, I didn’t want to deal with it.”811 To her the rejection letter indicated she had gone as far as Jim Crow society would allow. Ultimately, Carter’s socioeconomic status, and exclusion from federal training programs, both common dilemmas for women of color became impediments that prevented her from earning her instructor license. So, Carter claims she did the next best thing, she married a fighter pilot, Lieutenant Herbert Eugene Carter. Mildred Carter, died October 21, 2011 at age 90.812

Figure 61. Mildred Hemmons Carter.

810 “A Dream of Wings: Black Female Pilot Mildred Carter was frustrated in Her Effort to Serve in the Skies, but, in Tuskegee, She’s Counted among the Famed Airmen,” Jeff Hardy, Mobile Register – Washington Bureau, accessed March 3, 2006, http://coax.net/people/lef/ta_wings.htm. Courtesy of Texas Women’s University, Women’s Collection, WASP Archives. 811 “A Dream of Wings: Black Female Pilot Mildred Carter was frustrated in Her Effort to Serve in the Skies, but, in Tuskegee, She’s Counted among the Famed Airmen,” accessed March 3, 2006. 812 “WASP Legacy,” WASP News, 2016: 21-22.

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APPENDIX - E

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE WASP OF COLOR Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society's definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference - those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are black, who are older - know that survival is not an academic skill...For the master's tools will not dismantle the master's house. They will never allow us to bring about genuine change.-Audre Lorde HAZEL AH YING LEE Hazel Ah Ying Lee (Figure 62) was a first generation American born in Portland, Oregon, in 1912. Ying Lee earned her pilot’s license in 1932, along with Clifford Louie Lee, who would later become her husband. In 1937, the Sino-Japanese War was declared, Ying Lee along with 35 of her flight school classmates traveled to China in an attempt to fly for the Chinese Air Force. However, Ying Lee was told women were not allowed to be pilots in China so she returned home to the U.S. and became a procurement officer for the Chinese Air Force. When she learned of the WFTD she applied and became a member of class 43-W-4. Thus she became the first Chinese American woman to fly in the U.S. military.

Figure 62. Hazel An Ying Lee.

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During her training with the WFTD she had a forced landing in a farmer’s field in Sweetwater, Texas. The farmer unfamiliar with the markings thought the mainland was being invaded by Japanese. So, he commenced with chasing Ying Lee with a pitchfork, until she convinced his son to call the airfield. Sadly, Ying Lee died as a result of amid-air collision with another aircraft on November 23, 1944, just a month before the WASP program was terminated. The two aircraft were attempting to land simultaneously at Great Falls, Montana. Jeff Russell, the pilot of the other aircraft, had an inoperable radio. Russell’s aircraft was on a steep descent but higher than Lee’s on final approach, and the aircraft pilots were unable to see each other. The air traffic controller in the tower noticed Russell’s aircraft was not responding to the radio calls, so using light signals both aircraft pilots thought they were being told to “pull up,” and whether Russell flew into Lee’s plane or she flew into his is known. But, the aircraft collided mid-air at less than 100 feet above ground level, and subsequently crashed, at the end of the runway. A Lieutenant Colonel Nimmo Thysson pulled both Lee and Russell from their burning aircraft, Russell’s feet were singed but Lee was badly burned. Sadly, she died 3 days later as a result of internal injuries, fractures and burns as a result of the crash.813

MARGARET GEE Margaret “Maggie” Gee (Figure 1) was born Mei Gue in Berkley, California on August 5, 1921.814 Her father was a Chinese importer. Gee was a first generation American born to Chinese immigrants who had come to the U.S. as a result of the Taiping Rebellion. Her parents, who met in San Francisco’s Chinatown, soon relocated to Berkeley. As a child Gee always dreamed of flying just “My heroes were Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. I loved to watch airplanes fly.” 815 Gee was in her first year of college at UC Berkeley, when she quit to do her part for the War effort relocating to Mare Island Naval Shipyards in

813 Gott, Hazel An Ying Lee: Women Airforce Service Pilot 43-W-2, 1-10, 36. 814 “Maggie Gee,” Logan Walker, Flygirls: The Mini Series, last modified August 18, 2016, https://www.flygirlstheseries.com/blogpage/2016/8/18/maggie-gee. 815 Marissa Moss, Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee (Berkley, CA: Tricycle Press, 2009), cover.

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Vallejo where she became a draftsman and welder. Hoping to become a WASP, Gee was nonetheless wary of the cost that accompanied the organization’s policy that all potential candidates hold pilot’s licenses, stating, “I always wanted to fly, but I never thought I could because it was very expensive.” After saving up through her job at the shipyards, she eventually raised the money necessary to take flying lessons in Mindon, Nevada, moving once more since war restrictions meant that private planes could not fly within 150 miles of the West Coast. Six months and eight hundred dollars later, Maggie was equipped with her license and accepted into the WASP training program in Texas as a member of the class 44- W-9. In 1944, Gee became the second Chinese-American women accepted into the WASP program. On November 8, 1944, she became one of 55 women in her original class of 107 to earn a pair of wings. After graduation Gee was assigned to Nellis Air Force Base, where she towed targets for gunnery training. After the WASP program was terminated, Gee went back to college and completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees. In the 1950s, Gee lived and worked in Europe during the execution of the European Recovery Plan also known as the Marshall Plan, and watched the U.S. reaction to the buildup of the Cold War. Later, she worked as a Physicist in the fields of cancer research, nuclear weapons design, fusion energy and other related fields. Maggie Gee also served for many decades as an elected member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, supporting voter registration and fundraising. She also served for many years as a long-time Board member and Treasurer of the Berkeley Democratic Club in Berkeley, California. She has served on the California Democratic Party Executive Board and Asian Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus. She has received numerous awards and citations from the Democratic Party, including a posthumous award in March 2014 from the Asian Pacific Democratic Caucus of Alameda County. Gee passed away February 1, 2013 at the age of 89.

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Figure 63. Maggie Gee.

OLA MILDRED REXROAT Ola Milred Rexroat (Figure 64) was born on a hot summer day in Argonia, Kansas in 1917, her father was a publisher and editor who frequently moved his family between towns and her mother was an Oglala-Lakota Indian who grew up in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Rexroat spent portions of her childhood visiting her grandmother on that Reservation. When she grew old enough to attend school, her family moved to Oklahoma, and then to Springfield, South Dakota in time for her to graduate from St Mary’s Indian High School for Girls in 1932. After high school, Rexroat bounced from place to place, attending a teaching college in Chadron, Nebraska, then moving to a work study program at a school in Springfield before settling at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Following her graduation in 1938, she spent time working for The Bureau of Indian Affairs at a reservation in Gallup Texas and, prophetically, working with airfield engineers in El Paso. While this short term work might have opened her eyes to future possibilities; it would be America’s entrance into the Second World War that propelled her into the cockpit of a plane.

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Figure 64. Ola Mildred Rexroat.

By 1942, Rexroat had moved with her mother and sisters, finding employment at the Army War College in Washington, DC. She felt she couldn’t stay on the sidelines of the unfolding war for long but recognized the route that she planned to pursue was unlike anything she had experienced before, noting, “I had some skills that I was pretty good at. But that consisted of typing and shorthand and other office procedures.” She was not one to let this stand in her way. Rexroat was a Native American from the Oglala Sioux tribe from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in South Dakota. Nicknamed “Sexy Rexy,”816 Rexroat learned to fly before she could drive. In 1943, Rexroat embarked on a series of $8 an hour flying lessons, knowing that upon the completion of 35 hours she would qualify as a WASP applicant. Her flight lessons completed, she would eventually be accepted into the program, but news of her success met a bittersweet reception. While her sisters were supportive, her mother was not. “My mother was totally against it. Even though I told her I was not going to really be in combat, she said nevertheless, it was training other people to kill other people…and that’s why she objected to it. Other than that it was dangerous.”817Her job after she graduated from WASP training in Sweetwater, Texas was towing targets flying AT-6s (Texan) for air-to-air

816 Nick Penzenstadler, “Last Surviving South Dakota WASP, ‘Sexy Rexy,’ Recalls World War II Service,” Rapid City Journal, November 11, 2010. 817 “Ola Rexroat,” Logan Walker, Flygirls: The Mini Series, last modified July 7, 2016, https://www.flygirlstheseries.com/blogpage/2016/7/7/ola-rexroat.

284 gunnery and ground-to-air gunnery for aircraft crewmembers at Eagle Pass Army Base in Texas. She also transported personnel and cargo. Rexroat later served in the U.S. Air Force for ten years as an Air Traffic Controller.818 On October 2, 2017 Ellsworth Air Force in South Dakota named the Base Operations Building “Millie Rexroat,” in honor of her legacy. Rexroat passed away on June 28, 2017 at age 99.

818 “WASP Filled with Colorful Pilots,” Jim Carrick, Veterans Corner, The Spectrum, last modified June 11, 2015, http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/local/mesquite/2015/06/11/wasp-filled-with-colorful- pilots/71073606/.

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APPENDIX F

THE LEADERS OF THE WASP PROGRAM AFTER WORLD WAR II Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.- Robin S. Sharma NANCY HARKNESS LOVE (February 14, 1914 – October 22, 1976) In her role as the leader of the WAFS, Love achieved many aviation firsts. Love was the first woman to officially fly a military aircraft for the War Department in September of 1942 at New Castle Army Airfield in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the first woman to fly a pursuit aircraft when she qualified in the P-51 (Mustang). Love also flew the P-38 (Lightening Fighter), and was one of the first two women to fly the four engine B-17 (Flying Fortress), plus she was the first woman qualified on the B-26 (Martin Marauder). Love became the first woman in military history to fly a B-25 (Mitchell Bomber) from coast-to- coast in record breaking time. By the end of the War Love had become proficient in fifteen different military aircraft. After the war, Nancy Love became the mother of three daughters, but she continued as an aviation industry leader, as well as a champion for recognition as military veterans for the women who had served as WASP. In 1948, she was given the rank of lieutenant colonel in the newly formed United States Air Force Reserves. She passed away in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Shortly before Nancy love died in 1976, the order of Fifiella, the WASP alumni organization, named her “Woman of the Year.” Nancy Harkness Love died on October 22, 1976. She was posthumously inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1997 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio in 2005.

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Nancy Love’s aviation skills, singular vision, perseverance, and lead by example style of leadership were crucial to the overall success of the women aviator programs. But beyond that her view of how to integrate and utilize women within the existing hyper-masculine military establishment stood in contrast to the contemporary concept of female pilots in a gender-specific “Women’s Airforce” within the Army Air Forces. Unlike Cochran, Love envisioned mission focused pilots—who just happened to be women–serving alongside men, on the same basis as their male counterparts. Her idea may have been ahead of its time, but is consistent with contemporary social constructs and military policy in the Armed Forces today. Among the things Love left behind when she passed was a box containing items she retained for more than 30 years. Inside was a handwritten list of women pilots she had compiled in 1940 and clippings and photographs of each of the women who had died under her command. Her job had not been easy, but the love and respect commanded during WWII is indisputable. JACQUELINE (BESSIE LEE PITTMAN) COCHRAN ODLUM (May 11, 1906 – August 9, 1980) After World War II Jacqueline Cochran continued to compete in air races and set several new transcontinental and international records. In 1949, France recognized her contribution to the war and aviation and awarded her the French Air Medal in 1951. She is the only woman to ever receive the Gold Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Cochran would become a member of the board of directors for the FAI and the Director of Northwest Airlines in the U.S. The Air Force awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Legion of Merit in 1949. In 1953 at Rogers Dry Lake bed in California Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. In the 1960s Cochran and her husband Floyd B. Odlum funded an effort to test the ability of women to become astronauts in the Mercury 13 program. It was a huge success yet, Cochran argued against women’s participation in NASA fearing it would reduce the opportunities available to men, who she perceived to be more dedicated to their careers. Each yearn an Air Show takes place at the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport named in her honor. Cochran became the first woman to be honored with a permanent display at the United States Air Force Academy.

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In recognition of her accomplishments as a pilot, in 1971 Cochran was enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, the first woman to be so honored. Soon after her induction, Cochran found out she need a pacemaker and that her days of flying were officially over. She retired to her home in Indio, California, and enjoyed traveling, biking and gardening. Floyd B. Odlum her husband passed away in 1976. After which Cochran’s health steadily deteriorated. On August 9, 1980 Jacqueline Cochran died at her home on August 9th, 1980 at age of 74. Cochran still holds more international speed, distance and altitude records than any other pilot, male or female. GENERAL HENRY H. (HAP) ARNOLD (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) General Arnold was a pioneer of the Army Air Corps and the U.S. Army Air Forces. On December 21, 1944, the day following the termination of the WASP program, Arnold was promoted to rank of five-star and awarded the title of General of the Armies. This placed him fourth in the line of succession of the Army behind Marshall, MacArthur, and Eisenhower. It seems somewhat uncanny Arnold was promoted to the highest grade in the Wartime service the day immediately following the termination of the WASP program. Between 1943 and 1945 Arnold experienced four heart attacks that required hospitalization. He was intensely impatient, and believed his personal presence was required wherever a crisis loomed. He traveled extensively during the war, and worked under extremely high stress conditions with a chronic cardiac condition. Arnold left active duty with the Army Air Forces on February 28, 1946. On March 23, 1946, an act of Congress made his promotion to General of the Army permanent, and awarded full pay and placed him on the retired list. He was succeeded by General Spaatz, who also became first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force when it became a separate service on September 18, 1947. On May 7, 1949, Arnold remains the only person to have held the rank of five Star General of the Air Force and he is also the only officer to have been a five-star in two military services. Arnold died on January 15, 1950, at his home in Sonoma, California.