The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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Women pilots gain long needed recognition

Going without recognition for nearly 40 years, the women of the Women Air Force Service Pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, nearly 70 years after serving the country.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Lynn Yonally came to Bucks to share with a crowd made up of Bucks students, teachers and other visitors the experiences of her mother Lillian Lorraine Yonally, a member of the Women Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs.

Yonally explained that for a long time, she was completely unaware of her mother’s experience during the war. “I didn’t know she flew, by the way, until I was almost a junior in high school. When we were growing up, she never talked about it,” said Yonally.

According to Yonally, her mother loved to fly and earned her pilot’s license when she was just 17 years old. In 1943, her mother reported to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, to begin her military training. Avenger Field was an all-female training base.

While men could enter the Air Force having no pilot’s license and no previous flying experience, women were required to have their license and at least 200 hours of flight time. At Avenger Field, the women trained on old, leftover planes that were haphazardly restored.

Once her mother graduated from her initial training, Yonally explained, she went on to train on B-25 bombers. This had been her favorite plane.

Yonally described what one of the B-25 training instructors once said of the WASPs, “These were some of the best pilots I’ve ever dealt with. They worked hard; they really wanted to be there.”

Yonally explained that the WASPs never flew overseas; their duties included test-flying aircrafts and ferrying them from factories and from base to base. One of their more dangerous jobs however was having to drag targets behind their aircraft so that men on the ground could practice shooting at them.

After only a short time, in November 1944, the WASPs were disbanded. By then, about 1,100 women earned their wings.

These women had not been granted the military status they were promised though. It wasn’t until 1976, after the Air Force made a big announcement they would be training the first-ever female military pilots that the WASPs got angry enough to fight for the long-overdue recognition they deserved. In 1977, a bill was passed finally granting them their military status.

Yonally went on to explain that in 2010 the WASPs were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. “Around 250 women—with their walkers, wheelchairs, and canes—arrived to receive their medals,” said Yonally. “When the National Anthem was played, each of those women stood up and sang with their hand over their hearts.”

Growing up, whenever Yonally complained of the unfair treatment her mother and the other WASPs endured, her mother told her, “It does no good to get mad. You just have to make your way through life doing the right thing.”

While retelling her mother’s stories, Yonally also shared the color photographs her mother took during her time of service. These photographs were a rarity in their time and showed the women, often times in over-sized uniforms, with the planes they so proudly flew.

“They served their country because they believed that their country needed them,” said Yonally.