Community Media of South Central PA Celebrating Community
Dr. Sarah Parry Myers–“I Was Happiest in the Sky”: The Women Airforce Service Pilots, 1942-1944
When the U.S. Army Air Force utilized women pilots to fly military aircraft for the first time during World War II, women joined for similar motivations as male pilots – a deep love of flying and patriotism. The Women’s Airforce Service Pilots received the same training as men minus combat and served in assignments at bases across the continental United States. They were the only women’s military unit during the war that did not receive military status from Congress so the thirty-eight female pilots who lost their lives in service to their country did not receive recognition or benefits. Earning Their Wings: The WASPs of World War II and Their Fight for Veteran Recognition, tells the story of these female pilots from the era of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh through the 1970s, when the WASP finally earned veterans’ status.
Dr. Sarah Parry Myers is an Associate Professor of History at Messiah University. She has shared histories of World War II and veterans with C-SPAN, PBS, the U.S. National Archives, and the National Army Museum. She was awarded a National Endowment of the Humanities Dialogues on the Experience of War grant for a program focused on generating dialogue with female veterans. She led discussion workshops for this grant at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Prior to her position at Messiah University, she was the director of a World War II Museum at Saint Francis University where she curated museum exhibits and an Oral History Project with Pennsylvania veterans including U.S. Army Rangers at D-Day.
