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Ay w, N /(
United States
of America'Zon0rsiona1lRecord
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 95b CONGRESS, FIRST SESSIONVol. 123 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 19771 No. 90
Senate
MILITARY RECORDS PROVE THE
WORLD WAR U .WOMEN PILOTS
ARE ENTITLED TO VETERANS';
BENEFITS
Mr. GOLDWATER. Mr. President, it
was my pleasure today to appear before
the Senate Committee on Veterans' Af-
fairs to testify on the bill I have intro-
duced, together with 16 other Senators,
to provide veterans benefits to the women
pilots who served with the Air Corps dur-
ing World War U..
The cosponsors of the bill include Sen-
ators RANDOLPH and HANSEN of the com-
mittee and Senators HATHAWAY, BENT-
SEN. WILLIAMS, SCHMITT, DOMENICI, NEL-
SON, BAYH, HATCH, METCALF, BELLMON,
MCINTYRE. DOLE, TOWER, and MCCLURE.
Mr. President. the case for these ladies
is quite evident. To all intents and pur-
poses. they were in the military. They
were trained to be military officers and,
alter training, their duties were compar-
e able to flight officers.
They were sworn in with the same oath
'O of office as given male officers; they were
treated in all illness by Air Corps flight
j urgeons; and they received disc'inary
- action for flying violating under the au-
t orty o the 4th Articleof _War of
the- MaanT6lTrCourt Martial.
Other civiliann organizations contrib-
uted to the war effort, but none of them
can meet the same criteria as the WASP.
In fact, some of the other groups we c
not even considered U.S. employees. For
example, the mercha marie remained
the responsible of private shipping
liies. ar members were covered-by
collective bargatifg agreements with
the private shipping operators. Congress
aeterm3ned bylaWin Marchiof 1943 thn
thfiFfichantimarne were not to e coi'
sdered era] emp ays -
o -unlike the WASP, the merchant
marines were private employees. And, 1
should add, th iywel'e never destined to
be militarized, because another fact
which separates the WASP from all other
civilian groups is that they were from the
start of their program planned dnd
scheduled to be militarized.
There was nothing secret about this.
The women knew militarization was
planned, and their training from the
start included no less than 66 hours in
military' instruction. This military train-
fnrg was extendeto 137 hours in March
of 1944. and a special course was insti-
tuted at the Army Air Forces School of
Applied Tactics, at Orlando, Fla., de-
signed to give additional training to the
WASP as potential officers. Any one who
went thrjh this training 77't know
te were abouf( became regular mili-
tary officers.Mr. President, the historical record
presents documented proof that the
WASP were "de facto" military officers.
Numerous official memorandum, direc-
tives and regulations disclose the true
status of the WASP as part of the mili-
tary organization.
Now, I have summarized the pertinent
facts regarding the WASP from these
official records and incorporated them in
my statement before the Veterans' Af-
fairs Committee this morning. In order
that my colleagues may know more about
the WASP, and in order to disprove the
emotional and totally misinformed criti-
cisms which some persons have raised
against these ladies, I ask unanimous
consent that the text of my statement
be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the testi-
mony was ordered to be printed in the
RECORD, as follows:
TESTIMONY OF SENATOR BARRY GOLDWATFR 'F
ARIZONA BEFORE THE SENATE COMairTFl N'
VETERANS' AFFAIRS, MAY 25, 1977
Mr. Chairman, I am delighted that you arle
holding hearings today on the bill I have
introduced, together with 14 other Senators,
to provide veterans benefits to the women
pilots who served with the Air Corps during
World War 11.
I believe that after you know the proven
facts about the role these women played In
the war effort, the admission.standurds they
had to meet, and the military regulations
they se:'ved under, you will agree they a ere,
to all intents and purposes, in the military
tnd are entitled to benefits as veterans
1. ORIGINS OF THE WASP
Serio'o, efforts to establish the World War
II womn's pilot program began at the direc-
tion of President Roosevelt himself. On
July 3, 1941, Miss Jacqueline Cochran, winner
of several aviation awards, lunched with Pres-
ident and Mrs. Roosevelt and it was then
suggested that she "go over to the AAF and
determine if women pilots could not be use-
fully eniployed" in the United States.']The
President said he would make the arrange-
nents :ur such a meeting.
A f'.r days later, "by direction of the
President," Miss Cochran met with General
"Hap" Arnold, Chief of the Air Corps: Colonel
Robert Olds, who was then head of the Ferry-
ing Command; and Mr. Robert Lovett. the
Assistant Secretary of War for Air. The pur-
pose of the meeting. as it is recorded was to
consider "the possibilities of utilizing women
pilots to ferry primary, basic and advanced
trainers from factories to Air Corps stations,
thus releasing combat pilots for more im-
portant duty."
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt openly promoted
the use of women pilots by the military ina
several of her national newspaper columns.
On September 3, 1942, General Arnold is-
sued formal orders directing that the details
be worked out for using women pilots "to
the maximum" in the ferrying of military
aircraft The plan evolved in two separate
stepsFirst, recruiting was started almost Imme-
diately of experienced women pilots to serve
with the Air Transport Command. This was
the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron
(WAPS).
Second, a training program was established
for women pilots with less eight experience
than the women who joined the WAPS. This
programwas known as the Women's Flying
Training Detachment.
These girls entered training at Houston,
Texas, on November 16, 1942. Early in 1948.
the bulk of the training was shifted to
Avenger Field at Sweetwater, Texas.
On August 5, 1943, the two programs were
merged into one, and this is when the orga-
nization took on the name of WASP--Women
Air Forces Service Pilots.
XI. OBJECTIvEs OF Ti wW
General Arnold summed up the objectives
of the WASP in a memorandum dated No-
vember 3, 1942, informing the Flying Train-
ing Command as follows:
"Contemplated expansion of the armed
forces will tax the nation's manpower. Win
must be used rerever it t igpranti do
t5 "s desired that you take immediate and
positive action to augment to the maximum
possible extent the training of women pilots.
The Air Forces objective is to provide at the
earliest possible date a sufficient number of
women pilots to replace men in every non-
combatant flying duty in which it is feasible
to employ women."
On March 22, 1944, General Arnold testi-
fied before the House Committee on Mili-
tary Affairs in support of legislation provid-
ing for the appointment of women pilots
as officers in the Air Corps. "Right at this
moment.' he said, "the Army is short over
He added: "fWie must provide fightingf
men wherever we can, replacing them with
women wherever we can; whether that be in
the factories, ferrying aircraft across the
country, towing targets for ground troops to
shoot at, or any place where we can release
men and make available the younger men
to actually do the fighting."
To illustrate how serious the problem was,
General Arnold told the Committee that,-
on account of the manpower shortage, the
Air Forces had returned to the Ground and
Service Forces 36,000 highly qualified men
who were needed to go into fighting unit'.
immediate ly
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[Clipping: Senate], clipping, May 25, 1977; Washington, D. C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1075428/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.