Earning Their Wings: The WASPs of World War II and the Fight for Veteran Recognition

National Archives Museum
Online

Established by the Army Air Force in 1943, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program opened to civilian women with a pilot’s license who could afford to pay for their own transportation, training, and uniforms. Author Sarah Parry Myers will discuss how, despite their highly developed skill set, rigorous training, and often dangerous work, the women of WASP were not granted military status until 1977 and denied over three decades of Army Air Force benefits as well as the honor and respect given to male and female World War II veterans of other branches. Myers not only offers a history of this short-lived program but considers its long-term consequences for the women who participated and subsequent generations of servicewomen and activists. Joining the author in discussion will be Tanya Roth, author of Her Cold War.

Women’s History programming is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Denise Gwyn Ferguson.