Fly Girls Congressional Gold Medal
Written by Lori Hancock Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:00
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Marjorie Ellfeldt Rees - now 87 - one of only 300 survivingWASPS
More than 60-years later, the original World War Two Fly Girls -- properly known as Women Ariforce Service Pilots or WASPS - were given a Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony March 10, 2010 on Capitol Hll, The Christian Science Monitor reports. The women did not fly in combat, but helped fill the pilot shortage stateside when male fliers were sent overseas to fly combat missions.
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Birthdate: December 7, 1909 Vancouver, B.C. Died: April 27, 1995
During WWII, Helen Harrison Bristol, became the first Canadian woman ferry pilot to serve with the RAF Transport Auxiliary. From 1961 until her retirement in 1969, she taught floatplane flying on the west coast.
