Departing for Mongolia

Greetings from 34,000 ft above the Pacific Ocean. We’re on the first leg of the long flight to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. I don’t normally blog about the start of the trip, but I met a fascinating lady on the journey to the airport, and thought I’d share.

On the journey here, I met Mary on the shuttle van. I’m not very good about striking up conversations, but Mary is. She asked about where I was going and what I did for work. She then said she was going to Washington DC to receive a medal. After a little prompting, she started telling us about how she was a WASP in World War II. WASP stands for Woman Airforce Service Pilot. The WASPs are receiving the Congressional Gold Medal (she thinks that’s what it’s called) on Wednesday this week. This is in recognition of this unit’s service during the war. The WASPs were disbanded near the end of the war, and most folks don’t know much about them.

She said before she joined up, she taught ground school to Army pilots. After she joined, she continued to train pilots, and she also ferried aircraft around the country to wherever the Army needed the planes. She told us stories of how pilots at the various bases would jump up onto the wing to help the pilot out, and recognize her from her ground school instruction days. She says she no longer remembers how many pilots she trained, but that there were many.
She’s 88 now, and still has her commercial pilot’s license. A few years ago, her daughter did the test for instrument flight rules, and she was allowed to fly with her as her backup pilot. She told stories of flying through the Grand Canyon with her husband and of the many countries in which she’d lived and visited. The trip to the airport flew by, and when we got there, the shuttle van driver insisted I take his picture with her, as it’s not everyday that he gets to meet a medal winner. What an amazing lady! The ceremony is Wednesday somewhere in the Capital area. She couldn’t remember exactly where, but was very excited that her children would be able to join her. I plan to check it out as soon as I can access the internet.