WASP Congressional Gold Medal

Floor Speech

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, it is the responsibility of my committee colleagues and I to oversee and consider legislation to award Congressional Gold Medals to prospective candidates deemed worthy of the honor. Indeed, it is the highest honor that Congress can bestow on an individual or group, and as such, my committee has to ensure that these bills garner broad bipartisan support in the form of two-thirds cosponsorship in the Senate before they can receive full consideration. This year, I am pleased that a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, secured my committee's approval and passed the Senate unanimously on May 20, 2009.

This bill, authored by Senators Hutchison and Mikulski, recognizes the brave actions of more than a thousand women who served our country so courageously during World War II. Their patriotism and sacrifice were essential to our war effort. Quite simply, they were responsible for transporting critical military aircraft throughout the United States. Ferrying over 12,000 aircraft, of nearly 80 different types, these groundbreaking women operated war machines, from the fabled B-29 Superfortress to the lethal P-51 Mustang fighter. The purpose of their missions was to prepare these aircraft for combat and ensure their readiness.

The WASPs were so effective that they logged over 50 percent of these kinds of missions for our Nation, flying more than 60 million miles over the course of the war. Their likes included Jacqueline Cochran, one of the greatest female pilots of all time, who was chosen to be the director of the WASPs flight training. Jacqueline set the women's U.S. high altitude and international speed records and was also the winner of the coveted Bendix trophy in 1938. During the famous air race, she earned an epic victory flying from Los Angeles to Cleveland in just over 8 hours. Jacqueline was further commended for her service during the war when she was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest decoration she could have received from the military without being recognized as an Active-Duty servicemember. When the war ended, Jacqueline's passion for flying would drive her to set new aviation records, becoming the first female pilot to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. Additionally, six WASPs are still living in my home State of Connecticut. One of them, Gloria Heath, flew a dangerous mission as a B-26 bomber pilot, flying at 6,000 feet while towing a banner that fighter pilots would use for target practice during live fire exercises. Now Gloria is nationally recognized as a leader in aviation safety, having served as a founding board member of the Flight Safety Foundation. She also established an international safety information dissemination service to provide a unified, global response to emergencies on the land, in the air, and on the sea. Her pioneering efforts to ensure the safety of pilots and travelers all over the world have undoubtedly saved lives. Throughout her endeavors, Gloria never lost sight of her lifelong commitment to flying. She would become the director of summer aviation programs at Connecticut College, helping young students discover their passion for flight, just as she did half a decade before.

But these women did more than just serve our country they were also pioneers for women's rights. They will forever have the honor of being the first female aviators in American military history, serving as the forerunners to women's equality in the Armed Forces. In doing so, they paved the way for women's rights in the military and other workforces across the country. And although much still remains to be done to eradicate gender discrimination, women military combat pilots are now flying alongside their brothers in arms a true testament to the barriers broken down by the WASPs more than six decades ago.

These women often faced scorn and ridicule, but they refused to back down in their conviction that they could fly as proficiently as men. Ultimately, they were proven right and demonstrated that success should be measured in terms of merit and talent, not by gender.

Therefore it is with great pride and honor, Mr. President, that I support this bill. I commend Senators Hutchison and Mikulski for all their hard work and join them in their gratitude for the pioneering women of the WASP program.

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