Clark County Press (Neillsville, WI)

August 2, 2006, Page 2

Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Tribute to WWII Women pilots alights at Highground

The Highground has, from the beginning, held women in service to America in high regard.  A woman soldier is represented in the Vietnam War veteran’s memorial and a tribute to the Army Nurse stands prominently along the main plaza.

On Monday, the time had come for the members of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) and their contribution to America’s effort during World War II to be recognized as a statue in their honor was dedicated at the veteran’s memorial park west of Neillsville.

Only about 250 women are still alive from the more than 1,100 that served as WASP pilots.  They tested prototypes of new airplanes, trained male pilots and ferried aircraft around the country.  After the war, the US government disbanded the group and sent them back home.  It wasn’t until the late 1970s that women of WASP were granted veteran status for their service.

On the hottest of days in July last Monday, one on which the veterans park was buffeted by high winds, nine former WASP members braved the elements to be at The Highground.

In speaking, each one had humble comments of thanks for the honor.  And almost all said what a beautiful, and fitting, setting The Highground offered the tribute.

Among them was 90-year-old Dorothy Swain Lewis, the sculptress who created the statue.  In comments made before the ceremony, Lewis, who lives in California, talked of the friendships developed within the sisterhood of pilots.  They were proud to have served their country in a time of need.  “We did a good job,” she said, “and we never wrecked a plane.”

Their accomplishments were so much greater than that, according to Carol Hamilton, the organizer behind the effort to place a WASP tribute at The Highground.  “Pioneers in aviation,” she called them in her introductory remarks.

A member of an international organization devoted to women pilots called the 99s, Hamilton also introduced featured speaker Choline Espinoza.  An accomplished woman in her own right, albeit much younger, Espinoza is a United Airlines pilot, and an Air Force Academy graduate who has flown a U2 spy plane.

Espinoza spoke of the WASP legacy.  “World War II was an immense tragedy,” she said.  “But it offered an opportunity for women pilots.”

Espinoza spoke of the WASP women’s love of aviation and their country.  “They wanted to serve,” she said.  And how grandly, and bravely, they did, according to Espinoza.  “They flew 77 different aircraft to 125 different airfields,” she said.  “They put themselves at risk.  They gave their lives—38 of them.”

Espinoza said that she was a beneficiary of their bravery, service and proven skills at flying.  “They were good at it,” she said.

Modern-day women pilots owed much to the WASP, said Espinoza.  “If they had failed, I would not have had an opportunity to fly a U2 so high that I could see the curvature of the Earth or fly a commercial airliner with hundreds of passengers,” she said.

Looking up at the statue, still draped in sky-blue cloth moments before its official unveiling, Espinoza predicted youngsters from all around—girls, as well as boys—would be inspired by the possibilities symbolized by the WASPs.

In closing, Espinoza recited the poem “High Flight,” often read at funerals of pilots, with the memorable opening line, “Oh! I’ve slipped the surly bonds of Earth…” and ending with the words… ”Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”

Hamilton and Lewis unveiled the WASP statue, a woman in a pilot’s uniform, gazing off into the western horizon.  The plaque at the statue’s base reads:  “We live in the wind and sand and our eyes are on the stars.”

By Mike Kuzjak

Carol Hamilton (left), who organized the placement of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) statue at The Highground and sculptress Dorothy Swain Lewis share the moment, and a handshake, at the dedication of the tribute to the women pilots of World War II.  The Highground’s WWII globe memorial to veterans of that war is in the background.