WASP Marjory Foster Munn, 44-W-5 July 25, 2009

Marjory passed away Saturday, July 25, 2009 after a three year battle with cancer. In her own words, from Betty Turner's "Out of the Blue and Into History" -- what a wonderful life.

_______________

MARJORY FOSTER MUNN, 44-W-5

I was born March 17, 1921, in Huntington, West Virginia. Our family moved to Miami, Florida, when I was three. I graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1939, and became a beautician. I also entered flight training at Embry Riddle School. I obtained my private license with a seaplane rating. I was a member of the Women Flyer's of America, CAP.

I joined the WASP class 44-5. I was assigned to Basic Training school, testing aircraft the flew administrative missions. I applied for and completed Officer Training at Orlando FL, and Advanced Instrument course at Sweetwater, Texas, then was assigned to the Air Proving Ground Command, Eglin Field, Florida. There I ferried AT-6's to and from gunnery schools and maintenance field. I also qualified in the P-39 and B-25.

After deactivation, I applied for CAA Aircraft Communications, was assigned to New York and Boston for training, with operational assignment to Norfolk, Virginia as aircraft radio communicator. Later, I transfered to the War Department, as aircraft dispatcher at Washington National Airport. Following the 1946 reduction-in-force, I returned home to Miami, and was accepted as a Pan American World Airways stewardess. I began flying in 1948, out of New York to Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

In 1949 I transferred to Miami and flew trips to Central, South America and the Caribbean. I flew the inaugural flight ("El Presidente") from New York to Buenos Aires in the new Boeing Stratocruiser.

In 1949, I accepted a direct commission in USAF Reserves as a 2nd Lt. I was called to active duty in 1951. I reported to a troop carrier wing in Miami as Administrative Officer. A year later, I was transferred to Okinawa, and assigned to Hdqtrs. 20th AF, serving as Personnel Officer with duties for personal records and Casualty Officer. When eligible, I was promoted to a 1st Lt. For my service I was awarded the Bronze Start decoration.

I met my husband, Captain James Munn, on Okinawa in 1952, while he was assigned as Intelligence and Briefing Officer to Hdqtrs. 20th AF. Jim had been a B-17 pilot (in WWII) with the 8th Air Force. He had been shot down over Germany and spent time as a POW, was discharged at the end of WWII, and recalled to active duty in 1951.

We were married on Okinawa in April 1953. On our return to the states in 1954, we were assigned to 9th AF at England Air Force Base, Alexandria, LA where I was promoted to Captain. After two years seeing the draw down of the Air Force, we decided to return to civilian life.

We traveled the US and Canada before moving to Spokane, WA, where Jim worked for Kaiser Aluminum. We both attended Gonzaga University, he at night law school, and I during the day. In 1960, we adopted our first son.

In 1962, we settled in Seattle, WA, where Jim worked with the King County Prosecuting Attorney, later into private practice. We both remained active in the Air Force Reserve program. We adopted two more sons, two years apart. In 1965, I graduated from the University of WA with a BA degree.

In 1983, I was selected by the Sec. of Defense, for a three-year appointment to the Defense Advisory Committee On Women in the Services (DACOWITS). This appointment carried the protocol grade of Lt. General when visiting bases for inspections and gathering information regarding treatment and utilization of female personnel. I remain active in my Pan Am Flight attendant group (World Wings), my garden club and look forward to WASP reunions.

+++++++++

Marjory was another one-of-a-kind extraordinary WASP.

God bless her and her family--and ever life she ever touched.

Will post more as information becomes available.

WASP Virginia L. Sweet, 43-4 | July 12, 2009

Sweet, Virginia L. Lt. Col. USAFR SCHENECTADY Lt. Col. Virginia L. Sweet, 88, died Sunday morning, July 12, 2009 at Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Scotia after a short illness. Lt. Col. Sweet was born on February 12, 1921. At the age of 12, she read a story about the flight of Amelia Earhart across the Atlantic. This started her great love for the sky and flying. She learned to fly at the Schenectady Airport in the summer of 1940, in a civil pilot training program. When she obtained 200 flying hours, she joined the WASP in class 43-W-4 in Houston, Texas, then went on to basic and advanced training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where she graduated and was assigned to Romulus, Mich., in the Third Ferry group in ATC. She attended instrument school, officer training school, and pursuit operational training, where she qualified in the P-39, P-40, P-51 Mustang, and P-63. By the time she was relieved from active service she had flown 52 different types of military aircraft as pilot-in-command, and qualified as co-pilot in the B-17, B-24, B-25, and the PBY-5 Catalina flying boat. The Amelia Earhart Scholarship was presented to Miss Sweet in NYC in 1949, by Maj. Gen. Robert M. Webster, Commanding General of the Eastern Defense Command of the Continental Air Command, United States Air Force. After World War II she served a reserve commission in 1949 and spent five years on active duty during and after the Korean War. She retired from the USAF Reserve in September 1979, as a lt. colonel after 30 years of service. Her military service as a WASP was not recognized until 1977, when the Department of Defense acknowledged the WASP as members of the military. On July 1, 2009, the president of the United States signed the bill "S.614" to award the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow upon a civilian. After WASP deactivation, she had a lifelong aviation career, adding some 55 different civilian types of aircrafts to her flight log, along with 14 sailplanes and gliders. She held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for single and multi-engine land and seaplanes, gliders, and an instrument and instructor certificate. She was an advanced ground school instructor and was a flight examiner for many years. She taught flying at Lake Champlain, at RPI to ROTC cadets, and at most of the airports in the Capital District. After a humble educational start in a one room school house in Quaker Springs, N.Y. she received diplomas from the Duke University and the Sorbonne in France with degrees in languages. She taught French, Spanish, and Latin for a number of years. She was predeceased by her father, Harry P. Sweet and her mother, Jessica S. Sweet; sisters, Betty (C. W.) Skinner and Helen (Leonard) Grinter. Survivors include cousin, Robert (Barbara) C. Smith of Fla. and Vt.; nephews, Edward (June) Grinter of Schenectady, Charles Skinner of Md., William (Dawn) Skinner of Md.; nieces, Suzanne Skinner of Md., Margaret Helen (Arthur) of Md., Betsey (Thomas) McBride of Niskayuna, Barbara Grinter of Schenectady, Phyllis Jane (Jeff) Joy of Md.; and several great-nephews and nieces. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 10 a.m. at Bond Funeral Home, Broadway and Guilderland Avenue, Schenectady. A visitation will be held at the funeral home on Friday, July 17 from 6 to 8 p.m. Internment with military honors will be held in Vale cemetery, Schenectady, N.Y. Contributions may be made in Lt. Col. Sweets Memory to the Baptist Health Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 297 North Ballston Ave, Scotia, NY www.bondfuneralhome.com

WASP Nancy Lee Sendelbach, 43-6 | June 10, 2009

Nancy Lee Sendelbach died Wednesday, June 10, 2009 in Manor Care, Camp Hill. She was 88.

She was a WASP aviator (Women Airforce Service Pilots) during WWII, flying almost every type of aircraft used during the was in operational flights from aircraft factories to ports of embarkation and military training bases.

Before moving to Pennsylvania she resided in Tyron, N.C., with her late husband, Major Norman "Sandy" Sendelbach, USAF, ret. She is survived by her daughter, Sara.

Private services with military honors will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington D.C. where she will be buried with her husband.

Memorial contributions in Nancy's name are encouraged to be sent to The Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, 7790 Grayson Rd. Harrisburg, PA 17111.

To send messages of condolence to Sara, please visit www.Parthemore.com www.pennlive.com/obits

(or, you may post a message below)

WASP Juliette Jenner Stegge, 44-W-3 June 22, 2009

A bright light, a sparkplug, a bundle of joyful energy and a lady who could kick higher than her head until just a few years ago, Julie Jenner Stegge passed away June 22, 2009. She was ninety-seven years old.

Not much information is available yet from her family, but these words from Bryd Howell Ganger's "On Final Approach" are so appropriate, for this determined young woman pilot with a smile that lit up the room.

_________

THE SHOW:

Morale is shot down by the bitter cold. It's worst at night when all bay gas heaters are turned off....on the flight line, parked planes strain against mooring lines as the wind whips and surges. Covers protect the engines. The cockpits fill with snow. With nothing to do, trainees get on each other's nerves.

Julie Jenner, Class 44-3, doesn't like the sinking morale at Avenger. She is naturally vivacious, keen on enjoying life and having everyone else have a good time too. On Broadway as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies cast, she has seen how boredom can create havoc. Smart directors keep everyone on tippy toes and maybe that should be done at Avenger too. What is needed is something to keep everyone busy--a show!

Julie takes her idea to the Chief Establishement Officer...Sure, go ahead...Julie does, enlisting trainees as set designers, stage hands, music composers, choreographers. the show is a huge success, so much so that its cast is invited to abandon flying and take the show on the road to Air Forces bases. they perform at one other base. But keep it up?

What? AND GIVE UP FLYING? NOT ON YOUR SWEET LIFE!" (1)

THE UC-78

"Tower--WASP Jener in UC78 on taxiway Plane won't move. Won't do anything. I'm leaving it right here."

Julie shuts down both engines, sets the brakes (what for? Won't budge anyway). opens the door, and starts out. Up rolls a jeep. In it is a handsome officer with a determined look. He jumps onto the wing.

"Here...I'll move it for you."

Oh, he will, will he. Smirking, Julie s

ubsides on the copilot seat, folds her arms, and waits. He starts the engines, revs them up, pumps the brakes. Nothing. He really guns the engines. Nothing happens except that the UC's tail rises a bit. Julie grins. He laughs. Looking at each other, they break up guffawing.

A tractor hauls the UC-78 to the ramp, its wheels solidly olocked and leaving rubber in tis path.

And that's how Julie meets her future husband, "the best ting that ever happened" to her "in the Army Air Force." (2)

1. p 356

2. 380/381

++++++++++++++

We met Julie in 1992, when she danced to

the WASP RAP, "We Got the Stuff, the Right Stuff," (written by my mom) at the 50th Anniversary WASP Convention in San Antonio. Julie had a wonderful time--and her performance is still talked about by WASP today. I know Julie enjoyed sharing her WASP experiences--and talking about flying for her county.

Julie was, after all, a patriot!

Doris C. Gee, 44-W-1

When she lived at The Wasps Nest in Miami after WWII she was "Gee" to all the little Reno children. We were in awe of her. She was like a warm wind at your back - sure and strong and big as all Texas.

- Janet Reno

________

Doris Gee passed away quietly on April 25, 2009 at a care facility in Shepherd, Texas. She was another of the wonderful WASP who so inspired others. When Janet Reno came to Texas to help dedicate the statue of the WASP at Avenger Field in 1996, she mentioned 'Gee' in her speech. Just listening, I was lifted by the words -- all inspired by a group of WASP who had touched her life as a young child. What a wonderful legacy Doris Gee has left--for all of us. A challenge to do your best, or better, because it is the right thing to do, and to never, ever do anything that would disappoint a WASP!

Although I never met Gee (I only talked to her on the phone once), I do remember her. I remember her excitement when I told her about the WASP Museum opening in 2005 and invited her to come. She was planning on it. She was excited something was happening in Texas to honor the WASP. Not long after that phone call, she had a stroke.

Like so many WASP, Doris Gee served quietly. Her name only appears briefly with a few dates and duty stations. As a member of WASP class 44-W-1, she entering training at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas and graduated on February 11, 1944. It was very cold that day. From Avenger Field, Doris was sent to Pecos Army Air Base in Pecos, Texas, where she would have flown AT-6, UC-78 and AT-17B as an engineering test pilot, administrative pilot and transport pilot. She was then transferred to Yuma Army Air Field, Yuma, Arizona to the Flexible Gunnery School/Radar Observer School. Here, she would have flown B-26's, towing targets for gunners preparing for combat. Other missions at this base included co-pilot instruction, AT-11; BT-13.

The legacy of Doris Gee is the inspiration she gave to those she met. She lives on through those of us who have been touched and inspired by the WASP, for that is what she was, a WASP. WASP didn't just make history, they made inspirational history. May they continue to inspire us all.

--submitted by Nancy Parrish

+++++++++++++

Following reprinted from the Corsicana Sun:

Doris Cordelia Gee, 87, formerly of Rowlett, Texas, and Idyllwild, Calif., passed away on Saturday, April 25, 2009, at Woodland Park Health Care Center in Shepherd after a long illness.

Doris was born on June 13, 1921 in Rockdale to the late Ernest W. and Mabel C. (Cherry) Gee. She entered the U.S. Air Force in July of 1943 as a Womens AirForce Service Pilot (WASP), and served for 18 months during World War II.

She subsequently worked for Continental Airlines training pilots for several years. She retired as a Realtor in Idyllwild, Calif., and returned to live in her beloved Texas.

Doris is survived by her nephews, Travis L. Gee and wife Susan of Wisconsin and William E. Gee of Florida; niece, Gareth A. Downey of California; and dear friends, Jeff and Brenda Langham of Shepherd.
She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Alfred T. Gee; and lifelong friend and companion, Mary Jane Langham.

Graveside services were held at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at the Rice Cemetery with the Rev. Don Wills officiating.

_________________

WASP Peggy Parker Eccles, 44-W-4

WASP Peggy Parker Eccles passed away on May 9, 2009, the day before Mother's Day. She had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and was fighting the good fight. Our prayers go out to her family.

Peggy's story is posted below--in her own words.

I was born on February 16, 1921, in Oregon City, Oregon. My inspiration and love of flying came from my father, also a pilot. I was a junior at Mills College when I got my pilot license in 1941. The Civilian Pilot Training program (CPT), was offered at Mills College, in California's San Francisco Bay area. When I began college at 16, I intended to head for medical school. I also wanted to fly to get the feeling of the third dimension.

After I finished the CPT training during my senior year of college, I was interviewed after spring vacation, I was asked to become a WASP right away. I opted to wait until after I graduated from college in June of 1942. I passed the required physical, but somehow my papers got lost somewhere at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas. After inquiring about the delay, I got my orders to report to Sweetwater, Texas.

I was upon graduation, assigned to the Air Transport Command in Romulus, Michigan. I mostly ferried the B-24 anf B-17 to point of embarkations, which included Great Falls, Montanna, the San Francisco Bay area and Newark, New Jersey. I also flew several Norsemen to Montreal, Canda, which were crated and sent to England. Then I was sent to the Second Air Force Training Command, and assigned to a B-29 base near Alamogordo New Mexico, where I acted as a taxi service for four physicists at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I would fly the men from New Mexico to Edwards Air Force Base in California, on to Washington, DC. The entire project was very hush-hush! I even had to carry a gun while I transported those men.

After deactivation, I continued in aviation one year with other WASP at the Palm Springs Airport in California for awhile. I also taught flying and continued to ferry planes. I married Julian Eccles. We have three children: Ted Eccles, Ralph Eccles and Jill Frodsham. All of whom presented me with seventeen grandchildren.

I continue to fly whenever I get the opportunity. I sold my Klamath Falls residence and now spend part of the year in Palm Desert, California, and part of the year at Lake of the Woods in Oregon, which I believe is the best of all worlds at this point.

_______________

Peggy's story reprinted from WASP Betty Turner's "Out of the Blue and Into History"

SEE PHOTOS OF PEGGY

More will be posted as information changes.

God bless you all,

nancy

WASP Caryl "Suds" Jones Stortz, 43-W-5

WASP Caryl "Suds" Stortz--in her own words.

"I was born in 1918 in Billings, Montana.

I remember when Lindbergh flew over Billings after his Atlantic flight, and also the ride in the Ford Trimotor when it toured the country. But it really wasn't until a friend of mine wrote me that she had learned to fly in Missoula at the university that I decided that I, too, could learn to fly. I was in my last year of college in Madison, Wisconsin and was accepted by the CPT program at the university. This was in the winter of 1941.

In the summer of 1942, I went to Santa Barbara, but there was no flying on the coast at that time due to the war with Japan. However, I read an article in Time Magazine about Cochran's program and wrote the magazine for the address, which turned out to be a hotel in Los Angeles where she was interviewing.

I went back to Billings to build up some time, and in March was accepted into 43-W-5. There were four girls from Montana to go through the WASP training: Marge Logan, 43-6, who was in high school with me; Frances Jensen Blakeslee 43-8, who was a sorority sister of mine, and Yvonne Ashcraft from Big Timber, who I didn't know until we ferried some PT's from Oklahoma to Montana after being disbanded.

After graduation, I was sent to Camp Davis, North Carolina, to tow target squadron and from there to Camp Stewart, Georgia, where we learned to fly radio controlled aircraft, and finally to Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas. The Douglas Dauntless (A-24), and the Helldiver (A-25), were mainly what we were flying although we did fly others occasionally.

After deactivation, I worked briefly at a plane factory (A-20s) in Tulsa and ferried a few PTs from there to Montana. I was back in Billings, working in the hospital lab, when my friend, Win Wood, called from Arizona and asked if I would drive home (Miami), and I jumped at the chance. I spent about two years working around airplanes in various capacities. From there I went to Waco, Texas where I ran the ground school for a GI flight school. From there to Forsyth, Montana to work with a friend's husband at a GI school, and there I met a man who wanted to hire a plane, and later I married him.

The next stop was when Win Wood called again and asked if I would like to come work at the Palm Springs Airport with her for Mary Nelson, who was running the airport at that time. So I went to Palm Springs and stayed there for about six months until I left to be married.

This about ended my flying years. We were in an auto accident and after I get patched up, which took a while, I got a job in a hospital in Daytona Beach, Florida, and from there went eventually to Asheville and on to New York and ended up back in California at La Jolla.

Win and I decided to get our teaching credentials and both got a job in Brawley, California. Eventually I went back to the coast and spent two years teaching in Germany, returning to Esondido until I retired. A lot of spare time has been spent in traveling, going to classes, etc."

(From WASP Betty Turner's "Out of the Blue and Into History" p. 139)

+++++++++++

Caryl passed away on the 24th of February, 2009. She had just turned 91 years old.

She is survived by her brother, Dr. Phillip Jones.