Geraldine Tribble Vickers Crockett of Palm Springs — a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) during World War II — will be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal today in Washington, D.C.
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Geraldine Tribble Vickers Crockett
The Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom are the highest honors awarded to U.S. civilians. The award recognizes outstanding deeds or acts of service that contribute to the security, prosperity and national interest of the U.S.
Medals to be awarded
There will be 1,114 medals awarded today:
WASP - 1,102
WASP trainees who died in training - 11
Jacqueline Cochran, founder of the WASP - 1 (deceased)
WASP history
Because they were considered civilian, the 38 WASP pilots who lost their lives during the war were accorded no military honors. Their remains were sent home at the families' expense and their coffins were not allowed to be draped with American flags as in traditional military services.
There was no fanfare, no 21-gun salute and no medals or decorations of any kind. In 1944 the program was disbanded and the remaining WASP pilots paid their own fare back home, just as they had done on their way over.
The G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977 granted the WASP pilots military status and in 1984 each WASP was awarded the WWII Victory Medal, although for many of them the award came posthumously.
Source: La Quinta Museum
Local exhibit
The La Quinta Museum's “Women in Flight” exhibit features three authentic WASP uniforms and other WASP artifacts, as well as displays about Amelia Earhart and her tragic disappearance, the Mercury 13 and America's first female astronaut, Sally Ride. The exhibit is on display through May 29.
The museum is 77-885 Avenida Montezuma. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.
More information: (760) 777-7170
Palm Springs Air Museum
The air museum at 745 N. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs, has a permanent display called “Women of World War II.”
The museum's gift shop carries items about WWII women pilots and women in the military. You can enter the gift shop without entering the museum.
“Fly Girls” DVD — documentary with archival footage and interviews with WASPS — $24.95
“Flying For Her Country,” a book by Amy Goodpaster Strebe — $15.95. Strebe is in Washington, D.C. today to receive her Congressional Gold Medal.
“When Our Mothers Went to War,” a book by Margaret Regis — $29.95
“Sisters In War,” a book by Peg Trout — $35
More information: (760) 778-6262 or www.PalmSprings AirMuseum.org
Beverly Beesemyer, of Beverly Hills, Calif., holds her Congressional Gold Medal following a presentation ceremony honoring Women Airforce Service Pilots, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) / AP
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Geraldine Tribble Vickers Crockett of Palm Springs — a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) during World War II — will be honored with a Congressional Gold Medal today in Washington, D.C.
But the 88-year-old won't be at the Capitol to receive the award — one of the highest awarded to U.S. civilians.
She won't be among the 1,102 women congratulated — 70 years later — for a job well-done during a crucial time in our nation's history.
She won't even know she's received the award.
Vickers Crockett has Alzheimer's, the irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills.
She's been living at Windsor Court Assisted Living in Palm Springs for the past three years.
Her son, Mike Vickers of Yucca Valley, said his mother has stopped talking and doesn't recognize him when he visits.
“It's hard to go see her,” he said. “You go there and she doesn't know you and you don't know her. There's no conversation. You sit there and stare at each other.”
He's arranging to have the medal delivered to his home.
“We can take it down and at least show it to her,” he said, sadly. “I just wish that she could understand.”
President Barack Obama on July 1 signed into law a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
“The Women Airforce Service Pilots courageously answered their country's call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since,” Obama said at the time.
The WASP was established during World War II to fly noncombat military missions in the United States, thus freeing their male counterparts for combat missions overseas, according to the U.S. Air Force.
These were the first women ever to fly American military aircraft and they flew almost every type operated by the Army Air Force during World War II, logging more than 60 million miles.
Of the group of 1,102 WASP, fewer than 300 survive today, according to event organizers.
Nearly half the survivors and more than 1,000 family members will travel to Washington to receive the recognition.
World War II-era flying legend Jacqueline Cochran and husband Floyd Odlum owned a ranch in Indio on what is now the Indian Palms Country Club.
Cochran kept after the military's top brass until they consented to create the Women Airforce Service Pilots program.
Cochran will receive a medal, posthumously, as founder of the WASP.
Vickers Crockett, originally from Troy, Ark., was honored by U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., when the senator submitted a statement into the Congressional Record in July.
According to her statement, Vickers Crockett became interested in flying through the influence of an older brother, who was a flight instructor.
He enrolled her in a Civilian Pilot Training program that he was teaching and it was there that she earned her private pilot license.
She went into the WASPs in 1944 and flew AT-6 and BT-13 aircraft. Afterward, she got her instructor and commercial licenses and taught flying to veterans on the GI Bill.
“We're real proud of her,” her son said. “We never expected anything like this. I'm glad she's getting it.
“I just wish it would have come along sooner.”
WASP Timeline
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was established during World War II to fly noncombat military missions in the U.S. so that male pilots could fly in combat overseas. A look at the history:
1939
Famed pilot Jacqueline Cochran tells first lady Eleanor Roosevelt that women pilots could ferry military planes as British women were already doing to help in war effort.
Sept. 10, 1942
U.S. Army Air Forces starts Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) with 28 experienced female pilots; others recruited for Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD).
Aug. 25, 1943
WAFS, WFTD merge into WASP
25,000 women apply to program
1,830 accepted
1,074 graduate
Flight training is the same as male cadets though women considered civilians
March 24, 1944
Senate bill introduced to militarize women pilots, send them to officer training school strongly opposed; bill later defeated.
Dec. 20, 1944
With more than 900 on duty, WASP deactivated; all records are sealed, classified for more than 30 years.
1972
Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii, introduces bill to recognize WASP service; bill is killed.
1976
WASPs speak out after Air Force claims 18 women in pilot school are the first women to fly military aircraft.
1977
President Jimmy Carter signs bill giving WASP military recognition; they get veteran status in 1979.
2010
WASP members receive the Congressional Gold Medal for their service to the nation.
Source: U.S. Air Force, Texas Women's University, National Public Radio, Wings Across America
