Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal

A long-overlooked accumulation of women who flew aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Badge on Wednesday.Known as Women Airforce Account Pilots, or WASPs, they were the aboriginal women to fly U.S. aggressive planes.About 200 of these aviators, mostly in their backward 80s and aboriginal 90s and some in wheelchairs, came to the Capitol to acquire the medal, the accomplished noncombatant account bestowed by Congress.In accepting the award, WASP pilot Deanie Parrish said the women had volunteered to fly the planes after apprehension that they would anytime be thanked. Their mission was to fly noncombat missions to chargeless up macho pilots to fly overseas.Over 65 years ago we anniversary served our country after any apprehension of acceptance or celebrity and we did it after compromising the ethics that we were accomplished growing up ... We did it because our country bare us.Thirty-eight WASPS were dead in service. But they were continued advised civilians, not associates of the military, and appropriately were not advantaged to the pay and allowances accustomed to the men. When their assemblage was disbanded in 1944, abounding alike had to pay their own bus book home from a Texas airfield.