Memorial Day
Decoration Day, the original term for Memorial Day, started after the War Between the States aka The Ameircan Civil War. Southern woman decorated the graves of fallen soldiers buried near their homes with flowers from their gardens--Yankee or Reb. This act quickly became a tradition, giving us a special day to remember all veterans of all wars in which the United States participated.
Time to play a little catch up. I have been putting a zillion miles on the car, working a full forty hour week. I am not used to working so many hours. This ol' bod ain't what it usta was. While I am out and about, the adrenalin is a-pumping. I rarely feel tired. But as soon as I hit the comfort of the Lazy-Boy at Mi Casa, I am done. Don't have the energy to write.
Although there are many butt-heads and otherwise nasty people, there are so many, many more really nice people. Every one of us has a life story. Some, of course, are more interesting than others. Most of us live day to day lives and never realize the story of someone else's life.
Because it is Memorial Day, I am going to focus on one particular gentleman. Well, actually, the focus is on his Mom. I seemed to have interviewed a lot of chatty people on this particular day, but I really did not mind since I was well ahead of the production quota the Census Bureau likes to see. The production should be one complete per hour. Now I know that does not sound like much since it normally takes less than ten minutes to "complete" the census questionnaire. However, finding someone home is often the challenging portion of it. Driving hither, thither and yon is time consuming. One of the CLA's went out with me to make sure I was following protocol (all enumerators have to have either a CL or CLA as a quality control factor). My CLA, Don, and I went to fourteen houses in two hours before we were able to find a warm body to interview. So, that one per hour is not always that easy.
Getting back to my story...I was in the neighborhood of some folks who just wanted to talk. I can't remember the gentleman's name (actually, I couldn't tell y'all even if I did remember...the census claims to be big into privacy). But since I like the name Sam, and it is a rather approprate name for this holiday [Uncle Same Needs You!] I will use that as his name.
Women's roles in military capacity were limited throughout time. Although women participated in some capacity in every war...keeping the home fires burning, raising the family, keeping a family business...their role in official military ranks were limited. Oh, sure, women did fight in combat capacity, but they were a rare bird indeed. There were women like the legendary Molly Pitcher who is said to have taken over her husband's cannon after he was fatally shot and kept on shooting in the war for our independence from Briton. Then, there are the four hundred or so doceumented women who fought in the Civil War disguised as men. But, obviously, these are the exceptions!
Realistically, women as an noticable and viable force came into their own during World War II. Women played a great role in WWII. The shortage of men on the home front opened the previous all boys club to women. While men went overseas into combat, woman kept the home fires burning in doing everything from heavy construction (Rosie the Riveter comes to mind) to jobs in the US military that had formerly been filled by males...clerks, secretaries, non combat flying, medical personnel (mostly nurses). Woman, of course were not allowed on Navy ships, nor were the allowed in the Marine Corps. The Navy had its WAVES (established 1942--Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services). And the Army had WACs (Women's Army Corps--originally an auxiliary unit called the WAAC--established 14 May 1942, and converted to full status in 1943.)
Before the Air Force became the "Air Force," it was generally called the Army Air Corps and then the Army Air Force. But after WWII, it became its own service branch, and the name changed to the United States Air Force. With it came the new title of WAF, although many women participated in the Army Air Force before the Air Force was a separate branch of the military. All these abbreviations in a military context are now obsolete. Many of the abbreviations have taken on new meanings, but for this posting, the abbreviations are the military names of yore. This means that in this posting WAF stands for Woman [in the] Air Force.
Sam's mother had served in the WAF. She was secretary and administrative assistant at Mitchel Field in Long Island. This job gave her a lot of responsibility and a lot of opportunity.
Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. Established in 1918 as Hazelhurst Aviation Field #2, the facility was renamed Mitchel Field in honor of former New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel who was killed while training for the Air Service in Louisiana.
Mitchel Field grew after the Great War, turning the temporary wartime facilities into a permanent post, with new barracks, warehouses, hangar space and administrative buildings.
Various contests were sponsored and originated there, including the first airplane jumping contest in the nation, speed records, air mail service had its inception in experimental flights begun at the airfield. Many "firsts" were conducted at MItchel.
Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, known for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo flight near the end of the Pacific campagin in WWII, made the world's first blind flight as a lieutenant from this field. He was a familar sight around the base. The starting point for the first nonstop transcontinental bomber flights, made by Army B-18 Bolos, it as a base from which the first demonstration of long-range aerial reconnaissance was made, starting as early as 1939.
The Air Defense Command in 1940 was charged with the mission to develop the air defense for cities, vital industrial areas, continental bases, and military facilities in the United States (also known as the "Zone of the Interior"). Air defense planning and organization along the eastern seaboard was in its charge forming an aircraft patrol system along the coast for observing shipping. Supply depots. Garrisoning of North Atlantic air bases from Long Island to Iceland. Mitchel AAF became a staging area for B-24 Liberator and crews before being sent overseas. Command and control base for I Fighter and I Bomber Command. Tactical fighter groups and squadrons along with training bases. Thousands of Army Air Force personnel were processed through the base for overseas combat duty--both for deployment and for their return and separation.
Sam's mom (I will call her Eva) lived through many of these wonders and changes. Her job was not particularly dangerous (although some of the experiemental flights might have been). She was part of much of the processing. She had a very special place. She was allowed to fly in many of the training missions along the coast of Long Island.
She met and knew Lt. General Doolittle and many others we might consider heroes. It was an exciting time in her life. She really enjoyed her time as a woman in the air. No one said that someone serving her country, even in an administrative capacity, should not be thanked. Also, no one said that one has to hate one's job. Eva loved her time serving her country. The belief at that time--administrative work always has needed to be completed--a woman doing clerical work freed a guy to go to combat. But she loved adventure and was able to share in a large portion of that, apparently being in the right place at the right time.
She is no longer with us, having lived a long life.
Times have changed in that light. Both men and women are now in harm's way.
Thank you, Sam, for sharing your mom's story. And thank you all the Evas for your part in keeping our freedom.
Thank You Military Men and Women
Data gathered from various resources including Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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