Celestial Flight - The Song

This poem was written For WASP Marie Michell Robinson by best friend WASP Kit Magid in 1944. Marie was one of the 38 Women Air Force Service Pilots who sacrificed her life for her country in World War II. She was only 20. Marie had been married for 2 weeks prior to her death, and wanting to have a proper wedding for the sake of their families, she and her husband, flight surgeon Col. Hampton Robinson had kept it a secret. On October 2, 1944, her father''s birthday, the B-25 she was co-piloting during bombardier training in Victorville, CA. crashed and all 3 on board died. Her artifacts were recovered in the Mojave Desert in 2003 by "Wreckfinders" and are now on display in the Woman's Memorial Museum at Arlington Cemetery.

Marie's best friend was WASP Elizabeth "Kit" MacKethan Magid. Never thinking it would come to pass, they vowed to each other that they would comfort the bereaved mother in case anything ever went wrong with a mission. As fate would have it, that sad journey would be taken by Kit on Marie's behalf. The poem "Celestial Flight" was born from Kit's grief and has since been adopted by the WASP and read at the passing of each one.

Marie's niece and namesake, Cheryl Marie Michell Van Riper vowed to fulfill her aunt's last wish ....to fly in a B 25 Mitchell Bomber, and land successfully. Just one week after receiving the Congressional Gold Medal on Marie's behalf, Tom Reilly made that happen when he flew Cheryl from the Tico Warbird Museum in Titusville, FL to MacDill AFB where Cheryl joined Al Richmond and represented the WASP in his exceptional military exhibit in March, 2010.
The video for this You Tube presentation was shot during that flight and during one with Leo Rotgers from Valkaria, FL. The music was written by Cheryl's husband, Charles Van Riper, a local musician, song writer and arranger.

If you are a family member of one of the 38 or know the history of one of the 38, please feel free to contact Cheryl and visit her site devoted to the 38 at Blogger. www.38wasp.com

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• 38
• WASP
• Women
• Air
• Force
• Service
• Pilot
• WWII
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• military
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• medal
• celestial
• flight
• song

[PennyTraition]

A big THANKYOU to all women pilots who lost their lives flying everything from single-engined fighter aircraft to huge four engined bombers in WW2...taking these aircraft to frontline squandrons, despite the danger, in America and Britain...This moving poem is a great tribute,especially with it being March 8th,INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY 2011...the 100th anniversary.

Well done and thankyou for posting. We will always remember them... PEACE X