 Ms. Dawn Seymour was one of America's first female military pilots as a member of the Volunteer Women's Auxiliary Service, known as Women Air Force Service Pilots, or WASPs. Throughout World War II, she flew approximately 700 hours in the B-17, all before the age of 27. Seymour grew up in a lively family of seven children in Pittsburgh, New York, where she enjoyed playing baseball, tennis, swimming, ice skating, skiing, and sailing. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Cornell University in 1939. That autumn, she became the first woman accepted in Cornell's Civilian Pilot Training Program where she earned her private pilot's license in 1940. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Seymour knew she wanted to be as close to the action as possible, so after receiving two requests to join the WASPs, she reported to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas to complete primary, basic, and advanced flight training in the PT-19A, BT-13, BT-15, AT-6, UC-78, and AT-17 aircraft. Seymour graduated initial pilot training, earning her Silver Wings with Class 43-W-5. Upon graduating from initial pilot training, she was among the first 17 women selected to train on the 4-engine B-17. Following her training, Seymour was assigned to 2nd Ferry Command, Wilmington, Delaware, and then received orders to report to 1174th Flight Operations at Lockburn Army Air Base Columbus, Ohio. Seymour was one of the lucky 13 who graduated from the B-17F and B-17G combat training course and received her 4-engine rating and instrument card. She later went to the Florida Everglades to help train gunners for the D-Day invasion and duty in the Pacific Theater. On 20 December 1944, Seymour, along with the other WASPs, received a letter from General Hap Arnold announcing the end of the WASP program. In January 1946, she returned to Rochester, New York, where she worked for her family business as a manufacturing executive, raised her son, Bill, and became a community volunteer. Ten years later, she married Mort Seymour and later had four more children. In 1972, Seymour attended her first WASP reunion in Sweetwater, Texas and later served as president of the organization from 1982 to 1984. In March 2010, Seymour, along with over 250 surviving WASPs, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her outstanding contributions to the United States during World War II. Air Command and Staff College is proud to honor Ms. Dawn Seymour as an eagle. Ms. Seymour, thank you so much for being here and sharing your stories about the women Air Force service pilots. Thank you, Rachel. I am absolutely overwhelmed and exuberant at the welcome you have all given me and my fellow male patriots. It's been outstanding and it's warming the heart and I'm telling you every day I hear I lose 10 years. So I feel younger and more and more exuberant. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. So let's start at the beginning. How did you become interested in flying? It's quite a story, actually. I was teaching at Cornell after I graduated and my life was not active enough. I had been very active in undergraduate work. And so I saw this scientist and said, would you like to volunteer for a health study? And I signed my name. And through that I opened the door and became the professor in charge of the program, had recently been appointed director of flight research. This is 1939, seven universities in the company. We had expressed interest in the program. And they were trying to find a way you could pick a pilot without going through ground school and flight school. In other words, a quick way to summarize who's a good pilot, what qualities do you need? And so I said sure. And Dr. Richard Parmenter was in charge and he happened to be a World War I pilot. And he said, would you be interested in the program? I said yes, but I've never been up in the air. So he said let's go. And he took me to the Ithaca Airport and on a golden October day, we soared in a piper cub, a yellow cub, through the sunbeams of the sky. And I was just overwhelmed. This love of flying is the thread that started me to continue. And fortunately I had the opportunity after I received my private pilot's license to join this new program that Jackie Cochran had started in Sweetwater, Texas. So how did you learn about this new program, the WASPs? Well I had, Jackie Cochran, I received my private license in May of 1940 and in 41, this is probably May or June, I had received in the mail an invitation to a cocktail party at Jackie Cochran's apartment in New York City. I was unable to go but she had culled through the records of the CAA, the Civil Aeronautics Authority and had found my name and I was on a list, which is the important thing, you're on a list and that's how it happened. Then of course, then I had a telegram saying to meet the recruiting officer at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City for an interview. And at the interview, which is interesting, I, the Ethel Sheehy said to me well you know you look like a fine specimen of womanhood and I'm sure you'll pass the Army 6-4. We have an opening in the May March class. Now here it is, the 5th of March and the class starts at the end of March and I thought would I be ready to go, what an opportunity, she said well you can join the April class if you wish. No one said I'd flip the nickel, hence I go. So I found my way to beside my job and on my way I went. So you were on your way to Sweetwater, Texas for basic flight training. Can you tell us about Sweetwater, Texas? Sweetwater, Texas, 200 miles west of Fort Worth is absolutely the wildest country you've ever seen and the wind does blow. So we were all very able to make crosswind landings, it was a great experience. To go back to my training as a private pilot, I sold on skis and so it was unexpected that we had to take hot water to de-ice the skis from the frozen earth. That was a thrill. I was so excited to be able to take off and land in this beautiful country. So the training in Sweetwater was quite rigorous. Oh the training in rigorous was rigorous and the ground school was rigorous. The only thing was that there was this undercurrent that you might wash out, a third of the girls washed out of the program. 25,000 women applied, 1830 were accepted and 1074 graduated from the Sweetwater program. You do the math, I think it's about right a third. So and when you washed out, you'd come home, your maid, six to a room, would find this mattress of a girl who washed out, fold it over, all of her belongings were gone, no note, nothing. She just simply evaporated and she was whisked away to the blue-bonnet hotel and we heard nothing about it. That sort of an idea of being sent home was not exactly acceptable to me. So after this rigorous training, you graduated from basic training in Sweetwater. What was that like? Basic training? From basic training. Your graduation ceremony. Oh that, don't forget we had an advance too. Oh and your advance too. It was exciting. It was a hot day. It was September 11th of 1943. Jackie Cochran gave me my wings. She wore a flower dress. She wore sandals and a broad bramed straw hat. And when she presented my wings, she gave them to me in my left hand and I shook her right hand. And the wings were cold and I said I didn't, I finished, it was a wonderful one. And what did your family think about you flying military aircraft? My dad was very interesting. I said I know I don't have to get permission because I'm over 21, but I'd like to know your thoughts. And he said well, if you think you can do it, then I'm all for you. And mother said, how thrilling. So after Sweetwater, where did you go next? After Sweetwater I thought I'd be a ferry pilot. And I was sent to Second Ferry Command in Wilmington, Delaware. It had two weeks, it was a rainy September and learned to had a check ride in a PT-19A which is the primary plane, open cockpit and so forth. And I was there for just two weeks and I received orders to report immediately to Laughburn Army Air Base in Columbus, Ohio. And packed my car up, went across the Allegheny Mountains, arrived in Columbus, Ohio and found over 180 B-17s on the field. What a thrill we're going to fly a B-17. And sure enough, we were in 1174 Squadron and Freddie Wilson, who's the Colonel on the set, the day before, he received a telegram saying, expect 17 wasps. They are your new trainees. And he said, oh my God, what am I going to do with all these women? He said, and later he told us, oh, I know what I'll do, he said. I will, I'll have my marriage instructors be their instructors because they know how to handle women, sorry. And sure enough, our instructor was Logue Mitchell and he had been training Canadian pilots in the B-17 and he could just come back to the States. He said to his wife that night that he had the first class. He said, I'm going to get every girl through. And he was that positive and that persistent and he realized that women did learn to fly differently than men. Women wanted to prove to themselves that they could fly, they could do it. They knew how, whereas men might have had other motives. But he liked teaching the women and he had a trick. This is now we're getting into cold weather up north. And he'd sent us out to do the pre-check of the airplane. About three or four of us would go in one training mission. And he'd have us go out and check things over the outside and inside the cockpit. And then he'd come out and we realized that we were warming the seat for him. He said it's cold. There's no heat in the B-17. It's a big airplane. And the very first time, I'm a student, I'm in the left seat, he's on the right. And all of a sudden, during the course of the flight, the number three engine caught on fire. And fortunately I'd read the manual and we were all turning switches, cutting off things, putting the couplers up, punching the emergency fire extinguisher. And the fire was out. And I said to my colleague, they had trimmed it. So it flew straight and level. And I said, oh, this is the airplane for me. And it was so dependable. The pilots sat even with the propellers. So you could see what was going on with the engines. You had the call flaps, which are air intake around the engine. And you had to learn how to handle four engines at one time. Now I have a good ear so I could measure up the instruments to where they're supposed to be. And then I'd hear a little rumble. And I could tweak the engines and get it to purr. It was not a fast airplane. It was cruised around between 180 and 220. But that was a lot better than AT 17 that we trained in advanced flight in Sweetwater. So it was a wonderful experience. We lived in the nurses' quarters and flew mornings, afternoons, and the next day would be evenings. So we were flying and then the ground school would be the other time of the day. We had PT. We marched to class. We had a full colonel march just to the flight line in our class. It was serious. And here we were, women, on an army base for the first time on the flight line. And we had no real uniforms. We would go to officers' stores and buy either they were suntans, perhaps it was warm weather, or greens and pinks. And we must have looked rather tacky. Jackie had these beautiful uniforms made with San Diego blue cloth. And she had Hab Arnold approve of it before. The other choice was the army drab, greenish babes. And he chose the San Diego blue, which is the basis for the Air Force color today. She was a great person. If it hadn't been for Jackie Cochrane and for Hab Arnold general, it was called Commanding General of the Army Air Forces. His interest in us, we wouldn't have had the experience, I'm sure. And there was another general, Yelter, who was in charge of the training command. And he was gung-ho for the wasphalso. So Jackie had power where she needed it. But she didn't have the power she needed in Congress to fund our program. So we can go on that later. So throughout the war you moved around a lot? Oh, I did move around a lot. After we graduated, our CO at Freddie Wilson's club as a graduation present gave us a silver dollar with sweetheart Air Force wings soldered on the other side. I think we were accepted and 13 of us graduated from that program. We did do, we had night flight. We got an instant rating and four engine certificate. We went to write patterns and we flew up there one day to go through the oxygen chamber and learn what happens when you don't have enough oxygen. We each had a pattern of pencil and you'd write some story or some line or name address and then nothing, you know, you'd wake up and hear it would be off the page. Your pencil was off the page. I think we went up to 38,000 feet in that time and we did touch 43,000 feet on our oxygen certificate. So one of the requirements in the Air Force was oxygen mass to 10,000 feet. So where else did you fly? Where else did you fly through? Well, after we were trained V-17 pilots, five of us were sent to the Everglades. And this is called a Buckingham Army Air Field. A field is just a temporary operation. A base is like Maxwell Field. Base we had permanent housing and beautiful, you know, old trees and whereas a field had, you were in the sunshine and it's stark and you had to make, of course, we had to make our own entertainment too. In Buckingham, we were assigned rooms in the civilian dormitory and barracks and we slept under, we had cots, slept under mosquito netting. Mosquitoes were a troublesome thing. And you'd be on a date, of course, we didn't wear stockings. We tried, some of the girls even painted a black line in the back of their legs to look like stockings. We got tan, of course. And then we had 23 mosquito bites one night I counted and I didn't touch them, I didn't scratch them or anything the next morning they're gone. This is now, this is a flexible gunnery school and there were thousands of young boys, 18, 19, 20 years old who were trained to be gunners for the buildup for D-Day. Because we wore these peculiar mixed up uniforms, and we'd have whistles and calls and who are these women on the base and so forth and so on. And then of course that settled down. The men who were the pilots at the time were respectful and they found out that yes indeed, we could fly the B-17 and yes indeed, we were good at it and yes indeed, we were determined to help win the war. And that was fine. We flew one mission a day between six a.m. and 12 and then the next day would be 12 to six p.m. We had the gunnery instructor was on board, the students fired live ammunition from the 50 caliber machine guns posted in the top turret and in the fuselage side windows. They had a steel bar to protect the, to go back, the B-26 would tow the target. Let it out, we were over the Gulf of Mexico as our range from Santa Belle Island to Marco Island. And at Santa Belle Island you'd rendezvous with your B-26 at the posted time and then you'd go down the range. And the gunners were supposed to hit the target, which is a cotton sleet that's dragged behind the big airplane, the B-26. Well actually they're A-23s of strip B-26. And once in a while they had tracers of course and so you could tell whether the tracer went too close to the aircraft. I had 30 hours perhaps in the B-26 and I loved it. It was a fast airplane, maneuverable, quick on the controls and it landed like a, well how to describe it. You got to the end of the runway, you chopped the props and you landed on the numbers. It just dropped like a rock. And it was just a wonderful aircraft. I had a chance to fly a B-24 that was visiting the field and thought, what a terrible airplane. There's always been a nice little conversation between the B-17 and the B-24 pilots. Because the B-17 lets face it, it's the last of the tail-draggers and it had that big tail, that wide fuselage and it was a tough one to land in a crosswind. But I loved it, everything next. So after? And I finished, I could do the, I could do go through the mission if you want me to, splash. The idea was to teach the gunners how to fire a gun from a moving base to a moving target. And you would skip the water of the goal and hit the water would hit the boat, the boats would hit the water and then you'd try to hit the splash on the water. We did have what's known as 12 o'clock high exercises when we flew by Page Air Force Base, which is low field actually, it's a field, small. And the P-39s would come up and now the gunners put film in their guns and they would practice 12 o'clock high, you know, coming at different angles so the gunners could go ahead and different posts. I did fire a piece of the 50 caliber and it had a kick to it, it was good and interesting. Nothing exciting happened in terms of adventure, some thoughts there. But one day the 50 caliber gun did jump its course and caught the poor gunner right on the nose and we had him first aid and we called the ambulance and went in. We called it the meat wagon, isn't that a terrible term? And they got us there. So throughout the WASP program you did lose some WASP pilots. Pardon? Throughout the WASP program you did lose quite a few WASP pilots. Oh yes, during the war we lost 38 women pilots. 11 were killed at Sweetwater, an area around Sweetwater in training and 27 were lost in the service. Various reasons, in 1996, after a great deal of research, in fact I came here to the base here at the Bexel Field for research to accumulate information about the girls in their history. They published a booklet called Immemorium to the 38 Women Who Lost Their Lives in World War II. And one was a, my buddy, her name was Peggy Sype and she was flying at the end of a training to finish up her time with her instructor and with another WASP. And for some inexplicable reason on a CAVU day the plane crashed and they lost all lives. But before she had died, she had had plated a government alongside the wall of the barracks and watered her faithfully and on the day we graduated September 11th, 1943, the garden was in full bloom. And I like to think that 30 years later when the first women continued in the flying military planes that the seeds took that long to ripen and flower with this new generation of women pilots. And you can be very proud of your women pilots. You can be very proud of your own male pilots. You can be very proud of the people who support the Air Force. I think you are probably, I'm full of optimism that the war somehow will find the secret way to get along with people and stop killing people and destroying things, build things up, why just destroy? So I'm hopeful on that and that's my dream, I think, for that. So all of the women Air Force service pilots had a special bond. Can you describe that bond that you had? Oh, we had a special bond. We only knew, just face it, you have a squadron. You have a group of people in a base, six girls. You have a small group going up to the flight line. You have a small group going to the PT, canteen or the, and you only knew a few people actually, but you knew after the war we bonded, we had reunions and you were instantly connected. You'd been through the same training more or less and you were wasps and you had that sense of fellowship. And they were your buddies, it's a marvelous experience. To this day, there was a big reunion at Sweetwater last weekend, weekend before last and 15 was attended. Not, that's a good number. I think we're around a hundred now. And our stories are being told by the younger girls, 18 classes and the younger girls graduated in December of 44, December 7th. They didn't have much service time. And so they're carrying on this tradition, but the women military aviators are strong and healthy and carrying on with their stories. And as you all are here to hear stories, it's all part of our heritage. It's great. So you mentioned in December, 1944, those wasps did not have very much time in service. And that was because the WASP program ended. And that's why I was so lucky to have chosen 43.5 in that class in March or the April. Because only a few of us were able to walk through that door for advanced training. Jackie Cochran wanted not only to have a girl fly a unique aircraft, but she wanted a group of women. Her point was to prove that a group of women could fly the P-51, could fly the B-17, the B-25, the B-26, P-47, P-38, and she proved it. And that's to her everlasting credit. Jackie Cochran was an interesting person. She was a record setter, an aviation in the 30s, and her buddies and competitors were Hap Arnold, Jimmy Doolittle, so forth. So she knew the, she'd flown against them in races. And of course, this was the last part of the golden age of aviation. Aviation, this, this, I, are we ready for go out? Sure. Got another question? I'm giving you too much history, aren't I? No. This space is interesting to me because after the war was over and December I was, you know, let go, shall we say. I was sent here with my husband as a wife. We had, we lived in the married officer's quarters. And he was in the B-29 school, which was here at that time. And we, the whole base, I'm sure, moved downtown on the August day of 1945 when the Japanese declared surrender. And it was also a part, a base where pilots and enlisted men and so forth were disbanded from the service. And it was an interesting time. We thought we'd stay in the service and then had made no decision to get out. So I was here and our friends kept leaving. And it was, all of a sudden it was a whole different situation that had been during the war. And everybody went their own way and picked up their own lives as best they could. I was talking to our young man who's in charge of the officer's club today. And I was telling him that we had dances during the year, formal dances. Girls were along in evening dresses. You had to make your own fun. There was no television, no communication, no computers, no little boxes. And you saw your planned events, it was great. So let's fast forward about 60 years. Okay. Okay. What did it feel like when you received the Congressional Gold Medal? Oh my goodness. Congress is an interesting body of men representing us. What? Congress in June of 44 decided that they wouldn't fund our program anymore. However, any girl who was accepted, was in flying status in Sweetwater, could stay and that to their time was up. Congress in 1977, when the other women started to fly and they said they were the first women, and then suddenly our group became interested in our history, had a caveat on their bill to make us veterans. They made us veterans, but not honest to goodness Air Force personnel, Army Air Force. Oh no, it was 47, it was the Air Force. So they little waffled there. So we jumped from being a volunteer into the service to a volunteer into the veterans organization. And then the gold medal comes along as a piece of cake after 30 some years, well, 2010, you had being made, you're right, it's over 50. And suddenly, again, we're still veterans, we're still volunteers, veterans and gold star. So I'm pleased. I was thrilled. I did several interviews at the time. And here we were, we had grandchildren. Some people had great grandchildren. They had sisters and brothers, and the Congress was overwhelmed with people. It was the biggest audience they'd ever had for a ceremony in the House of Congress. It was muted. It wasn't joyful. It was that sense of deep satisfaction that, yes, your country has recognized your service. And I think that satisfaction is kind of warming to the heart. I didn't tell you the other moment of, I was particularly interested to me was when I did the first night's solo on the V-17. And I'm making the pattern. The beacon is going around in slow, steady circle. And the blue runway relights are calling. And all of a sudden, I realized I was a part of it. And it was that same feeling of satisfaction that you'd accomplished something. And I think that's given me a sense of strength all my life. And I'm so glad to be invited here today because I really appreciate this moment with you all. So with that, what was your favorite part about flying? I loved the sky and all its changes. We had a night flight one time when we didn't have enough time in Columbus, Ohio to graduate. And the powers that be decided we'd go to Houston to get better weather. And so we were in this terrible weather. The ice boots, they're rubber boots they're called that are on the leading edge of the wing. And they would take the ice and crack it so we didn't build up ice. And then the propellers had a de-icer machine. They would keep the propellers from getting ice. And that ice and the propellers would hit the fuselage and make this real crashy noise. And all of a sudden we were in the soup there for a long time and all of a sudden we broke through the clouds and we're up above on the top of the overcasts. And there's white clouds, it was completely flat. And there's the full moon. Oh, just gorgeous. And they have many memories. The coast of Florida in the afternoons perhaps here in Alabama is lined in the afternoon with thunderstorms. Just isolated unit storms but they're dangerous because they can go up 40,000 feet and they're full of currents of air and so forth. But you can fly around them and there's only maybe two in a row before you get to dry land again. Here's the ocean or the gulf and so forth. And as you route about one of these towers all of a sudden you see the pilots cross which is a complete circle of rainbow with your airplane shattered in the middle. Oh, it's absolutely stunning. And this world is so beautiful that I still to this day when the wheels leave the runway I have, ooh, I'm thrilled. All right, ma'am, we're almost out of time. So I wanted to give you the opportunity if there was anything else that you would like to tell the students. Oh, it's a wonderful. And you have so many people to think because you don't do it alone. You do it through the kindness of other people. I'd never have gone to Cornell unless my Latin teacher had said, you must go pack your suitcase, here's $50. Harry will drive you down to the Dean of Women. And you will find your way. And you must take the step between thought and action because it's only through action that you are set aside when you're 99 years old. And I don't think I miss many opportunities because I guess my goal was actually to be of service to my country, to my family, to my community, to myself, and to inspire other people, perhaps that life is wonderful and be happy, please. Ms. Seymour, you have truly inspired all of us. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me recognize Ms. Dawn Seymour.