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WASHINGTON -- Macie Jo Wheelis, 91, has had a colorful life.
A pioneering female aviator, she was one of the 1,102 Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. She was an avid golfer who played with the legendary Byron Nelson, a Dallas bowling champion and, for years, a West Texas racehorse breeder and owner.Wheelis, who's now in a wheelchair and a little hard of hearing, has lost none of her spunk. One of 300 surviving WASPs, she proudly participated in a ceremony Wednesday at the Capitol that honored the women with the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation's highest civilian honors."This tops it off," the Weatherford resident said. "I wonder why it took so long."Because so many WASPs and their families attended, the ceremony had to be moved from the Capitol Rotunda to the much larger Capitol Visitor Center's Emancipation Hall.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said more than 2,000 people were in the hall, "one of the largest crowds ever gathered in the Capitol.""We acknowledge that for too long the proud service of the WASPs was not recognized in word or in deed," Pelosi said. "Today, we honor you as the heroes that you are."Pelosi brought titters from the women when she mentioned a WASP song that said, "If you have a daughter, teach her to fly.""We are all your daughters," Pelosi told the WASPs.All in their 80s and 90s now, the women, a sea of gray and white hair, held their heads proudly, many in their blue uniforms and some wearing the berets.The leadership of the House and the Senate, the Air Force secretary and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation, spoke about the women's remarkable lives and how much succeeding generations owe them.Last summer, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., introduced a bill to recognize the WASPs.'Opening the doors'Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, one of the bill's sponsors, said, "They blazed a trail in the sky, opening the doors for women in aviation today."The WASP program, born out of necessity because all the male pilots were needed for combat and transport duty, was made possible by the nation's love affair with flying.Young female aviators, with flying opportunities limited to barnstorming and noncommercial service, suddenly were flying every type of military aircraft as they rolled off the assembly lines, such as B-24 Liberator bombers, built in Fort Worth; Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses; and B-29 Superfortresses. They flew all 78 types of Army Air Forces aircraft.The WASPs delivered the planes to military bases in the U.S. and Canada.Although they were skilled fliers in many different aircraft, the women weren't always appreciated, or welcomed. At some bases, commanders resentful of the women -- who were civilians -- would give them poor accommodations and treat them as inferiors.Original 'fly girls'When the women were dismissed from service in 1944, their records were classified and sealed -- denying them recognition for their accomplishments -- in what many thought was an effort to obliterate them from history. Their story re-emerged when the Air Force announced in 1976 that the women who were graduating from the first coed class at the U.S. Air Force Academy would be the first American women to fly military aircraft.
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