Although they were not LDS, there is a Utah connection. Mom was stationed at the huge military hospital in Brigham City for more than a year. Some weekends, Dad took the train down from where he was stationed in Washington state, and they did lots of their courting on the streets of SLC.

I visited the site of the hospital after it was an Indian school, before it was turned into condos. I was sure where the O-club must have been. Is anyone aware of a history of that hospital complex? It must have had a huge impact on the local economy and our family would love to learn more.

Lest we get too carried away with my mom’s patriotism, in her later years she admitted on videotape that the reason she signed up was that it was hard to find cigarettes, booze or men in civilian life during that era–all in ready supply at the officer’s club.

One of the sad things was that the WASPs were only considered an auxillary and did not have full military benefits until like the 1970s when Congress finally voted to retroactively grant them benefits. So right after the war they couldn’t attend college on the GI Bill, nor get a VA loan to buy a house, and when more than 40 of them were killed, they did not get a military funeral or even a GI insurance payment. (Of course they were disbanded right after WWII and women were not allowed to fly military planes again for several decades.)

One question: you mentioned that women ferried aircraft around the country. I have a foggy recollection (most of mine lately are that way) that women aviators also ferried aircraft overseas, closer to combat zones. I’ll have to check that another day–unless someone beats me to it.