[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 165 (Friday, November 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      A TRIBUTE TO OUR ESTEEMED VETERANS AND FOUR LOCAL WASPS IN 
        ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THEIR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL AWARDS

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                         HON. DANIEL E. LUNGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 6, 2009

  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, nearly 70 years 
ago a group of extraordinary young women answered the call of duty and 
accepted a mission that no generation had before them. Just over 1,100 
women eagerly left the grounded existence of home and family, climbed 
into the cockpits of military aircraft and set about to do their part 
in the good fight of World War II. By 1943 they had come to be known as 
WASPs: Women Airforce Service Pilots. They had the verve of Amelia 
Earhart, the poise of their upbringing and a dutiful patriotic spirit 
to get them through. Some 38 perished during their 2-year tenure while 
fulfilling a variety of missions: testing aircraft and ferrying planes 
from coast to coast among them. Today we honor the service of four of 
these WASPs who reside in the Third Congressional District of 
California: Dorothy C. Goot and Captola Johnson, both of Fair Oaks; 
Barbara H. Kennedy and Doris K. Ohm, both of Sacramento. We thank you 
for your service. On Veterans Day, as we pay special tribute to men and 
women in the military, we especially thank you for your example and 
sacrifice. Women sustain the Armed Forces of these United States more 
today than at any other time in history. We thank you. We salute you 
all.

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