[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 177 (Tuesday, November 6, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE SERVICE OF CAPT. JANICE CHRISTENSEN

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 6, 2018

  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ms. Janice 
Charlotte Christensen, a World War II veteran of the Women's Airforce 
Service Pilots (WASP), and a former resident of Waukegan, IL.
  Founded in 1943, WASP was a wartime civilian women pilots 
organization, which graduated only 1,074 women to operate military 
aircraft and fly non-combat missions. Members flew more than 60 million 
miles throughout the course of the Second World War serving over 120 
bases around the country, including missions towing aerial targets for 
anti-aircraft gun practice, simulating strafing missions, test flying 
and ferrying aircrafts, serving as instructors and transporting cargo. 
Thirty-eight WASPs lost their lives in the line of duty before the 
program was disbanded in 1944.
  In the spring of 1942, at her own expense, Ms. Christensen began 
flying lessons at the Waukegan Airport and became an original member of 
the Waukegan Civil Air Patrol. After achieving the required 90 hours of 
flying time, she joined the WASP and left for training at Avenger Army 
Air Field in Sweetwater, Texas. On September 11, 1943, she graduated 
and would be stationed at Romulus Army Air Field in Michigan. A year 
later, she returned to Avenger Field and completed an intensive 
advanced course in instrument flying. Following that, she was stationed 
at Cochran Army Air Field in Macon, Georgia, until the WASP program was 
disbanded in December 1944.
  Despite her service, Ms. Christensen and other WASPs were denied 
veteran status. After returning home, Ms. Christensen was involved with 
the Waukegan Civil Air Patrol and joined the Air Force Reserve. Captain 
Christensen was honorably discharged from all appointments in the 
United States Air Force Reserves in November 1963.
  Her services were of great value to the Army Air Forces during the 
war, and as a volunteer she helped establish the capacity of women as 
non-combat military pilots. Finally, in 1977, WASPs would be granted 
veteran status by President Jimmy Carter to recognize their service. 
And in 2009, President Obama and Congress would award the Congressional 
Gold Medal to WASPs while only 300 veterans remained alive. Sadly, Ms. 
Christensen passed away in a car accident in 1965, never having seen 
her military contributions sufficiently honored.
  It is a privilege to properly recognize Captain Janice Christensen on 
behalf of a grateful nation for her service to our country during World 
War II. I look forward to presenting her surviving family with a World 
War II Victory medal and a WASP medallion from the Department of 
Veterans Affairs to mark her gravestone on November 9, 2018.

                          ____________________