“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric time, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air.”    Wilbur Wright

This card is for a very special woman, my Aunt Frances.  Tomorrow, March 10th, is a proud day for the United States.  We are finally honoring a group of women who answered their country’s call during WWII.  They are called the WASP, Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, and my aunt is one of them!!  Tomorrow, one of my sons and I have the priviledge of going to Washington, DC to see these women get a Congressional Medal of Honor, one of the two highest honors that can be given a civilian.  I know you came to see the card but please stay for the history of these great women.  I’ll give you the card first.

I used the phrase from Inspired by Nature because it sums up my aunt.  The sketch is from Makeesha over at Inkspirations.  I knew it would be perfect with the butterflies and flying is, after all, the theme!  The colors came from a color challenge at Splitcoast, CC261, and are Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue.  These were hard colors for me but they are such a happy combination!  Of course with the butterflies and these colors, it feels like spring and meets the Spring Theme from Pals Paper Arts  this week (hopefully I meet their deadline).  I used some Celery DSP from a hostess pack (I love that it had a butterfly, too).  The butterflies from my Big Shot embosslit, Beautiful Wings, are the star of the show.  I added a Celery button from the Sherbet set and the new Celery satin ribbon to finish it off.

Stamp:  Inspired by Nature; Paper:  Lovely Flowers (hostess), Celery DSP (ret), Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Bashful Blue; Ink:  Certainly Celery, Melon Mambo; Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Celery satin ribbon, White thread, Sherbet buttons

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Back to the history….

The WASP were formed around 1943 (there were precursors that were joined together) in order to train women to fly military aircraft.  This would allow the men to be moved into combat duties while the women would do ferry flights, target and spotlight training and other “behind the lines” jobs.  When applications opened, over 25,000 women applied for the job and only 1,830 were chosen.  Of those, 1,074 earned their WASP wings.  Most of the training was done in Sweetwater, TX at Avenger field.  After getting their wings, these women flew almost everything in the inventory at the time!  While they took the military oath, they were not given military privileges.  In fact, when a WASP was killed in duty, she was not allowed even a flag on her coffin.  After the WASP were disbanded, the files about them were sealed and classified…almost as if their flying had never happened.  It was only when the US was about to start training women to fly in 1977 that these files were unsealed and the WASP were given veteran status.  Tomorrow, our country will finally thank them properly for serving their country in a time of war.  It is only because of these ground breakers, and other early women pilots, that I had all the opportunities to fly in my career. 

Thanks for staying for “the rest of the story”!  I appreciate any comments, as always!