Resiliency Report

This isn’t what you usually expect from my ezine. However, I can’t ignore the cruel actions of this government that would vanish the records of incredibly resilient men and women who made a gigantic impact on the nation I call home.

So, you can expect this month’s ezine to be filled with stories of just such people.

Let me start with a story closest to home and my heart. Recently, the Pentagon instructed Arlington National Cemetery to scrub dozens of pages on gravesites and educational materials that include the histories of prominent black, Hispanic, and female service members buried in the cemetery to meet the Trump/Hegseth orders.

Before January, the website included lists of prominent Black people and famous women buried at Arlington. While the individual graves still turn up on website searches, lists grouping the dead by race or gender do not. The webpage citing “Notable Graves” had subsections, including one for African Americans. The link to the list has been taken down. Famous Black Americans buried at Arlington include Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, champion boxer Joe Louis, assassinated civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and several Tuskegee Airmen — the first group of Black combat pilots in World War II.

I know you, my reader, will recognize the names of these amazing men. But let me tell you of some of the women who were also erased: the Women Airforce Service Pilots in WWII—the WASP.

Mom was a WASP, one of the 1,076 women who flew for the military in WWII. The women had three missions: tow targets for gunnery practice with live ammunition, ferry planes from coast to coast, and test planes as they came off the assembly lines. Mom was a test pilot, earning the same silver wings that male cadets earned, but with a few exceptions.

Women in the WASP program were required to have a pilot’s license already, whereas male cadets were not. They also had to cover their expenses, including travel to the base, food, and uniforms—costs that male cadets did not have to pay. Despite these challenges, the WASP underwent the same rigorous training as the male cadets, living in barracks on the airbase, participating in drilling exercises, and more.

Collectively, these women flew over 60 million air miles of domestic military duty, flying every plane in the U.S. arsenal. It was not without hazard—39 were killed in the course of duty, but because Congress refused to consider them official military, there were no benefits. In at least one case, Mom said they passed the hat to send the body home to the parents.

Mom and her sister pilots were sure of one thing: they loved their country and would die for it.

There is so much more to the story. But for now, the tragedy that gender and race disqualify the efforts and service of so many is a mockery to this nation. And considering that it comes from a President who has never served, doesn’t want any wounded soldiers on the same stage, and calls prisoners of war (like John McCain) losers, I rest my case.

But wait, there’s more.

The Army website has scrubbed all mention of The Nisei "Go For Broke" WWII unit. It was the  442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion. This was the most decorated combat unit in history, composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry known as Nisei.

The WASP and the Nisei were finally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. But now—let us erase them from memory. Destroying history is a significant crime against humanity.

I challenge you, my readers, to tell these stories. They dared to fight for this nation.  Let’s see if we can follow their lead.