The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Part 18

Oh, dear, now she was caught. "Uh ... send it to Alice Finch, in care of Mrs. Earle Poole, Jr. 526 Bayview Street, Point Clear, Alabama."

"Huh. I thought you said you lived in Georgia."

"Yes, but it's very close to the state line, and I get my mail in Alabama."

"Oh. Well, okay, then. I'll get this off to you as soon as I can get it all gathered up. Nice talking to you, Alice."

"You, too. Thank you."

AFTER SHE HUNG UP, Sookie sat there and noticed her hands were shaking. She knew the woman was talking about her real mother and her real family, but it still seemed so unreal and scary. She didn't even know that women flew planes during World War II. She thought there had only been men pilots.

The phone rang again, and she picked it up. This time, it was Netta. "Are you going to Walmart?"

"Yes, I sure am."

"Could you pick me up a six-pack of paper towels and a carton of Diet Dr Pepper?"

"Of course."

"And a pound of frozen shrimp. If you're coming right back."

"I sure will. No problem."

"Are you okay? You sound funny."

"No, I'm fine. Listen, Netta, do you know anything about the WASPs?"

"What wasps?"

"The girl WASPs that flew planes during the Second World War."

Netta thought to herself, "Uh-oh, here she goes again." "No, honey, I didn't know wasps flew planes."

"Well, I didn't either ... until just now ... isn't that strange?"

"Yes ... I would say so."

"Have you ever heard of a town in California that's Danish and has a lot of windmills?"

"No, honey, sure haven't." After Netta hung up, she was worried again. She had thought Sookie was getting better, but evidently not.

LATER, AS SHE WHEELED through Walmart, Sookie asked a few people if they had ever heard about the WASPs, and not one person had. Mr. Lennon, one of the Walmart greeters, said he thought he remembered something about them, but he wasn't sure. But then, he was ninety-two. Sookie couldn't wait for Earle to get home.

THE MINUTE EARLE WALKED in the door, Sookie said, "Earle, you won't believe this, but I just found out my mother was a WASP and flew planes in the Second World War!"

"What?"

"A woman from Wisconsin called and told me. And her sisters did, too."

"Hold on. Slow down. Now what?"

"My mother was a WASP. Like a WAC, only they flew planes. Have you ever heard of them?"

"No. I knew there were WACs and WAVES, but no."

"Can you look them up on the Internet for me? I'm too nervous."

"Sure, honey." They walked back to the den, and Earle sat down and turned on the computer. He typed in "Women Fliers," "World War II," and the word "WASPs," and suddenly, something came up. "Here it is," Earle said.

The Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) were the first women to serve as pilots and fly military aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. The original twenty-eight women were under the direction of Nancy Harkness Love, who was an advocate of using experienced women fliers in domestic service to ferry airplanes in order to free up male pilots for combat or overseas ferrying.

WASP FACTS.

1. The WASPs served in the Army Air Forces from September 1942 to December 20, 1944.

2. More than 33,000 women applied. 1,830 were accepted. 1,074 graduated from the training program.

3. Governed by the Civil Service Commission, although under military discipline order, the WASPs were originally stationed at the Howard Hughes Airport in Houston, Texas, but were transferred to Avenger Field, Sweet.w.a.ter, Texas, in February 1943.

4. WASPs received seven months of training, the same as male cadets.

5. WASPs were stationed at 120 Army Air Bases within the United States.

6. WASPs flew 78 different types of aircraft, every plane the Army Air Corps flew, including the B-29.

7. WASPs flew sixty million miles of operation flights.

8. Types of flying duties included ferrying aircraft from factory to bases, flight instruction (basic and instrument), towing targets for antiaircraft, towing targets for aerial gunnery, tracking and searchlight missions, simulated strafing, and radio-controlled flights.

9. Thirty-eight died while flying for the Army Air Corps.

"Wow," said Earle. "This is pretty impressive. I had no idea. This is really something, isn't it?"

"Yes, and now I know why she was in Texas, and my two aunts were there, too. One of those girls that died was my aunt."

"Oh, no. Really?"

"Yes. The lady is sending me newspaper articles."

"Really? Does she know if she's still alive?"

"She thinks so. The last time she heard from her, she was in California. Look up a town in California that's Danish and has windmills."

"Oh, okay, but could you get me a drink? An iced tea or something?"

SOOKIE WAS IN THE kitchen when she heard Earle call out. "I found it!" Sookie brought him his iced tea, and he pointed to the screen, and sure enough, there was a picture of a town with lots of big windmills everywhere. "Here it is. It says, 'Solvang, California. Two hours north of Los Angeles, nestled in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. Come and discover the charming little town of Solvang, California. History: In January 1911, the Danish-American Colony Corporation, looking for farmland and impressed by the area's abundant year-round sunshine, bought nine thousand plus acres of land. The new settlement was named Solvang, which means "Sunny Field" in Danish. The corporation advertised in Danish-language newspapers, and soon both U.S. Danish immigrants and those still in Denmark bought land in the colony. Many descendants of the original settlers still populate the area today.' This has to be it."

"I'm sure it is. But I doubt if she's still there."

"Don't you want to find out?"

"Oh, I don't know, Earle. I'm not sure. Even if I did meet her, what good would it do? What if she's just horrible, and I hated her? Or what if, after she met me, she decided to move here with us? And I couldn't say no, and then Lenore would find out. I don't know, Earle. I still think it might be better to just leave well enough alone."

"You do what you want, but if you don't, and she dies, you might regret not meeting her when you still had the chance, or at least talking to her on the phone."

"But why?"

"Well, you could find out why she gave you up. Don't you think she at least deserves a chance? Don't forget you just found out about her, but I'm sure she has been wondering about you for fifty-nine years."

"Sixty," added Sookie.

LATER IN BED, SOOKIE said, "Just imagine, Earle, I'm scared to go on a Ferris wheel, and my real mother actually flew a plane."

Earle smiled. "It's pretty exciting."

"Yes ... I guess it really is."

Earle was glad to see Sookie start to take some sort of an interest. He hoped she would change her mind after reading about the WASPs and all that they did. He would like to meet the old gal himself. But it was Sookie's decision.

NOW, THINKING MORE ABOUT it, Sookie realized that another reason not to meet her real mother was that when she found out that her daughter had never really accomplished anything and was just a housewife, she could be terribly disappointed in her. Good Lord. She had already disappointed one mother, and that was bad enough. She didn't know if she wanted to take a chance on disappointing two.

AVENGER FIELD.

SWEEt.w.a.tER, TEXAS.

Billy,

What's wrong with the d.a.m.n male race? We are getting a lot of flack from a bunch of disgruntled flyboys. As if things weren't tough enough, a group of them here are not happy that girls are doing the same thing they are, and in some cases (mine), doing it better. We could ignore it, but they have started enough rumors about us to sink our entire program. They are telling people that we are a bunch of man-hungry females who joined up just so we could sleep around with the male pilots and are generally a no-good lot that should be sent home. Two weeks ago, we found out that they brought in a group of prost.i.tutes and put them up at the Sweet.w.a.ter Hotel and told everybody they were WASPs. I can tell you that didn't endear us to the townsfolk.

Finally, it got straightened out, but we are now being forced to live like nuns. Our director Jackie Cochran says we can't afford a hint of scandal. No dating instructors, no cussing, and ladylike behavior at all times while the flyboys do what they want. But Cochran says that our morals are to be above reproach. It's h.e.l.l being a guinea pig, but as our house mother Mrs. Van de Kamp said, if we can prove ourselves, it will all be worth it in the end. Then maybe the next group won't have it so bad.

I know you are not reading about it in the paper. They don't want it getting out, but we lost three girls this month, and one was a bay mate of mine and a really nice gal. She was married to a marine serving in Guadalca.n.a.l and has two kids at home. A few days ago, she came in too low and crashed on landing right outside the barracks.

I know you see a lot of this, and it's all just part of training, but I am still not used to it and hope I never will be. It makes me so mad when all the newspaper reporters that come here only want to show the gals putting on lipstick or posing like models ... all this phony baloney stuff. If anybody thinks this is a glamorous job and that we are just in it for the fun, they haven't watched them pull a friend out of a burning plane and die right in front of them. n.o.body here is saying much, but the mood is pretty glum.

Fritzi

THE CHECK RIDE.

SWEEt.w.a.tER, TEXAS.

1943.

MOST OF THE MALE INSTRUCTORS AT AVENGER FIELD WERE NICE, BUT some bitterly resented being a.s.signed to Sweet.w.a.ter, and they went out of their way to make the girls' lives miserable. They would yell at them, call them "stupid" and "incompetent," and do everything in their power to try to make them wash out. One, a surly lieutenant named Miller, was particularly rough on them. Day after day, girls would come in after their lessons with him in tears. One girl had been so devastated by his bullying, she quit and went home. And he made no bones about how he felt. It was clear he thought women had no business flying planes.

One afternoon, over at the club, he was sitting at the bar, talking to the bartender in a loud voice, so he was sure to be heard by the girls that were there. "G.o.d, I hate this job. When people ask me what I did in the war, what am I gonna say? That all I did was teach a bunch of G.o.dd.a.m.ned women? s.h.i.t ..."

FRITZI WAS STANDING AROUND, waiting to go up and take her first military check ride, when Miller walked up and said, "Okay, Jurdabralinski, let's go. I'm gonna take you up and see what you can do. And when I tell you something, don't talk, just do it."

"Yes, sir," she said.

As she was climbing up to her alt.i.tude, he reached over her from behind and yelled at her, "Jesus Christ, pull the d.a.m.n stick back ... don't ease it back," and he grabbed it and jammed it against her leg as hard as he could. "You're not in some powder puff derby. Pull the d.a.m.n thing. Jesus Christ, what idiot taught you to fly?"

Fritzi desperately wanted to pa.s.s this inspection, but something snapped. She gunned the engines and as soon as she got her alt.i.tude, she suddenly flipped the plane over and flew upside down while Miller, who was now suspended in midair and hanging on to his shoulder straps, screamed for dear life, "Turn over! Turn over! G.o.dd.a.m.n it!" When she did, Fritzi did a barrel roll, shot straight up, and then did her famous death drop into fifteen spins straight down. She then pulled up at the last second, shot back up, and went into a hammerhead stall just for good measure.

DOWN BELOW AT AVENGER Field, all the ground crew was standing there and looking up and watching what was happening and yelling. Pretty soon, everyone on the ground was looking up, and people were running out of the hangars and barracks to see what all the noise was about.

Gussie Mintz came out of the mess hall with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth to see, and she looked up just as Fritzi did another barrel roll, and she started to laugh. "You show 'em how to do it, gal," she said.

After another series of amazing spirals and loops, mechanic Elroy Leefers started grinning. "Give him h.e.l.l, Fritzi!" After a few more minutes, she did a double loop, came in for a perfect landing, drove the plane to the main hangar, and stopped. She turned around and said to Miller, who was red-faced and fuming with rage, "Compliments of Billy Bevins, the greatest flight instructor alive."

"Get out of the plane!" he said.

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" she said as she jumped down. She undid her parachute and left it lying on the ground. Fritzi knew she had washed out, but n.o.body called Billy Bevins an idiot and got away with it, not while she was alive.

AS FRITZI WALKED AWAY, w.i.l.l.y and Pinks ran up to walk with her, and when Pinks looked back, Miller was still sitting in the plane. Fritzi went straight to the barracks and started packing her things. Once a girl washed out, they left as soon as possible. It was too painful an ordeal for everyone to drag it out.