Memorial Day Encounter

[Spooky Joe, SASS #24061]

A few years ago I attended a Memorial Day service in Leesburg, VA. The speaker was giving a brief history of Leesburg, including the fact that during the War of 1812 Leesburg was, for a short time, the de facto capital of the United States.

 

I was wearing an American Legion shirt. On the back was "Generals Ward And Chennault Post #1, Shanghai, China" and a large 5-toed (Imperial) dragon. I was approached by the stereo-typical little old lady. You can picture her: short, white haired, bent over a cane. In a soft voice she asked Were you in China? I was in China. I prepared myself for the missionary story I'd heard many times before, but this time I was surprised.

 

She said she was recruited as a radio operator for the OSS and was undergoing training with her team, preparing to go to China to join with Chiang Kai Chek's forces. One day all the men left for parachute training while the women were assigned other training duties. Angered at this obvious discrimination the women named our heroine as the spokesman. As she told it, she stormed into General Donovan's office and demanded to know why they weren't getting jump training with the rest of their teams. When Donovan said "Because you're women" her reply was "And?". Bottom line. the women joined the men at jump school. All the women in her group passed the course and received their wings. Not too long after, she jumped into China with her team, becoming one of the first women to make a combat jump with the U.S. Army. She later wrote a book of her OSS days called "OSS Girl", long out of print. Unfortunately my rememberer is jammed in neutral and I can't recall her name.

 

After the ceremonies I had a long talk with her and her husband. A truly remarkable lady. I moved to Arizona shortly afterward and never saw her again. My loss.

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

Like the rest of a lot of our WW II vets, she's probably long gone now, Spooky

 

truly remarkable citizens