ipl-logo

Essay On Elaine Harmon

567 Words3 Pages

A member of America’s Greatest Generation, who answered our nation’s call during World War II, has been denied the honor of being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. The ashes of Elaine Harmon, who contributed mightily to the war, currently occupy a closet in the home of her daughter. Terry Harmon says her mother’s ashes will remain in that closet until they are placed at Arlington, along with her fellow veterans.

A global conflict such as World War II required mobilization of our nation’s population on a scale previously unimaginable – and that included women. Women took jobs vacated by men serving in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps and kept the factory production lines flowing. By 1945 an estimated 2.2 million women worked in war industries. An additional 350,000 women, such as Elaine Harmon, served our nation in the the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service of the Navy (WAVES) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of the old Army Air Corps. Elaine Harmon served as a WASP pilot.

Formed in 1943 by the merging of the Women’s Flying Training Detachment …show more content…

According to Susan Stamberg in her NPR article “Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls,” WASP pilots such as Elaine Harmon, “flew almost every type of military aircraft” and “ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country.” WASP pilots also “towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting — with live ammunition.” Thirty-eight WASP pilots were killed in flying accidents. Because WASP was founded as a paramilitary organization, the Army refused to allow its deceased fliers to be buried with military honors. No American flag draped the coffin of a fallen WASP pilot. Ironically, the WASP fliers’ death rate of 3.5% was greater than that of all other military services, except the Marines

Show More
Related
176 Words | 1 Pages

To appeal to logos she uses a fair amount of facts and statistics, “In the Army Air Forces, or AAF, there were 52,651 stateside aircraft accidents over the course of the war, killing 14,903 personnel. Though some of these personnel were probably on coastal patrol and other duties, it can be presumed that the vast majority were trainees, killed without ever seeing a combat theater. In the three months in which Phil’s men trained as a crew, 3,041 AAF planes--more than 33 per day--met with accidents stateside, killing nine men per day. In subsequent months, death tallies exceeding 500 were common. In August 1943, 590 airmen would die stateside, 19 per day (61).”

Read More
372 Words | 2 Pages

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was a law passed by President Harry S. Truman, allowing women to join the army. Before the act was passed, only men were permitted to be in combat, while women in the army worked in clinical positions. When World War II began, despite women not being allowed to join the “regular” army, the Women’s Army Corps was created and granted full army status during wartime. The growth in the number of women in the corps, along with the fact that they performed equally to the army, were two of the main factors for the law to be created and passed. The WAC was set to be expired in 1948, but the act was passed in the same years which meant that women would continue to be allowed to fight in the army.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

With there bombing runs and escorting the bomber. The most import fact what makes them better then every other pilot group. The fact that they were the first African american pilots in the U.S army. The fact that they were so successful. It also is what proves to the people who discriminate.

Read More
862 Words | 4 Pages

During their 6 year career, the Tuskegee Airmen had the lowest loss of bombers throughout their 179 bomber escorts with a loss of only 25 bombers (“Tuskegee Airmen Squadron Conducts Successful Missions during World War II”). As they became more well know, people only thought of them as pilots. Alton Hornsby stated that “The name Tuskegee Airmen is used most often to refer to combat aviators, but the group also included bombardiers, navigators, maintenance crews, and support staff” (“Tuskegee Airmen”). This shows how the Tuskegee Airmen’s success was not only in combat but also in other aviation-related fields. Throughout the war, they destroyed over 262 aircraft, 950 land vehicles, and 41 boats, for these actions the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded over 866 military medals in total (“Tuskegee Airmen Squadron Conducts Successful Missions during World War II”).

Read More
1497 Words | 6 Pages

As a collective Air Defenders contributed in all aspects from soldiering to job proficiency during the Vietnam War with reliable equipment and effective tactics. They distinguished themselves as providers of fire support for ground warfare that was made exponentially easier thanks to the role. Earning several medals for valor and purple hearts. The 6th Battalion 56th

Read More
219 Words | 1 Pages

During World War II, Woman’s were assembled for duty in the Canadian Armed Forces, for the first time. The armed force was shy of men in war services and administration, which lead the Canadian government to choose and declare on August 13, 1941 to give woman’s the privilege to take an interest in war utility. 50,000 women were enlisted and more than half provided service in the Canadian Army. Most were doled out occupations including customary female work, for example, cooking, clothing and administrative obligations, also woman had pioneer roles in the mechanized and specialized fields. The Canadian Women 's Army Corps (CWAC) performed fundamental administrations, both at home and abroad, that achieved Allied victory.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

Tuskegee Airmen Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to be in mid air warfare? That is what the Tuskegee Airmen did. They were one of the best Airmen the U.S ever had. They flew during World War II and protected U.S bombers. They were one of the most accomplished Airmen and Gunmen the U.S ever had.

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

When hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base, AAA took up arms and were the first Army units to engage the enemy. “First to Fire” was created and stuck. Further into World War II, AAA units everywhere managed to shoot down many hostile enemy planes and earn a dozen Distinguished Service Crosses, Silver Stars, and Presidential Unit Citations.

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

Also only “66 pilots of the group died in combat” http://www.tuskegeetopgun.com/tuskegee_airmen.php ( Harvey, James. History of Tuskegee Airmen). The Tuskegee Airmen all together got 744 Air Medals, 8 Purple Hearts and 14 Bronze Stars http://acepilots.com/usaaf_tusk.html (Sherman,Stephen. The Tuskegee Airmen). “The Airmen still holds a record to this day with not losing a single bomber in 200 missions” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tuskegee-airmen-facts/ (Mcnamara, Melissa.

Read More
460 Words | 2 Pages

Her determination has helped the military with the woman’s flying division

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

At the beginning of the war, many accidents were due to mechanical problems with planes, bad weather and errors in navigation. Louie called the B-24 that they flew on a “Flying Coffin.” “Flying the B-24, one of the world’s heaviest planes, was like wrestling a bear” (Hillenbrand 55). On Thursday, May 27, 1943, Louie, his friend Phil and Cuppernill were headed to Honolulu for their day off. Before they left, a lieutenant flagged them down and told them there were going a mission to search for a missing pilot.

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

Even though the military was segregated by race, the U.S army started their own training program for African Americans only. The Tuskegee Airmen were trained in Alabama and flew more than 15,000 individual planes in Europe and North America during WW2. This group of men had multiple nicknames including Red Tails and Red Tail Angels. They were dedicated and had 6 principles: Aim High, Believe in yourself, Use your brain, be prepared, never quit, and expect to win.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

American Women during World War 2 had many responsibilities at war, work, and home. But they did not have many equal rights compared to the rest of the society. The women’s rights and responsibilities topic is very interesting. One is understanding and knowing the history about the responsibilities women had to do and how hard working they were. This topic is very important because there was a big change in women’s rights and responsibilities during World War 2.

Read More
1063 Words | 5 Pages

In the book written by (Gavin, 1997) it was cited that “As women took over from their absent men in hundreds of new and challenging occupations, many of which had previously been considered inappropriate”. From the beginning of the World War 1, the German women were participating a great deal. They contributed to half a million-people working on the munitions manufacturing alone (Gavin, 1997). It also mentioned in the book that over in the U.S, the men in charge refused to let the women participate up until April 1917 (Gavin, 1997). The U.S government never formally authorize the enrolment of women, despite Army officials repeatedly asking for such personnel’s.

Read More
918 Words | 4 Pages

Women who serve in army confront with many obstacles which are challenging, yet impossible to overcome. First of all, female veterans cannot find any jobs or places to live after demobilization in the United States of America. Most of them live in a transitional

Read More

More about Essay On Elaine Harmon

Related Topics

Open Document