WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots Honored With Gold Medal : NPR: A long-overlooked group of women who flew military aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.
Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, they were the first women to fly U.S. military planes.
About 200 of these female aviators, mostly in their late 80s and early 90s and some in wheelchairs, came to the Capitol to accept the medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.
In thanking them for their service, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said these female pilots went unrecognized for too long.
'Women Airforce Service Pilots, we are all your daughters; you taught us how to fly,' Pelosi said.
