“It was about honor, courage and patriotism…about doing the right thing for the right reason. These women lived it”.
Sixty-five years after she served as one of the Women’s Airforce service pilots, Edith Smith received the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor in the nation’s Capitol on March 10, 2010. Ede and the surviving WASP are a group of trailblazing WW II female pilots who had the same training as men. In her own words,”We had to buy our own uniforms…there were no military honors, no commissions, but we did what we intended to do”. Her inspiration was Amelia Earhart who was flying when she was in high school. Ede earned her pilot’s license at age eighteen and paid for her way to Sweetwater, Texas when she was selected to train as a pilot.
I met Ede through my business and she has become my friend, mentor and heroine. She belongs to a computer club, enjoys digital photography, exercises at Curves, is learning spanish through Rosetta Stone while studying the bible as literature.
Edith Smith is a living legacy of what women can achieve and is an inspiration for girls and women everywhere!