Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Frances Rohrer Sargent, a courageous woman who selflessly helped defend our country during World War II. Being a member of the renowned Women Airforce Service Pilots or WASP, Frances pushed beyond the boundaries that limited opportunities at that time for women of her generation. The Women Airforce Service Pilots were the first women to fly military aircraft, flying noncombat operations between the years 1942 and 1944. These pioneers paved the way for women pilots to fly nearly every type of military aircraft from F/A-18 to the space shuttle today. My daughter-in-law, Lindsay, flew combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan for the marines, but she would not have been able to do so without the women who came before her, Frances and all the other members of WASP. Frances had a fulfilled life. She began flying at the age of 22 in Atlanta and would come to be one of only 1,704 women who were accepted to the prestigious Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, out of more than 25,000 women who had applied for the program. Frances and other female pilots from our south Florida community, including Helen Wyatt Snapp, Ruth Schafer Fleisher, Shirley Kruse, and Bee Haydu, flew more than 60 million miles between '42 and '44. As the author of the legislation awarding WASP the Congressional Gold Medal in the year 2009, I had the privilege to present the award to Frances Sargent for her patriotic service.…”