Lake Oswego resident Jeanette Goodrum was a WASP at war

The late Lake Oswego resident Jeanette Goodrum served America in World War II. But her missions remained a secret for 35 years after the war ended. Goodrum was not a spy. Nor did she secretly see combat in the U.S. military, which was actually against the law for women at the time.

Instead, Goodrum was a WASP — a Women’s Airforce Service Pilot. That means she assisted but did not actually serve in the U.S. Air Force by continuously flying military airplanes from one location to another within the country. Her duty was vital because it freed up male pilots for combat.

But the military kept it a secret for decades after the war until word eventually got out about women serving similar duties in all branches of the military, and they were finally officially recognized for their duty, including receiving veterans’ benefits that had been denied them.

America would not have won the war without women, of course. With so many men enlisting or being drafted after Pearl Harbor, Crews in manufacturing plants suddenly became predominately female. Motivated women helped assemble aircraft, naval vessels, munitions, tanks and armor as well as whatever else the nation required to conduct the war. The most celebrated example is Rosie the Riveter, the symbol of the women who replaced men in the factories producing the weapons of war.

Even stay-at-home moms sacrificed by living without their husbands, enduring shortages, and diligently recycling tin cans, worn rubber tires, and other precious materials in scrap drives.

But Goodrum’s contribution demanded an even high level of commitment. For starters, she had to know had to fly and meet a stringent set of other physical requirements. And she had to give up any semblance of a normal life for the duration of the war.

Women’s WWII roles varied by nation

The United States was not the only nation involved in WWII that barred women from combat. Germany disallowed women to serve either in the military or as production workers. The resulting slack was infamously taken up by the Nazi’s cruel use of slave labor.

The Japanese, though being a male-dominated society, nonetheless utilized the labor of its women in factories and at other endeavors that supported its war effort. Even young girls met the challenge by toiling in defense capacities. One group of school children was put to work in creating and assembling the paper canopies for some 10,000 hydrogen-filled balloons that were sent aloft on the jet stream in an attempt to drop ordnance on the western United States. Other youngsters helped manufacture simple, almost crude weapons to be used by civilians if and when Japan was invaded.

In the Soviet Union, it was “all hands on deck” in the defense of their homeland against Nazi invaders. Men, women, and children all did their part to help turn back the German hordes. However, only in Russia did women fight in combat. Legendary women fighters such as sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko served in the Red Army alongside the men. During the war, she was credited with 309 confirmed “kills.” It was rough duty. Of the 3,000 female Russian snipers, only 500 survived the war.

In the Soviet air force, women pilots also flew in combat. Fighter pilot Lydia Litvayak earned “Ace” status with 12 confirmed downed German planes. She died when her Yak aircraft was shot down late in the conflict. Nadezhda Popova, a pilot with the famous “Night Witches” squadron once flew 18 bombing sorties in a single night. Both women were awarded their nation’s highest honor: Hero of the Soviet Union.

In both the United States and Britain, women served in uniform but not in combat. In the US such duty was actually illegal. However, no such restriction was placed on women in other support roles. In addition to the WASPs, women serve in the Army as WACs (Women’s Army Corps) and Navy as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

In the air services it was noted that there was a great need to free up male pilots for combat duty. Too many men, it was thought, were serving as transport, test or ferry pilots. Legendary woman flyer Jaqueline “Jackie” Cochran had an idea — women, already trained and licensed as pilots could easily fill these roles. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, she both contacted Eleanor Roosevelt and used her close connection with Air Force General Harold “Hap” Arnold to form a corps of American women pilots, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots.

Who were the WASPs?

Early aviation in the United States had generated great public interest and enthusiasm that was shared equally by both men and women. During the 1930s, many women trained to fly and earned their licenses. When the WASP group came into existence, its requirements for service included the possession of a valid pilot’s license, possessing at least 35 hours of flight time (presumably solo), being at least 5’ 2” in height, and being between 21 and 35 years of age.

According to records, more than 25,000 enthusiastic, adventurous women made application to serve their country by flying as a WASP. Of these only 1,830 were accepted into the program and a mere 1,074 finally made it through the rigorous training.

While the WASPs were not instructed in combat flying techniques, their initial (re)training given by military personnel was essentially the same (primary, basic and advanced) as that given to male aviation cadets. The women, whose job it was to release male pilots for combat duty, were then taught how to fly every type of aircraft in the AAF inventory. This included a myriad of training craft such as the AT6 (Advance Trainer 6; Texan), all types of fighters up to and including the famed P-51 Mustang, and every bomber. One group of WASPs even delivered to its duty field the Air Force’s best, most advanced bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. It was a B-29 that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. Flying military aircraft was dangerous work. During their service, accidents claimed the lives of 38 women.

Despite the skills, perseverance, hard work and danger involved to these brave flyers, the WASPs were not given military status. They were considered federal civil service contractors working for the Army Air Force. Despite efforts to create a service similar to the WACs and WAVES, the WASPs never became part of the military, at least not then. As an example of the effect of their non-military status, the family of any WASP who lost her life in the line of duty had to bear both the expense of shipping her body home and the burial services. In short, no benefits afforded to military personnel were available to WASPs.

For 35 years the records of WASP service were stamped “classified.” No one “officially” knew what the women did during the War. But as time passed, the public began to recognize the sacrifice and service of the WASPs. Pressure was placed on Congress to retroactively recognize these remarkable women as military veterans.

It was slow in coming but, with the assistance of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, himself a wartime transport pilot who flew with WASPs, political pressure finally resulted in success. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed into law the GI Bill Improvement Act which recognized serving WASPs as being ‘honorably discharged’ so far as the Veteran’s Administration was concerned. Thus all applicable benefits were made available to the women.

Oregon’s own WASP, a born aviatrix

Lake Oswego’s Jeanette Goodrum was born on Dec. 27, 1919, in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of New Hampshire. As a young woman, Jeanette observed and then became fascinated by the flights of early aircraft. When a college course was offered to train students to fly, she quickly signed up. She was the only woman in the flight program and became the first trainee to fly solo. During her instruction, with her Taylorcraft aircraft outfitted with skis, she learned to take off and land on snow and icy surfaces.

When the Second World War broke out in late 1941, Jeanette was positioned as an assistant dean of American University in Washington, DC but was quick to apply for acceptance into the newly-formed Women’s Airforce Service Pilots. Already a skilled, licensed pilot, she undertook further military training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where she earned her wings. She then served at Douglas Army Field, Arizona as a duty pilot. There she flew the AT6 “Texan,” AT9 “Jeep,” A11”Kansan,” AT13 “Gunner,” and the UC78 “Bobcat.” All but the AT6 were multi-engine aircraft.

Jeanette’s duties included production line maintenance, testing aircraft, transporting personnel to other locations, and generally freeing up male pilots to serve in combat. She declared later that she had “never done anything more exciting or rewarding.” And the camaraderie she shared with other women flyers was terrific.

After the War, Jeanette married and had two children. Although her career was as an educator at both the secondary and junior college levels, she never lost her love of flying and was a longtime member of her WASP association. She served a term as its president and was active in giving talks about her wartime service. In doing so, she promoted the legend of the WASPs. (It was at a talk given to the members of the Oregon Chapter of the 8th Air Force Historical Society that the author met and interviewed Jeanette.)

Only much later did she realized what an impact she and the other WASPs had on the advancement of women in aviation.

Jeanette died in Grass Valley, California, on Feb. 24, 2017, at age 97.

Honored at last

In March 2010, the nation finally honored the courageous women flyers by awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal, America’s highest civilian award. Previous recipients include George Washington, Winston Churchill and the Tuskegee Airmen. In addition to Jeanette Goodrum, the surviving Oregonians who received the honor were Anna Monkiewicz (The Dalles), Kathryn Miles (Eugene), Kay Gott Chaffey (Medford), Madelon Hill (Bend), Catherine Murphy (Jacksonville) and Shirley Wunsch (Manzanita).

Today, women of all American military branches are deemed qualified to pilot aircraft in combat conditions. There is no reason why they should not be. The ground-breaking World War II service of the courageous WASPS certainly paved the way.

This story is one in a series on the 80th anniversaries of significant events in WWII featuring Oregonians by Portland author and historian Don Bourgeois. Others include: Portland witnesses to Infamy ; WWII comes to the gridiron ; Internment remembered on 80th anniversary ; Remembering the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo ; Remembering the Battle of Midway ; The Summer of '42: Oregon under attack ; Lawyer John Schwabe: Battle of Guadalcanal hero ; Europe-First WWII plan sent Oregonians to defend Britain ; WWII holidays on the homefront ; The Oregonian who changed history: the downing of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ; Norm Harrison tells long-secret World War II story ; the related Weaponized Chinese balloon not new, Oregon attacked by Japan in WWII ; and “Black Thursday” 1943: Two Oregonians survived botched WWII air strike ; and 80 years ago: Portland WWII hero fought in “Marine Corps toughest battle.”