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[ Background noise ] >> Oh, I just not have any ringing, yeah, so I just not have any ringing up here, yeah. [ Background noise ]

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>> There is, there is your bag right there isn't it? >> No, no, no, your phone. >> My phone, oh. I'm Deanie Parrish and we're in the home of Annelle Bulacek in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

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It is August 7, 2000. Okay, Annelle, just start off by telling us who you are. Well, I'm Annelle Henderson Bulacek, World War II WASP, Class 44W2. Where were you born?

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I was born in Amarillo, Texas, January 19, 1920. Okay, and growing up did you have siblings? I had a brother, an older brother, and an older sister, yes. What was your dad doing in Amarillo?

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My dad had a piano store everywhere he went. Now, he went a lot of places, but we always had a piano store. And he booked concerts for concert artists. And it was sort of a nomadic existence.

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And actually... Do you recall any of the artists that you booked for? Well, we, in California, we would be in Texas for a while and then we'd be in California for a while and then we'd be back in Texas.

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And we traveled back and forth a lot. And Madame Schumann-Hyke, I don't know whether people know who she was, famous opera star, a beautiful home in San Diego and we would stay with Madame Schumann-Hyde when we were there. Oh, I was so impressed with her and she was such a grand lady. And then I would

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go back. My mother died when I was in - she was sick most of my life, so I spent a lot of time either with my father traveling or in Lake Charles with my mother's family. My At what age were you traveling? Practically from five and six on.

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And it was a nomadic, as I said, existence. Also sort of a rootless existence, but I didn't know it. I was perfectly happy. I just learned to adapt. Daddy had a piano store in Arborella when we went back there for a while.

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and it had a glass window and his favorite way to draw traffic was to put me in the window with my little ukulele and I would sing "Barney Googled with the goo goo googly eyes" and play my little ukulele and people would just stop and they'd come in and they'd visit, they'd look at pianos and matter of fact the

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Funny thing was, when the Depression came in the early '30s, we had an awful time collecting. But I said, my brother and my sister and me were the most bejeweled kids in school because people would give their jewelry to pay for the pianos. They had to give up those pianos.

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There wasn't a lot of entertainment in those days. We wanted a piano, play the piano. We had rubies, and we had sapphires, and we had diamonds, but we had a hard time getting food.

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But we were well-jecked out in jewelry. But then I would spend time back in Lake Charles with my family here. As a matter of fact, I graduated from Lake Charles High School here in 1936 and stayed on in Lake Charles after that.

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Let's go back and where did you start elementary school? Steele: I started in Texas. Then I went to California and I skipped two grades. And then I came back to junior high.

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I was in Richtof Falls. I was a cheerleader. I was so happy. And I fell off the bench the very first game and sprained my ankle and couldn't go back

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to being cheerleader for the rest of the year. But I lose track of where I was at a certain age. It all sort of runs together. But yeah, I was in Wichita Falls for junior high, but I was in Lake Charles for high school.

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Okay. And elementary school. Do you remember any of your teachers in elementary? Do you remember what you were interested in?

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What you enjoyed studying? Steele: Well, I loved art and I loved music. As a matter of fact, we had—I guess, well, the Chicago Civic Opera Company came to Wichita Falls and put on Martha, and I got to participate in the cast.

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I was so thrilled about that. It was art and music mainly. Kelly: Did your dad's involvement with pianos give you a love for music? Steele: Oh, yes.

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Oh, definitely. Did your father play piano? Yes, he did. And how about your mother?

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At that point, your mother was still alive? No, my mother was still alive, but she was ill most of my life and she did not play the piano, no. While your mother was ill, did your grandparents help with you children, you two children?

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My grandparents were dead, but my aunts did. They were here in Lake Charles and they were very, very supportive and helpful. When you were living in Wichita Falls, who were your role models? Well, let's see.

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As a young child? Probably my aunts. Family was just so important because of my nomadic life. They were my anchor to reality, and they were all such ladies, as my daughter will verify.

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It was Mabel Dees and Annabelle Dees, and they were all grand dames. I looked up to them. Yes, they were my role models. I wanted to be a lady like they were.

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Kelly: Can I ask you, what was your mode of transportation when you were leading this nomadic life? And I can remember when you were going to California through the mountains, you would go through the little trails like this, and you would have to honk your horn because they

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were one way. And if there was somebody coming around the bend in the mountains, you had to pull over and let them come around. And you forded streams in the old cars.

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"Ma'am, we just forded the streams." There weren't highways going into California, so we went by car. My daddy was a car nut, always. We had big cars.

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Kelly: Do you remember one specific type of piano that your dad might have been his favorite to sell? Steele: Oh, I think the Steinway was always his favorite. There's an old Henderson piano somewhere, which he built, and it was a fine piano, but

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I don't think there have been many of them left around anymore. And we had Campbell's, but I think he loved the Steinway Festival. Kelly: So in your early childhood, then, you grew up in Wichita Falls mainly. Klemski: I do not know where I grew up, because I grew up in a lot of places.

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Long Beach, San Diego, Fresno, Amarillo, Wichita Falls, Lubbock. Yes, I went to school. I think I went to nine schools in one year. One year.

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Now, that's a record. Every other month. During that part of your traveling, was your mother with you? No, no, my mother was never with me.

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So it was your dad? Dad and me. And your brother? And sisters, yeah.

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And then it was just my father and me a lot of times, just the two of us. Where would your brother be? I came back to Lake Charles and went to work here. My sister was married in Fresno.

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Was your sister older or younger? Older, yes. Did you look up to your sister? Oh, yes.

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Oh, heaven's—well, she did most of the raising of me. She was nine years older than I was, so she was really my mother when we were living with Daddy, yeah. Then ask you, when you would go different places, would you rent a home, would you stay

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in a hotel? Apartments, mainly. They were apartments. We had houses, but mainly it was a living and apartments.

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After you finished grammar school and went into junior high and were a cheerleader, what did you enjoy in junior high school as far as academics? I always loved English. I was not a history buff, but I took an interest in it.

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But English I loved, and I loved writing, and I loved poetry. I loved books. I always had a book in my hand. I would just run around—I still do run around with a book in one hand and a spoon in the

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other. But I would say English probably was my favorite subject. as far as outside activities or sports activities in school, what were you interested in?

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- Well, not much of anything. I tried baseball and I got clobbered with the ball and it took me 40 years to discover golf and I was not a teenager when I took that up.

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No, I was not athletically active, let's say. I finished junior high school in Wichita Falls, and then I came back to Lake Charles for high school. How do you feel that traveling all over, how do you feel that affected your life?

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Learn to adapt, my heavens yes. Take it as it comes. Roll with the blows. I mean, you just do what you have to do.

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That's what so many of the kids now think there is a set pattern for being a teenager or there's a set rules for growing up. Well, there aren't. There are all different ways to grow up.

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And you just adapt and go with the flow. And I think it made me a much stronger character because you have to put up with stuff. You just don't let everybody do for you. Because you had to do a lot of the stuff.

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Living with Daddy, I had to do a lot of the stuff for myself. And I think it makes you a much stronger person. Don't be coddled, just do your own thing. Anything you want to do, you can do.

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Kelly: So you moved back to Lake— Steele: Yeah. Kelly: Okay. And now you're in Lake Charles and you're now in high school.

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Steele: Yes. Kelly: What was your high school days like? Well, I went to State in shorthand and typing, and I won first place in State in shorthand and typing.

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And I said, "This I know I don't want to do. I'll never do this again." So that's when I decided I wanted to be in advertising. Of course now advertising is just a thing of the past.

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You have to be in graphic art, so you have to be in this or that. But in those days, advertising was an adventurous thing to do, so I decided that's what I wanted to do. And when I graduated from high school, 1936, not very many people went on to college, let

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me tell you. And so I went to work for Muller's Department Store, which was at that time the largest department store between Houston and New Orleans. It was big and I was going to work there.

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So I went to work in the advertising department there and I told them I had worked two years. And then they could either fire me or they could send me to the New York office to learn all about the big operations of advertising. So I went to New York at eighteen and that was an education in itself.

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My granddaughter is there now getting an education in itself. You have to be in New York and work in New York to learn the business, as it is still known, if it is graphic arts or if it was just advertising. And then I came back and became advertising manager of Mueller's and stayed there until

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I went in the Wasps in '43. Can we go back to your high school days? Who were your—do you remember a favorite teacher? Ebbie Whitten, who is with my husband in this retirement village next door to where I am

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now. Ebbie Whitten was gorgeous, wonderful. Oh, I can't even remember. At eighty years old, you are not supposed to remember all these names.

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The English teacher, Fletcher, Fletcher, Fletcher. Miss Fletcher was my English teacher, and I worshipped her. Oh, yes. And she was ethereal, is the word for her.

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She was ethereal, and I was trying to fly up with her and say ethereal words. But she was my—I think the greatest influence on me was Ms. Fletcher, yes. What was your social life like while you were in high school? Well, we had fun.

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We had dates. Well, not as much dates as gangs of people going. I mean, if you had a date, it was a nickel coke with two straws, because there just wasn't a lot of money to be thrown around on dates.

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But we had a lot of swimming in Lake Charles, and Pre-Ann Lake was our—we loved Pre-Ann Lake. We'd have parties out there and swim. Kelly: Tell me about your bikini.

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Klemski: The what? Kelly: Your bikini. Klemski: Bikini! Those were—we worked down to the knees.

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We did have little short baths, but they were covered up and you had one-piece bathing suits. We were modest. We were very modest. Do you remember how large was your high school?

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I have a graduation picture in there. I think there were—Lake Charles was the only high school around. I do not know whether it was the only one or whether it was just the biggest. But gee, you are trying to dig.

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I wish I had done some research on my childhood. There was quite a crowd of us in our graduation picture. I would say sixty, Barbara, seventy, something. Kelly: Okay.

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When you went to these contests, where did you go? Were they in Lake Charles? Klemski: No, no, these were the state finals. I think we went to Baton Rouge for the state finals in all of this academic stuff, yeah.

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In high school, what were the sporting events that were attractive to you? Well, we had football in those days. It was just as big as it is today, or bigger. And I guess they had baseball, but I did not follow it.

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And I do not think we had that much track. There was no golf. So I guess football was our big thing, yes. We had football.

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Tell me about your graduation. Well, I had an ice blue satin dress my brother bought me, and I was so proud. I think it was my first evening dress. There were no evening dresses.

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We had a prom, and I had a date with G.C. that my Aunt Annabelle had arranged. And it was all very formal, very state. And there wasn't any wild parties in those days.

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I guess maybe there were. I didn't attend them. I don't know about it. And I don't remember that much, frankly.

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I remember being—I graduated in January. when they had the two-system graduation thing. And I graduated in January and went to work in January at Muller's, but I think we had our whole graduation deal in May, when the whole class graduated.

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There were split levels. Kelly: While you were in high school, at this point your mother has already died. What part did your dad play in your schooling? I came back to Lake Charles and my mother's family just took over all the educational

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and so forth. No, he was still traveling and working. Were you living just with your father and your brother and sister? No, when I came back to Lake Charles I was living just with my brother and my aunts.

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My sister was married. When you were in high school, what was your ambition? Well, I wanted to be in advertising, and I also always had a hankering to fly, but I did not think I would ever learn to fly.

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I was fascinated by Amelia Earhart and all the stories. My ambition was to go into advertising, which was an exciting adventure in those days. When you went to New York to this school, did you go alone? Oh, yeah.

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Oh, yes. And it wasn't school, it was the New York headquarters for Allied Purchasing Corporation. And I went with a Southern accent, a terrible Southern accent. And I walked in and I met this first guy, Herb Green, and he said, "Oh, honey child,

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you're from the South." And he took me all over Allied Purchasing. "Listen to this, listen to this." And he was so fascinated.

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I was never so embarrassed in my life. And I came back home and I got rid of that Southern accent, and I haven't had a bit of fun since. That's a truth, but I had to get rid of that Southern accent.

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I couldn't take that anymore. How long did you stay in New York? It was about a little less than six months. It must have been about four to six months, I guess.

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How did your dad feel about that? I did not keep in touch with my dad that much. It was the family in Lake Charles that took over in high school. My dad had remarried and had moved to California, and we just corresponded.

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But I do not know how he really felt about that. Let me go back to your early childhood. What was Christmas like in your home? Well, it was wonderful in Lake Charles.

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Now Christmas, it stands out in my memory, is the one in junior high in Wichita Falls. Daddy was always preoccupied with people. He was very gregarious, very gregarious person. We had lots of people around us, all of his friends and so forth.

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But I remember we didn't have a Christmas tree. The box from Lake Charles was late in coming with all of my presents. And that was the Christmas that I had—I had forgotten what I got from Dad, but nothing from Lake Charles.

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So there was no Christmas tree and there was no present from Lake Charles. I think that was the saddest Christmas I ever had, because it was just a washout. But in Lake Charles, of course, now it was festive, festive. We always had big family gatherings and big homes here in Lake Charles and lots of friends.

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But that was a sad Christmas in which the box from Lake Charles did not get there. And once you came back to Lake Charles, then where would you usually spend Christmas? Whose home? Well, I was living with Aunt Mabel Dees, but we always had Christmas dinner either with

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Aunt Annabel Dees or at the Majestic Hotel where they had the big festive Christmas dinner parties. And those were fun, too. But they were always family affairs, the whole family gathered.

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Kelly: Okay. Once you came back from New York and were working in the department store, what was your social life like? Were you dating someone special?

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Steele: Well, off and on. Yeah, I dated and had a great time. We had a very empty social life, yes. But I do not remember anything that stands out up until the war was declared and when

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we started the Civil Air Patrol. Yeah. Tell me about when you heard about Pearl Harbor. How did that change your life?

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They were just building the Lake Charles Air Force Base here, and I was dating one of the big Air Force base that they built here. And we were on our way to have dinner in Lafayette, at Don's in Lafayette, French restaurant of some kind.

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And he had a radio in his convertible. And we heard about it on the way there. And of course, turned around immediately and came back to Lake Charles.

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And that's when everything, of course, started. Nothing like it, well it's happened before, well I don't know about before, but nothing like it's happened since,

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where everybody pitched in, I mean from the lowest to the highest rankers, all tried to find a niche to serve. But it was, that made a big change in everybody's life,

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right there, that was it. - Do you remember the first airplane you ever saw? don't remember what I saw in the sky. The first airplane I ever flew

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was a Piper Cub out at Earl West's. - Tell me how you got interested to even go out to Earl West. - Well, I always wanted to fly.

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And I was saving my money out of this pathetic little paycheck to take lessons. So I started taking lessons out there and there was old Johnny Sutton and Walter,

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no, it was Peyton. and there were a bunch of old-time pilots out there. And they thought it was so funny. Here comes this little old gal out to learn to fly

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and see to guard 'em, a friend of mine, decided we'd take flying lessons, so we did. And that was about the first one I'd gotten up close to was a Piper Cub.

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Now, I'd seen airplanes in the sky, but I don't remember anything except that Piper Cub, little yellow Piper Cub on the ground that I got up close to and then finally got in.

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Did you know any pilots personally? - Oh yeah, yeah. The old timers around here kind of adopted us because we were aviation crazy

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and even when we wouldn't fly, we'd drive out and listen to their stories because they were all so fascinating. - Do you know what gave you that love of flying?

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- Adventure, just a challenge of some kind. Always have to have a challenge. That is the reason why at eighty years old I am still playing golf, because it is a challenge. You have to have a challenge in life.

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The first time you went out to the airport and started looking, how did you find someone who would teach you? Oh, well, Earl West was there and he was friends with all of the old pilots and they just took me under their wing, I guess.

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Were there other girls out there flying also? Zeta Cook was out there flying, and Daisy Bell, she had her license. She was a licensed pilot, and I was so impressed with that. I do not remember any other women.

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They were probably there, and a lot of them came later. Kelly: How did those two girl pilots treat you? Klemski: Oh, well, Zeta and I were best friends. And Daisy I did not see a lot of, but she was very kind.

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And Zeta and I went in it together, so we were like, "Do not drown. Take a buddy with you before you sink below the water." So this was sort of the idea we had. Tell me about your first solo flight.

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How did you feel? I felt triumphant. I felt like I had conquered it. I mean, move over, Amelia Earhart, here I am, you know.

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Oh, it was a great feeling, great feeling. At that point, did you know that the WASPs were going to be a unit? This was way before that. This was back in the '30s, before the war.

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And then how did you pay for your flying? my money out of my pathetic little paycheck. I think I got a few free lessons, but mostly I paid. But I don't even remember how much I paid, but it was a lot of my paycheck because paychecks

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were very little. Kelly: Okay. At that point, did Lake Charles have a Civil Air Patrol? Klemski: Well, the minute it was formed, we had a Civil Air Patrol, but of course that

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was, what, '40? Yeah, that was in the '40s. We are talking early thirties, late thirties for flying lessons. But the early forties, yes, we farmed that.

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I was one of the ones that helped farm it. Kelly: Okay. And for someone listening, tell them what the Civil Air Patrol was all about. Klemski: It was a group of civilians, pilots, and workers that were designated by the government

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as the group to do necessary but non-military flying. Our job in Lake Charles, of the Gulf Coast area, was to patrol—of course, they would help in crashes and so forth—but was to patrol the Gulf Coast. There were just swarms of German spies who were being dropped off out of submarines on

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the Cameron and coasts and all along the Gulf Coast. And we were supposed to track them or look for the submarines. And we did spy several of them. And just a lot of non-military flying that was done by the Civil Air Patrol.

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We were very active here in Lake Charles. I had a lot of the older men now could tell you more about it, because I left to join the WASP. Tell us about when you first heard about the WASP claim.

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I think I read it in the newspaper, but it was immediately after they were formed in '42. I think it was November '42. It must have been around December when I first read about it.

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So I had found where to apply, and of course Jacqueline Cochran's group was taking the applications and so forth. Then I went to Shreveport for my physical and then was accepted and went into the training program in August and was sent to Sweetwater.

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How did your family feel about your flying? They thought it was great. They were always supportive of anything that we did. All of us supported each other.

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Any wild hair thing you might want. When you left to go to Sweetwater, were there other girls from Lake Charles? Steele: No, I was the only one in this area. When you got to Sweetwater, tell me about how you felt.

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Steele: Well, I had not been to a college and had lived in a dormitory, and I had not been around that many girls. I felt it was the strangest world you have ever been in, and exciting. and happened to be with a great bunch of girls in the bay. We were six to a bay,

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and a lot of the details of that I'll leave out, except we still get together at our reunions, and it happens that all six of us that were in that bay are still alive,

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and we get together at all the reunions. And matter of fact, we had all lined up in winter flying gear in Sweetwater and had our pictures taken.

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And we lined up on the roof of a hotel in Colorado Springs, on the roof, and we lined up in the same order and had our pictures taken again. So we have the picture from '43 in Sweetwater,

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and then we have all six of us lined up on the roof of the hotel in Colorado Springs, what, 50 years later or whatever it was. And I treasure those two pictures.

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That's wonderful to have them. So we're still all going to Sweetwater in October to be together again. What was the purpose of the Women's Flying Training Program? Actually to do all the—I'll tell you what I thought it was, and people get outraged

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when I say it. We did all the aerial dish washing. There was planes to be ferried. There were targets to be towed.

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There were reconditioned airplanes to be test-hopped. There were a lot of very dull but very necessary flying jobs that men were doing that were needed for combat, because they were building planes faster than they were building pilots. So that is the reason Cochran and General Hap Arnold, who pinned my wings on me, organized

00:32:05.780 - 00:32:29.640

The WASPs, if they were known. The original group were WAFs who went under Nancy Love. But the WASPs did all the flying that was necessary within the continental United States that would release a man for combat.

00:32:32.060 - 00:32:49.140

And they did sixty million miles of it. They flew every plane in the Air Force's inventory, from the smallest to the biggest. Let's talk a little bit about your training. What did you like most about training?

00:32:50.140 - 00:33:07.700

Oh, to fly a bigger aircraft with more horsepower out there. And we were resented by a lot of men. There's no doubt about that. And we had an instructor at Sweetwater, Tom Moore, who was going to just see he get rid

00:33:07.740 - 00:33:28.940

of these women. They just had no business being in those planes. And every one of his students had black knees because he would beat the stick back and forth. And he took off—of course, he had the microphone, and it was a Gosport deal, you know, where

00:33:28.940 - 00:33:46.340

You could hear him, but you could not communicate with him. He would curse, "From the time you took off until you landed and beat you with that stick and you had black and blue knees." One day we were up and we were flying around and he was cursing.

00:33:46.600 - 00:34:00.620

He says, "Take your blankety-blank feet off the blankety-blank rudders." I looked down and both my feet were flat on the floor. I just sat there and stared at the seat. I said, "Take your blankety-blank feet off your blankety-blank rudders."

00:34:00.620 - 00:34:08.820

And I thought, "They can wash me out. I don't care. I am not going to take any more of this junk" -- I was going to use another word -- "off this man anymore."

00:34:10.040 - 00:34:25.540

And the only way I could communicate with him was to take the throttle and hold it all the way back, and there was wind noise, and yell over my shoulder. First of all, put this foot over this side of the PT-IT. this foot over the other side of the PT-19.

00:34:25.900 - 00:34:35.920

It turned around and I don't have my blankety-blank feet on the blankety-blank runners. I opened the throttle, we went back and landed. I went back to the bay. I said, "Girls, I've washed out.

00:34:36.360 - 00:34:44.400

I told Tom Moore off today." "Oh, I got a standing ovation. Oh, somebody finally told him off." Because a bunch of them had cried.

00:34:45.560 - 00:34:58.820

And he got washed, they got washed out. And I thought, "Well, I know I'm going home tomorrow." But I went back to the flight line dragging my 50-pound parachute and my four cushions I took to sea out and walked up the plane.

00:34:58.900 - 00:35:06.640

He looked at me and he said, "Well, I think today we'll do a few spins." So we went up and we did. I ended up his favorite student.

00:35:07.720 - 00:35:20.360

And I never did really realize until later, there is a point to all this. And that is if you can be broken in training, you don't belong in an airplane.

00:35:21.180 - 00:35:32.440

Because if anything happens up there, you don't cry, you don't go to pieces, you do something. And the whole point of the thing, I guess, he went to extremes.

00:35:32.580 - 00:35:43.180

And I understand he quit doing this after that, because we kidded him about it. Met him at our 50th reunion at Sweetwater. And we looked way across a hangar

00:35:43.280 - 00:35:49.560

that we were having a party at. Tom, hang out. And we ran and grabbed each other and were hugging and kissing.

00:35:49.940 - 00:36:07.240

I said, "But that was the story of the training and what they were trying to do with us, teach us to fly the Army way, I grant you that." Most of us had, at that time, private licenses, some commercial licenses. But you had to learn to fly the Army way, too.

00:36:08.440 - 00:36:15.460

And we did, we did. And we persevered. I'm in there. Kelly: Tell me about ground school.

00:36:16.260 - 00:36:39.200

Grand School, well, I did real well in grand school except for engines. And I memorized that whole engine book. And I figured if I memorized it and made a good grade, that was all I needed to do. Because if I'm on the ground, there's an A&E mechanic that's going to solve my problem.

00:36:40.520 - 00:36:54.480

And if I'm up there, I'll just speak to the Lord and let him solve it there. So I memorized engines and promptly forgot it. The other course—I loved meteorology.

00:36:54.620 - 00:37:20.400

Loved that still, whether or not—hated PE, but went along with all of it. Had a—loved Linc, but I had a yo-yo that I would do outside, you know, with the hood down and stick your hand out and do the yo-yo. And General Young came through one time with that and said, "What is that?"

00:37:20.400 - 00:37:31.660

And they said, "Well, that's one of our students, and she does use a yo-yo." So anyway, I almost got washed out for that, but I didn't. And I broke one of their little airplanes. I almost got washed out for that.

00:37:32.080 - 00:37:48.920

How did you break it? I broke a little AT—no, I broke a PT-19. It was in advanced training, but we were going on the cross country to Amarillo, to Real Rogers, to Dallas, or somewhere.

00:37:49.220 - 00:38:01.580

Yeah, and it was midwinter. This was January or December sometime, midwinter. And we were taking off for a cross country. And I went out, and I was the first one on the flight line.

00:38:01.580 - 00:38:15.840

It was about 6.30, whenever the sun did barely up. I went into the operations and there was no officer in there, but there was a fellow. I was taking the plane and he said, "Take something, something, something number." I went out and I checked it over.

00:38:17.860 - 00:38:28.860

Excuse me, I ran my pre-flight. Everything looked pretty good, except the altimeter didn't work in the front cockpit. I said, "Well, there's no problem in that. I'll just fly from the back cockpit," which was fine.

00:38:30.440 - 00:38:42.120

We got all lined up and I went out and lined up with the windsock. And it was a runway. I do not know whether you were there when they were digging up the end of the runway, they were going to extend it.

00:38:42.440 - 00:38:55.720

And there was this great canyon stuff. But there was plenty of runway to take off on. So I opened up and took off. Got about fifty feet in the air and the little engine went, "It just quit."

00:38:55.720 - 00:39:16.600

Well, at fifty feet in the air, you don't do a lot except just go straight ahead. I took my sunglasses off and I cut off the gas and just rode right down into the canyon. Well, got down there and looked around. Both wings were gone.

00:39:17.640 - 00:39:28.400

Tail assembly was screwed around. The engine was driven right straight through the front cockpit. And there was one thing left, and that was the back cockpit, and I was sitting in the back cockpit.

00:39:29.680 - 00:39:44.620

Now, well, this is exciting, because whenever you crash around at the airport, the little trucks with the red flag, the jeeps with the red flag comes, and the ambulance comes with flags, and everybody gets—nobody saw me go down. And you have to fill in Form 1.

00:39:44.960 - 00:40:02.520

I mean, you don't leave an airplane without filling in Form 1. And I feel—airplane does not fly properly. I got my parachute and my cushions and I walked back to headquarters. By that time, the officer was in the control—I mean, the ready room.

00:40:04.360 - 00:40:13.740

Well anyway, he went in and he said, "Well, are you ready for an airplane?" I said, "No, thank you. I've had one. You'll find it down at the end of the runway in the canyon below down there."

00:40:13.740 - 00:40:27.420

He said, "Oh." He said, "Well, you better take—" He took an AT-6 and went up and shot landings and takeoffs and came in, they yelled, "Army to do whatever it was, land immediately." Well, they'd gone down and seen the airplane.

00:40:28.460 - 00:40:43.460

And they put me in the hospital. I had a bump on my head from hitting the little railing thing that had the rubber on it. I said, "I'm fine." Well, the girls came to see me and my friends in the restaurant dug all the avocados, which

00:40:43.480 - 00:40:51.440

they knew I loved, out of the salad, brought me a big bowl of that. I said, "I'm gone." I'm really gone." I broke one of their little airplanes.

00:40:51.580 - 00:41:09.000

They're going to send me home. And a little bit later, Colonel Yacht came in. Oh, yeah, General Urban came in, Urban Sturman. General Urban came in, and he said, "Now, I really don't want to tell you this, but

00:41:09.040 - 00:41:22.600

I think I should. We found they'd left an oily rag in your engine." And I said, "Oh, that's what it was." I didn't get washed out because it was not pilots' era, it was a mechanics' era.

00:41:23.320 - 00:41:34.780

We didn't have the best mechanics. All the best mechanics went to the overseas depots or the embarkation depots, and we kind of got what was left. And a lot of the mechanics resented us, too.

00:41:35.860 - 00:41:41.160

So that's a story. Did they make a good report? No, no. There was no board.

00:41:41.260 - 00:41:47.500

There was no nothing on this. They wanted it kept quiet. They didn't want anybody to know. Okay, I need to change things.

00:41:48.080 - 00:41:51.660

Okay. What is that? Change of tape. Oh.

00:41:51.840 - 00:41:55.740

You need to go to the bathroom? No, no. I need some water. Anybody want some coffee?

00:41:56.060 - 00:42:02.880

I'd love a Coke. Coke, I'll get you a Coke. Your long cross country on an AT-6. Was there anything special about that?

00:42:02.940 - 00:42:23.940

Well, yes, yes, there was something very special about that trip. To California, you know. Well, the worst storm of the century, they said, happened just as our girls were going into the mountains of California. And I had a hydraulic line break right outside of Phoenix,

00:42:24.480 - 00:42:44.580

Luke Air Force Base, and it sprayed hydraulic fluid on the windshield and on my glasses. And I had to land at Luke Field and had to crank, you know, crank the wheels down and crank the flaps down, because if you're missing a hydraulic system, everything is pretty rough going. So anyway, I had to land there and have it repaired.

00:42:45.960 - 00:43:03.340

And so I did not get on with the rest of my flight. We lost one of our girls, Betty Stein, was killed in the mountains trying to get through the storm. The rest of them landed from one part of California to another part.

00:43:03.560 - 00:43:19.560

Wherever they could land, they landed. And I love the story of one of my girls' classmates who said, I was flying around, I said, "Oh Lord, please just give me a hole in this stuff and get me on the ground and I will go to church every day.

00:43:19.740 - 00:43:30.820

I will pay the preacher. I will do all this." Well, about that time, she did see a hole and she dived down through the hole and there was the most gorgeous expanse of green grass you've ever seen.

00:43:31.700 - 00:43:43.380

And she greased that AT-6 right down onto it. Thank you, Lord. I was immediately surrounded by little slanty eyes. And she says, "Oh my heaven, I have overshot the Pacific Ocean.

00:43:43.640 - 00:43:59.120

I'm a one-woman invasion of Japan." And she landed on the parade grounds of a Japanese internment camp. So we finally did get all of our girls but Betty Stein back to Sweetwater. That was our story of the worst, the roughest,

00:43:59.740 - 00:44:17.840

long-distance cross-country in the history of the Wasps. That was a storm to end all storms. Tell me about Betty Stein. How did that affect you? It sobered us up some. It was our first casualty in our own class and we were all saddened.

00:44:18.760 - 00:44:39.640

And of course in the WASPs, as probably all the rest of your group that you've interviewed has told you, the Army didn't even send bodies home of WASPs that were killed. parents had to send for the bodies or the wasps themselves had to take up a collection to send the body home. And it suddenly did dawn on us that we weren't

00:44:40.700 - 00:44:55.040

infallible, that things can happen because of course all young people think they lead a charmed life, nothing's ever gonna happen to them. But it was a very sobering thing, we were all saddened by it. Do you know who exported her home?

00:44:55.360 - 00:45:16.700

No, I do not. One of her bay mates did, she was not in my bay. I've forgotten did go with her. Oh. What was the most interesting thing that you did in training? In training? Graduate.

00:45:17.920 - 00:45:32.480

[Laughter] Undoubtedly the most interesting. I'd have General Half Arnold pin my wings on me. Okay. Let's talk about your graduation. Tell me about your graduation. Well, it was very exciting. We had seven generals, I think, which set the record. You remember

00:45:32.580 - 00:45:54.740

the stories. All right. And General Hap Arnold, who was pinning wings on all of us. And he would pin them on and he would do it. Then he got to, I've forgotten the girl's name, she was enormously endowed. And his little bald head turned red and his face turned red and he started handing out, he never pinned another one on.

00:45:54.860 - 00:46:12.380

He was just getting a little, little embarrassed I think. It was exciting, it was exciting. Of course if we weren't the first, we were the second to have the uniforms. I can't remember whether we were first or whether the class before had the first to get our uniform,

00:46:13.180 - 00:46:29.700

designed by Skip Ratty, and we were so gorgeous, of course we were all gorgeous. And we were so proud, so proud. And then saddened too because we knew that we were going to be broken up. But through the years we've all kept in touch.

00:46:30.700 - 00:46:50.360

Tell me about receiving your orders. Well, I had requested Allo Field because the personnel that were here in Lake Charles, at the air base here, were being transferred en masse over to Allot Field, Victoria, Texas. So I had requested that as my first choice.

00:46:50.880 - 00:47:06.520

And Minky Heckman, who was my best buddy in the WASPs, wanted to go with us. She says, "I'll go there with you." So we showed up as the first WASPs in the Central Flying Training Command. We were the first ones to report for any duty in the Southern Training Command.

00:47:09.460 - 00:47:33.080

And we were well accepted, mainly because they knew me and I knew a lot of the officers and their wives that were there. I think we had an easier time of it for that, in fitting in. When you graduated and came home to Lake Charles, do you remember wearing your uniform and how people treated you?

00:47:34.560 - 00:47:52.020

I'm not sure I even wore my uniform when I was home. I imagine I did. They, I guess, were amazed, but didn't know what we were. Most people thought we were flight nurses. You know, the wings and the uniform and the Air Force patch thought we were flight nurses.

00:47:52.020 - 00:48:06.440

And it would have quite a time persuading them that, no, we were pilots. When you reported to Aloe, who did you report to? To the gunnery squadron. Well, I reported to the base commander, whom I knew,

00:48:06.940 - 00:48:19.140

and then reported to the gunnery squadron, where we were stationed. And what was their attitude toward you two girls? Well, they were sort of surprised, amazed, and couldn't believe it. And checkride, checkride, checkride.

00:48:19.140 - 00:48:50.500

Everybody on the field wanted to give you a check ride, so they'd go up and do a one-and-a-half-turn precision spin and come out on the money to see if we were really pilots, if we could fly. So we were accepted, though. Both of us were accepted well in the gunnery squadron. Now, we lived in the officers' quarters. We had little -- they had little married officers' quarters right outside the base, little apartments, efficiency apartments. And Minky and I had one of those. We ate in the officer's mess, of course.

00:48:51.620 - 00:49:11.320

And we were subject to court martial, you know, even if we weren't commissioned. We were promised our commissions, but we never got them. I went to advanced officer training school, but we had the gunnery squadron. We had a little red chiffon scarf that we hung over the light outside the--

00:49:11.320 - 00:49:31.100

Johnny had let them know there was a little girl in the restroom there. We just fit in fine. We didn't have any problems there. What was the mission of the base itself? Training graduate pilots in air-to-air combat for fighter pilots.

00:49:31.760 - 00:49:55.020

We towed the targets for the air-to-air combat training. Walk me through a mission, one that— Well, we flew like crazy because I flew many four-hour shifts in the morning and four-hour shifts in the afternoon. Okay, let's start with you going, you pick up your parachute, and then what happens?

00:49:55.460 - 00:50:13.600

You go and check out your plane, check that your students and their instructors are all ready. And we led the flight off. We were the lead flight to go to a certain altitude. What kind of airplanes were you flying? his tow targets, planes. We carried an enlisted man in the backseat, turned around, he operated

00:50:13.760 - 00:50:30.120

the tow target. Okay. And when you would get up to altitude, what would happen? Then you'd fly a set pattern at a set airspeed, and that's the reason why they said the women were so much better than the men because the men would get bored and so forth, you know.

00:50:30.200 - 00:50:42.880

But we took our job seriously and we'd fly the set pattern at a set altitude. What was this target like? 50 feet long. And then it had the—

00:50:43.640 - 00:51:00.040

Was it a sleeve? Sleeve, yes. But I did teach an awful lot of little operators, tow operators, to fly. And they said, "You can tell when I was giving a lesson," because we weren't quite

00:51:00.180 - 00:51:13.300

so precise. But we just got along fine. As you are flying this pattern, where is another airplane, how did that work? They just made passes.

00:51:13.980 - 00:51:26.460

Were they also in AG-6s? Yeah, everybody was in AG-6, yeah. When they would make passes, are they firing ammunition? Yeah, you know, a lot of it was camera theft.

00:51:26.780 - 00:51:54.300

the most dangerous thing, there was live ammunition down at Matagorda, at Aloe, it was photographic. But the most dangerous thing was landing the AT-6 because you could never make a three-point landing, which is the way you landed an AT-6. You'd have to come in for a hot wheels-up landing because half the time the towline was wrapped around the rear wheel. So you'd

00:51:54.220 - 00:52:11.080

have to make a pretty hot wheels landing and then slow down and let the tail wheel come down. Because if you came in for a three-part landing, you could ground loop off into the other planes. But it was very interesting.

00:52:11.550 - 00:52:26.040

Kelly: As you were flying this pattern, were you flying it for one airplane? Steele: No, they were all lined up coming right after each other. Oh, yeah. And frequently we'd fly four-hour shifts in the morning, four-hour shifts in the afternoon.

00:52:26.860 - 00:52:43.500

And you'd fly—we showed up there, and the guys in the gunner's squad could stand it just so long, they'd say, "What do you do if you have to go to the bathroom?" Of course, there's a pilot relief tube for the men, and a pilot's relief tube does not do a woman a bit of good.

00:52:44.360 - 00:52:56.740

I said, "You don't drink water, you don't drink coffee, and you hold it for four hours." But that was always a question, after they got to know you a little bit, they'd ask, "What do you do?" I said, "We don't do anything."

00:52:56.740 - 00:53:12.200

They designed these planes for men. How did you spend your off-duty hours? We were one of the gang. We played billiards, poker, we'd go to the movies.

00:53:13.160 - 00:53:25.460

I knew we were accepted. And then one of the fellas, Smitty, came up to me and says, "Hey, Annelle, what are you doing tonight?" And I said, "Oh, nothing, Smitty, whatever you're doing."

00:53:25.740 - 00:53:34.160

He says, "Good." He says, "Can I borrow your car?" I had a little Chevrolet convertible, or rumble seat thing. He says, "Can I borrow your car?

00:53:34.240 - 00:53:47.620

I've got a date with the cutest nurse you ever saw." And I said, "That's when I knew we were accepted as one of the fellas. When they will come borrow my car to take a nurse out." We've laughed about that many times since.

00:53:47.800 - 00:54:02.400

Yeah, they accepted us and took us in all their jaunts and haunts, but we had a good time. We had a good time. While you were at Allo, did you do other things other than air-to-air?

00:54:02.960 - 00:54:20.020

We did some flying of non-flying personnel around, and actually that kept us busy as we could be. We didn't have much other flying time because we flew every day. We did on the weekends have a great deal.

00:54:21.740 - 00:54:42.680

If you were a good kid and you did all your work right, I think it was every other week or something, they would let you take an airplane, an AT-6, anywhere you wanted to go in a thousand mile radius. Well, the fellows and us would get together and we'd get with the Smokey Joe, the weatherman,

00:54:43.460 - 00:54:56.020

and find out where the worst possible weather was going to be. And if it was St. Louis, that was fine. If it was Kansas, that was fine. If it was Texas, West Texas.

00:54:56.720 - 00:55:11.120

And we'd fly there so we could get weathered in. And then we'd get weathered in and we would finally think, "We cannot get back the weather. Let us come back." But we had the thousand-mile radius for free flights, pleasure flights.

00:55:11.460 - 00:55:34.520

And that was the greatest reward of our whole service, was adding our weekend trips. So that was part of our social life, too. So was there a special pilot that would go with you on these trips? Well, I married one of these instructors, the best man that ever lived, breathed, Russell

00:55:34.640 - 00:55:46.280

Bulechek. But the reason I married him, he was the only one that would go up with me for the instrument time. You know, you had to have your instrument time put in, hood time, where you fly in the

00:55:46.280 - 00:56:05.520

hood, somebody has to get in the back seat and verify your hood time and see that you got straight and level, got back alive. And he was the only one that would go up and fly with me whenever I wanted to. And I have a picture somewhere of him flying right up on my wing, which is against the

00:56:05.520 - 00:56:18.360

now, you did court martial part, and took a picture of me in the AT-6 with my tow target operator. And he was a little dream man. He was a good man.

00:56:18.390 - 00:56:38.920

He still is a good man, one of the greatest. And so many of the girls did marry pilots from World War II. And most everybody that I've talked to has stayed married through the years to them. Of course, we did not know there was trial marriages or anything else in those days.

00:56:38.950 - 00:56:51.980

You married and that was it. What were the qualities you saw in him that were different from the other boys you had dated that made you fall in love? He was so, well, just a good man.

00:56:52.120 - 00:57:00.160

And he was kind. He was very, very quiet. I am noisy. Opposites attract, I guess.

00:57:01.080 - 00:57:22.540

And he was brave, silly word to say, but it's true, and conscientious. He was a farm boy, came from a farm in Iowa, and completely different backgrounds we had, but he was just a good man. He was a good man.

00:57:22.980 - 00:57:31.060

Kelly: Were you in the same squadron? Klemski: Yes, he was in my gunnery squadron. Kelly: Was he an instructor? Klemski: Yes, he was a gunner.

00:57:31.060 - 00:57:54.240

Reinstructor. Kelly: As this romance continued, what did you do for days? Klemski: Well, like I said, we had movies, we had games, we had cards. There was not a lot to do in Aloe any more than there was in Sweetwater.

00:57:56.240 - 00:58:08.180

Do you remember when you heard that the WASPs were going to be deactivated? How did that affect you? Oh, we were crushed. But it just said, "You're deactivated."

00:58:09.360 - 00:58:24.280

No preliminaries, no buildup to it. Actually, I had had a sense that we were getting back. We didn't lose the pilots in combat we thought we were going to lose. people were coming back from overseas.

00:58:28.110 - 00:58:46.740

And there were really some of them were struggling to get in their four hours a month flight time that they had to do to draw flight pay. And I began to see that there was some handwriting on the wall that we were going to have an access to pilots office, but nobody thought for a minute that they'd just send a letter

00:58:46.740 - 00:59:05.680

and say you're disbanded, go home. which they did not pay to send you home. You did not have—like we were killed, there was no $10,000 insurance, there was no sending of the body home with an escort, there was no gold star in the window for your parents

00:59:05.800 - 00:59:16.960

to show. We are the best kept secret of World War II. That is all there was to it. Why were you flying missions in Aloe?

00:59:17.680 - 00:59:30.780

Did anything unusual happen to anyone during that period? No, not really. We had one boy that committed suicide. He just said, "I'm going in."

00:59:30.780 - 00:59:47.440

He came down right in the middle of the flight line. But nothing unusual, no, just routine, I guess. Oh, we had students from Turkey. And I'll tell you, we hated the Turks.

00:59:47.620 - 00:59:55.820

I'll just have to admit it, we hated the Turks. The Turks were neutral. You remember about the Turks. The Turks were neutral.

01:00:01.220 - 01:00:14.260

They all had convertibles and they all had their own hours and they'd come in whenever they wanted to come in and they could show up at the flight line or not show up at the flight line. Nothing you could do about it because they had diplomatic immunity.

01:00:15.740 - 01:00:38.560

Everything was fine until one day this one Turk said, "They had been to Germany now for flight training too before they came over here." He said, "Oh, that P-51, that P-47," whatever it was at the time, "doesn't compare with That's the best plane anybody ever built.

01:00:39.840 - 01:00:58.440

And I thought at the time, "What am I hearing and why do I have to hear it and why can't I clobber him?" But they were a mess and I decided what we should do is take them all and put them in AT-6s, which had dual gas tanks, and fill one gas tank with gasoline and fill the other

01:00:58.480 - 01:01:13.980

gas tank with orange juice and tell them to take a heading of 180 and hold it. That would get them far enough out in the Gulf to where if they switched to the other gas tank, we'd get rid of them. I think that was the answer to the Turks.

01:01:16.160 - 01:01:31.800

So I'm still not a Turkish lover. Kelly: While you were in Iowa, did you get orders to go somewhere else? Klemski: Oh, to the Advanced Officers Training School in Orlando, Florida, which was the glamor base of the world.

01:01:32.400 - 01:01:52.940

It was gorgeous and he had all the foreign officers, all the Free French, all the British officers were there for all this advanced training, hush-hush training, radar secret training, everything was secret, secret. And the Australians, we had them everywhere, Russians, everybody was there.

01:01:54.110 - 01:02:12.280

And I just was so thrilled, I was ticked to go down to this school. I got down there and nobody knew what you were, of course, you were back to, "What are you, a flight nurse?" Anyway, the first thing I did was meet this darling little British intelligence officer.

01:02:12.680 - 01:02:19.860

He had a little mustache and he was so cute. He said, "Oh, you asked me." I said, "Yes." He said, "Well, can I take you to dinner?"

01:02:19.860 - 01:02:33.360

So we went into the officer's mess and we were sitting there with all these different nationalities. I was in my little uniform and I was just adorable. Of course, we were all adorable at 23 years old.

01:02:34.560 - 01:02:53.160

But I was especially adorable that day and I was also especially capable. We sat around the table and they wanted to know what I did and I told them and I said, "Actually, I exaggerated." There's just no getting away from it because when I ended up with my story, it sounded

01:02:53.160 - 01:03:04.980

like I had my life in my hands, four to eight hours every day, you know, just fighting the war. It was very, very exciting. And this little officer kept punching me a little.

01:03:05.300 - 01:03:26.740

Down at the end of the table was the worst looking woman I've ever seen in green fatigues. She had a bowl haircut, just like this. No makeup, awful looking thing, just feeding herself like this, by herself down at the other end of the table. And I got cuter by the minute by comparison. My story got a little

01:03:26.920 - 01:03:51.740

wilder by comparison. Finally she got up and she walked out. And I said, "Who in the world was the slob at the other end of the table?" And they said, "That was Olga whatever her name was." I can't pronounce it. "She was the Russian ace that had seven German planes to her credit. And I said, "Oh, I hope she doesn't speak English." That was the only

01:03:51.820 - 01:04:08.160

thing I could think of to say. But here I am, and she has German, they were fighter pilots, you know, had seven German planes. So that is my most embarrassing moment of my lifetime. That's where I really made an ass of myself. Okay, that was officers training school.

01:04:09.580 - 01:04:30.120

What did you learn at officers training school? Oh, we went through a lot of intelligence stuff, diversionary tactics and advanced meteorology, and we saw all the hush-hush inventions that were in the works. And of course we had the officer training deals too, it went with it, and protocols

01:04:30.180 - 01:04:48.060

and all that stuff. But maybe we just had a ball, I'm sorry to say. We were supposed to be granted commissions, as you know, and this was for deciding the ranks of the commissions, and we were supposed to get a little higher rank if we went to

01:04:48.140 - 01:05:06.260

this special school in Florida, which didn't work out, did it? How many other walks were there? There were, I was the only one in this, in the Southern Five, but there were a whole bunch of them from all over the country.

01:05:07.760 - 01:05:14.500

Where did you live? I was at LO. No, where did you live in Orlando? Oh, we had officer's quarters.

01:05:15.000 - 01:05:37.160

All of us were in the Bay together again, and I said that's where, Mary Leatherby, who was Josh Logan's sister, Josh Logan, the famous director's sister, and Mary Leatherby was the movie, or the movie critic for Life magazine at that time, was the biggest magazine in seen in the country, was in my bay.

01:05:37.980 - 01:06:03.300

And there was a whole bunch of girls. Well this was another girl, her father was one of the wealthiest men in the country because he owned the garbage concession for New York City. And all these were all girls from all over the world and I mean all over the United States.

01:06:03.460 - 01:06:17.300

And they were all college, I'd never been away to college. I'd never stayed in a dorm. I slept in bobby pajamas, which were little cotton things that buttoned down the front and had pants.

01:06:17.820 - 01:06:40.500

And they all went around naked in the bay. I had never seen all this before because I had never been away to school and I had my little bobby pajamas and I said, "Now my gosh, I was lying here in the bed and I'm listening all watching all this bug out." And I thought, "I've just got to get with it. I've just got to get with the big girls."

01:06:41.640 - 01:07:04.320

And I took my little pajamas off and I got up out of bed. I looked around, I ran into the bathroom, locked myself in the bathroom screaming, "Bring me my bobby pajamas, bring me my..." And I got back in And I didn't try to be one of the big girls after that, but that was my introduction to the big high life, because I had never run around naked in my life.

01:07:05.120 - 01:07:14.760

That's all, that's all, that's all. [Laughter] Kelly: How long were you at this school in Northland? Steele: I think it was three weeks, if I remember right.

01:07:15.600 - 01:07:33.060

It had a gorgeous officers club and had a big dance floor with the eagle emblem in the center in colored tiles, you know. And I couldn't wait to get in that office. It burnt down the night before I got there.

01:07:33.600 - 01:07:45.000

But we did dance on the dance floor, but all the rest of it burned down. So that was not great. But it was a marvelous place. It was a secret hush-hush place for all of the allies.

01:07:46.690 - 01:08:04.140

At the time you went to Orlando, were you dating seriously the man you married? No, not really. This was early on, before I was married in December. Yeah. Okay. When did you get married?

01:08:04.560 - 01:08:17.640

December 2nd, 1944. for. In as much as you knew that we were going to be disbanded, why did you not just resign once you fell in love and knew you were going to marry this man?

01:08:17.740 - 01:08:25.440

Oh, I was going to stay to the bitter end. You know, you're not a quitter, kid. They're going to have to throw me out. I'm not resigning from anything.

01:08:25.700 - 01:08:35.980

Uh-uh. No. Most of us stayed right into the bitter end. But my husband was still on duty there, so we moved to Quero and I stayed in Quero.

01:08:36.320 - 01:09:07.720

And that's where I did all the flying of the old junked planes, really, that were stationed at Cuero, down to the--the Mexicans were buying them. Okay. Let's go back to your wedding before we get to that. And tell me about your-- Well, we were married in uniform, both of us, and married by the post chaplain. and my aunt and my best friend Zeta came. My brother came up from Carpus Christi. He was in the Navy and he came up.

01:09:08.600 - 01:09:30.780

And we were married and the girls had gotten all together. The rest of the WASP that came in late had gotten together and we had a reception in the officers club, which my brother could not come to because he was a petty officer and not a naval officer. And so, Russ and I left the party early and took him out. And it was nice.

01:09:30.920 - 01:09:35.700

It was lovely. It was a lovely ceremony. And did you have a honeymoon? Oh, yes.

01:09:35.700 - 01:09:43.920

We went to New Orleans. Yes, yes, yes. So the base gave you both time off? Yes, we both had time off for the wedding, the honeymoon.

01:09:44.120 - 01:09:59.360

Yes. And then when you came back to Iowa, you were still in the Wasps? Yes, until the disband of the 20-whatever it was. Tell me about the day you were descended. Do you remember the last flight you took before the wasp were transmitted?

01:09:59.360 - 01:10:29.640

Not the last flight as such. I just remember it was a sad time and we were all talking and we'd had all of these offers. All the airlines got in touch with us. We could be ticket takers and we could work our way up to being storytesters. There wasn't anything in flying line offered to us, but they all wanted a WASP to work for the airlines in some menial capacity, but nobody wanted it. I don't think anybody went to the airlines.

01:10:30.500 - 01:10:53.180

Some of them did join the WACs, I remember that. There were a few of them that did and stayed in. Most of us just took off and went back and did something else. So now you're married and you move where? - Well, we originally went back to the farm in Iowa.

01:10:53.280 - 01:11:04.340

- Let's get to Quero first. Was Quero near Victoria? - Oh yeah, yeah, it was about, oh, 20 miles away, I guess. And all the married officers lived in Quero.

01:11:04.680 - 01:11:20.840

And we had a great group of the married officers there. And they had, they would take turns busing each other, you know, pulling each other back and forth. And that was the reason why Russ never knew why I was flying these junk planes,

01:11:21.640 - 01:11:38.880

because I had our car on those days and got $50 to fly it down to the Mexican border. Of course, nothing worked in them, but it's all flat country down there, and if anything would happen to them, all you'd do would just be land in some flat area. It wasn't that dangerous.

01:11:39.600 - 01:11:50.340

-Whose airplanes were these? The governments, they were selling them to the Mexicans and hiring civilian pilots to take them down to the border, which they paid us $50.

01:11:50.880 - 01:12:04.860

Then they'd fly a transport down and bring us back. And Russ, I chatted with Russ, I was doing instructing and commercial flying for the little base in Cuero there.

01:12:05.540 - 01:12:22.460

So I told him I was making money. You know, I didn't mention I was also flying his junk plane, But he went out to this grassed area where they stored all these planes. And there was grass growing up in the tires, you know, and they were just laughing.

01:12:23.060 - 01:12:36.580

He said, "Did you say you were flying these things to the Master of Mirror?" I said, "Sure, there are a whole bunch of old men pilots there, and me." And he said, "Oh, no, no, no, no, you cannot do this. You cannot do that."

01:12:36.580 - 01:12:47.660

the end of my $50 a flight jobs. So that was the end of that. Yeah, we were in Queralt. And then we went back to Iowa City, his farm.

01:12:48.800 - 01:13:11.100

- Did he get out of the service while you were in Queralt? - Yeah, he resigned after the E-Day. And we went back to Iowa City, and he decided he was not a farmer.

01:13:11.880 - 01:13:18.740

So then we moved to California. - When you went to Iowa City, did you meet his parents? - Oh, yes, yes. - Was that the first time?

01:13:18.780 - 01:13:23.360

- Yes, yes. - Tell me about that. - Oh, they were just great. They were just sweet as they could be.

01:13:23.900 - 01:13:41.800

And I was a city girl, and I had never been on a farm. I didn't adapt well, but I adapted happily, you know. But Russ was the one, like his mother said, he said, "Russ is never going to take over

01:13:41.880 - 01:13:50.580

this farm," she said, "because Russ was such a clean—" He said, "He never liked to get dirty. He worked like a—" But he hated getting dirty. He still does.

01:13:50.720 - 01:13:58.680

He was so neat, so clean. So that didn't work out. We decided we'd go to California. He was going back to California and work for Lockheed.

01:13:58.680 - 01:14:12.600

How long did you stay in Iowa City? Well, it must have been about five or six months, I guess, because we were there during the cold weather. I remember that.

01:14:13.920 - 01:14:28.960

What kind of farm was it? Was it a dairy farm? No, corn, corn in Iowa, yeah, and beautiful corn, beautiful farmhouse, lovely people. They're all good, good people.

01:14:29.080 - 01:14:37.560

I can see why he's a good man he is. Good stuff. Barbara Ann, my daughter, was born in California. Kelly: Okay.

01:14:37.900 - 01:14:54.320

Then you decided to go to California. Did you guys have a job out there? Steele: With Lockheed, yeah. And then they were starting up all the plants in Lake Charles about that time.

01:14:54.400 - 01:15:07.040

Let's get to Barnsburg. Tell me about that. That was in Santa Monica, St. John's Hospital. Russ was taking my sister and me there.

01:15:07.460 - 01:15:19.160

My sister was there, and her husband and her family were there. He was getting in the car, and we were going and going and going. We went down whatever boulevard it was up and down. But he went clear into Los Angeles.

01:15:19.340 - 01:15:43.680

He bypassed St. John's Hospital and just kept going. All he knew was to go fuck, but finally got him turned around and got me back there. And I was—my sister used to laugh because they were always seeing movie stars. And I was in a near-miss collision with an automobile in Santa Monica, and I was so taken

01:15:43.740 - 01:15:50.780

for the—and Maltese said, "Well, you know who that was, don't you?" And I said, "No." "Well, it was Cary Grant." Well, I didn't see Cary Grant.

01:15:51.440 - 01:16:02.560

So then we're going into the hospital to have bar bread. And I'm going, ooh, you know, ooh, ooh, and off, and off. And she said, oh, there he is, there he is. That was Van Johnson.

01:16:02.880 - 01:16:12.840

Well, I missed him because I was having labor pains about it. So I never did see a movie star. But anyway, she was born in California, St. John's Hospital.

01:16:13.420 - 01:16:23.260

- And how long did you stay there before you-- - We went back to Lake Charles about two months later, when she was about two months old. And the plants were all just opening up here then.

01:16:23.680 - 01:16:38.060

And Russ had a good chance to go to work for Murray Brooks, who was an industrial supplier for the plants. So we moved back here and stayed here up until 1968. We moved to Shreveport.

01:16:39.520 - 01:17:01.060

This was our home. - While you were, while Barbara was growing up, what were you involved in as far as her education? Oh, yes, oh, heavens yes, and Camp Fire Girls and everything she was involved in, dance

01:17:01.160 - 01:17:20.800

school, piano school, all the instruction. Yeah, I was very involved. But I also was running an advertising agency during those times, my own advertising agency. when, what kind of volunteer work?

01:17:20.800 - 01:17:39.040

Were you doing other volunteer work besides the school activities? - Yes, I have worked with the American Red Cross and the Camp I Girls and Art Associates

01:17:39.550 - 01:17:55.020

and did a lot of work with Little Theater. I can't even think back to the organizations that I belonged to. I can't think back that far. Kelly: Okay.

01:17:56.100 - 01:18:04.560

Then as much as now you're out of the WASP, did you keep in touch with the WASP and with the organization? Steele: Oh, yeah. Oh, sure, sure, sure.

01:18:04.750 - 01:18:32.680

Kelly: Were you involved in any way with their effort to get veteran status for the WASP? I couldn't do the March on Washington. I wrote letters, but I could not do anything about meeting with them in Washington because I had little ones and a job and a business to run. But I did lend moral support and vocal support. That's all I can say. I couldn't make the trip.

01:18:33.660 - 01:18:54.440

Why do you think the Wasps were left out of the history books? ignorance, I really do believe it. I think it was kept quiet for a long time on purpose until they finally had to admit that there was equal rights and they took a woman into the Air Force Academy.

01:18:55.320 - 01:19:05.180

But they didn't want to particularly spotlight the fact that women had been flying military aircraft. They just weren't supposed to. That was a man's job in a man's world.

01:19:06.440 - 01:19:25.080

But I think the reason they were left out of history books was not as much prejudice as I said ignorance. Nobody knew. And we weren't pushy enough to start telling our tale until it was too late, you know.

01:19:25.760 - 01:19:33.940

Except it isn't too late. We still want to tell our tale. That you can do anything in this world you make up your mind to do. And that won't change.

01:19:34.200 - 01:19:53.980

That didn't change in the '20s or the '30s, and it hasn't changed in the '90s, and it won't change in the 2000s. It's still up to you to make up your mind what you want to do and do it. I know that as the years have gone by, you have become involved in a sport.

01:19:54.240 - 01:20:01.740

Yes. Would you tell us about that? Oh, well, I was a little late in life. I was in my forties before I started playing golf.

01:20:01.740 - 01:20:14.980

I think I got on the golf course by mistake with friends. And then I discovered that it's marvelous. There is nothing else you can think of on the golf course except golf and the next shot.

01:20:15.060 - 01:20:26.440

And you can't think about your worries or your kids or your troubles or any money worries. It's just facts you have to attach your mind to. And I call it happy mental health week

01:20:26.440 - 01:20:43.680

to go to the golf course. It washes your mind out. and discovered that although I am not athletic, I am determined. And that is half the story of life is you don't have to be talented or athletic, just

01:20:43.720 - 01:20:53.360

be determined. And I was determined to play golf, so I did. And I won my little share of tournaments. I was never the champion state champion.

01:20:53.520 - 01:21:08.000

Well, I was too. I was the state senior Olympic champion in my age group for two years, until I had to quit going to state in Baton Rouge. And I have won my share of tournaments.

01:21:08.220 - 01:21:27.340

I was senior champion of Shreveport once. And I just enjoy the companionship. The women that play golf are all down to earth. They're not telling me their troubles or screaming about their beauty shop appointments being

01:21:27.560 - 01:21:36.700

wrecked or anything else. We're all out there just—and I love the competition. I love the challenge. I love the competition.

01:21:37.040 - 01:21:54.880

Even in just a friendly game, you're still competing, but you're competing with yourself. You don't rely on teammates or anything else. It's just what you can do, and you get so mad at yourself, you could cut your throat. But I think golf is something all girls should learn,

01:21:55.420 - 01:22:03.640

and they should have it in high school, because when you're 80 years old, you sure aren't gonna be out playing baseball. Very few play tennis.

01:22:04.580 - 01:22:14.200

You sure can't do a lot of track. But you can play golf 'til you drop dead on the golf course. I think all girls should learn to play golf. It'll last you a lifetime.

01:22:15.080 - 01:22:24.740

- Tell me how you got the sex symbol. - Oh! Oh! Well, I have a plaque in there that awarded me from Shreveport.

01:22:25.290 - 01:22:32.240

It was out— What does the plaque say? I do not know. It says something about—it ties into this story.

01:22:35.160 - 01:22:55.220

On the tee box in Shreveport—and it was a new course, a gorgeous course—and it was lined up with Barbara Payne, who is city champion, ex-state champion, Carolyn Boudreaux, southern champion, and Linda Adrian, my very best friend, who is a senior champion of such free sports, and me, you know, eighty years old.

01:22:55.980 - 01:23:11.500

And I'm standing in my little moody shorts, and the men that were standing around the tee box said, "Are you playing with them?" They knew these were—I said, "Well, sure, that's my regular foursome." I said, "Take me along because I'm fast, I'm funny, and I go piddle-piddle down the

01:23:11.660 - 01:23:19.540

middle. I never hold them up, and we just get along fine." And they said, "Oh." And I said, "Well, God gave me my pick.

01:23:20.380 - 01:23:34.820

I could either be a champion golfer like they are, or I could be an 80-year-old sex symbol, and I made my choice." And the men just died like they fell. So then wherever I'd go, I'd hear these guys, "Here comes the 80-year-old sex symbol."

01:23:34.820 - 01:23:54.340

So that is up there, Shreveport's super senior sex symbol 2000 Big S champion. It's a joke, but it also is affectionately done by some of my friends in Shreveport. I hated leaving, but I made new ones down here. I'm making friends down here, too.

01:24:00.120 - 01:24:21.920

That's it. That's enough. Well, I had been in advertising before, and there was no agency here in Lake Charles. was a need for one. And so I had opened this, my own agency, and I had all the best accounts,

01:24:22.060 - 01:24:52.240

Riffs and Women's Men's, Love's Men's Store and Southern Construction Company and the Flower Shop and Writer's Jury, all of the best accounts I did have because there wasn't I did the newspaper and the radio and TV forum. Then on the side, they were opening radio stations and another newspaper here.

01:24:53.000 - 01:25:18.380

So I helped open KLOU and KWSL, and the Southwest Citizen was the newspaper. I was involved in all forms of that besides the agency business that I ran. I had that until 1968 when you moved to Shreveport, and that is when I gave up. Retired and became a golf bum.

01:25:18.500 - 01:25:32.260

That is what I did. That is what I did. What made you decide to give it up? Well, Russ was going to take over a supply company in Shreveport, so we just moved to

01:25:32.280 - 01:25:46.260

Shreveport. I went with him and I did not want to work once we got there. What is your opinion of Jacqueline Cochran? I think she must have been a marvelous woman.

01:25:46.360 - 01:26:01.320

I never knew her personally. Some of the girls did. I knew her from the visits to the field. She was a determined person now, and she got her way, and she got ramrodded things through.

01:26:01.540 - 01:26:23.140

I'm in no position to have an opinion or criticize Jacqueline Cochran. I think she did a great job for the WASPs, and my hat's off to her. I know there's been talk about—we used to love to keep from her. certain things, you know, like she couldn't stand the song "Rugged but Right," but we

01:26:23.260 - 01:26:40.500

delighted in singing it the minute her back was turned. And we did it at the time sort of make fun of her dictatorial manners, but nothing but the highest respect, believe me. I can't say a word against her.

01:26:41.050 - 01:26:46.860

Did she ever visit Allen while you were there? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And she came for our graduation.

01:26:51.900 - 01:27:00.120

I thought you meant to—no, she never came to Aloe. I never saw her there. Who was in charge of you at Aloe? Oh, I wish I could think of his name.

01:27:00.120 - 01:27:06.780

He married a Lake Charles girl. Okay, but he was an Air Force officer. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. He was Colonel.

01:27:06.780 - 01:27:18.420

Did any of the superiors in the WASP ever visit Aloe? No. We were on our own. own from beginning to end.

01:27:19.540 - 01:27:45.860

What do you think the legacy of the WASP will be? Well, legacy, first women to fly military aircraft. Legacy will be, I hope it is, that you don't need legislation to prove something. We now have equal rights, we have non-discriminatory practices, we have lawsuits,

01:27:46.220 - 01:28:05.340

We have everything else. But we proved women can be equal to men way before it was either legal or fashionable. I think we were trailblazers. There's no doubt in my mind that we were.

01:28:06.120 - 01:28:25.580

And we should be an inspiration to young people because they have now, people have told them their disadvantaged people, have told them they're discriminated against, and they believe it. And it doesn't have to be true, even if they do discriminate against you, even if they

01:28:26.240 - 01:28:42.620

do pound you down. That doesn't mean that you have to be that. You can be whatever you want to be and whatever you set your heart and head to be. And don't let anybody tell you you can't because 1,043 women did it in World War II.

01:28:43.960 - 01:29:13.360

They said we couldn't do it, and we did it, and we did it successfully, and by records, by Hap Arnold's own account, we did it as well as any man could have done it. And I think that's the legacy we should leave behind us, that laws and lawsuits and else doesn't make you what you are, it's what you want to be and what you go ahead and do

01:29:13.720 - 01:29:29.920

that counts. I thought it was a dog. I think that should be our legacy and inspiration to young people. Why do you feel we were not militarized?

01:29:31.000 - 01:29:55.000

Oh, I think there was too much against us in Congress and there were too many people screaming they wanted to be militarized. And you can see their point when you look at the Merchant Marine, in other words. God, they did a service and they were not military.

01:29:56.260 - 01:30:14.960

And they said, "Well, if we militarize these girls," of course, they did not wear the uniforms, they did not serve in the units like we did, "but if we give these girls We are going to have all the merchant marines want their militarization. We will have all of these other organizations that worked in private companies, but doing

01:30:15.080 - 01:30:32.400

war work, we just can't do that. We can't have these women in here." I think that was the main reason they were scared to death. But it should not have been because we actually served in military units.

01:30:34.440 - 01:30:50.700

But I think that is one of the big reasons I was scared. As you look back over your life, what is the one thing that you are most proud of? My daughter. My grandchildren.

01:30:51.040 - 01:31:11.540

I mean, that sounds trite, but now I see that was what was important. I'm most proud of having served my country. I'm proud of having a successful marriage for 56 years, but when I look at it now, I always live in the present and the future.

01:31:11.820 - 01:31:23.920

I can't live in the past. And I'd say what I'm most proud of is my daughter and my grandchildren and my son-in-law. That's my only family I have left. And I think that's my accomplishment, my greatest accomplishment.

01:31:24.980 - 01:31:45.220

Other than your family, what have you done in your life that you're most proud of, other than your family? I hope I've made a lot of people happy and I hope I've made a lot of people laugh. And about other than that, I don't know what else to say.

01:31:45.320 - 01:31:53.840

I'm proud of my service in WASP, I'm proud of a lot of things, but I'm proud I have a lot of friends. I think I've made a lot of people happy,

01:31:54.040 - 01:32:05.380

and I know I've made a lot of people laugh, and I think that's a successful life. - So what do you think your legacy will be? - I don't know, I have no idea.

01:32:07.100 - 01:32:20.960

I hope it's what everybody wants to be, that they'll say, "She was a tough old broad." I'm sorry, but not just as good an answer as any. Kelly: Okay.

01:32:22.760 - 01:32:44.580

In looking ahead, twenty-five, fifty years from now, when children in history classrooms will be listening and watching you as you talk to them, what do you want to tell them that might inspire them? Well, the mode of transportation may change.

01:32:44.800 - 01:33:06.100

It surely has in the past 20 or 30 years here. Mode of transportation may change and the way that you live and all the accruitments that comes with it all may change, but the heart doesn't change. Thirty years from now, it'll be the same heart that we have now, unless we smother it.

01:33:06.780 - 01:33:21.780

And I don't want them to do that. I don't want them to do that, which we're trying to do now with so many of them. It's self-absorbed selfishness and it's getting bigger. I hope it's stamped out in the next 20 or 30 years.

01:33:22.680 - 01:33:39.460

But I just hope that they don't change the heart of America. And I don't know how else to say it, because I said there'll be many changes in the next 20 or 30 years. But I hope the heart of America stays the same or gets better.

01:33:40.460 - 01:33:52.880

Gosh, it was good in my day. We all hung together and everybody was for everybody else. And everybody's too interested in themselves now and their own tiny little lives, small lives.

01:33:52.960 - 01:34:05.660

And we've got to get back to where we care about each other. And I hope it improves in the next 20 to, I'm looking forward to the next 20 to 30 years to see an improvement in heart. But that's what won't change.

01:34:06.500 - 01:34:19.620

If you keep it good, it'll stay good. There ain't no new wheels to put on that, or new wings. That's about it. - And now as you think back over this interview,

01:34:20.280 - 01:34:31.400

is there anything that you would like to say that I haven't asked you? - Oh no, my heaven, you've done things out of me that I didn't remember about myself and my childhood

01:34:31.720 - 01:34:39.000

and all that. Oh dear, you have really covered everything and done a beautiful job, Deanie. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

01:34:39.020 - 01:34:46.460

- Thank you for taking-- - Okay. - Let's put, can we, let me stop for just a second. - My gun is loaded and it's got money.

01:34:47.060 - 01:34:55.140

Okay, that's what I can do. - No, we had said in the very beginning when Nancy first started this, we will not ask WASP.

01:34:55.440 - 01:35:05.940

This WASP do not have to pay to have their-- - And maybe what you think this could mean-- I didn't even know you were doing this. I sent this in thinking you were compiling

01:35:06.060 - 01:35:15.080

a little brochure history thing, you know, but I didn't dream that you were doing all of this Sapsack writing stuff. Good Lord.

01:35:15.080 - 01:35:22.220

- This is for education. - I know it. - So how important do you think it is for kids to hear about the history of the Wasp?

01:35:23.980 - 01:35:33.360

- Well, I think it's important. I mean, I don't want to go raving, it's the most important thing ever done. But it's so much a part of our history

01:35:34.100 - 01:35:46.040

and it's so much a part of the development of women in the United States, that it has to be told. It can't be buried. And that's what was happening.

01:35:46.270 - 01:36:07.020

And it's people like Deanie and Nancy here who have just turned their lives upside downwards to save our story that deserve all the credit in the world. Because I, as an old lady, am so grateful to you

01:36:07.120 - 01:36:20.960

for doing my work and my group's work for me that I can't do anymore. I make speeches at the combined clubs and the schools, but I can't do the big job, and that is making a record,

01:36:21.740 - 01:36:32.340

a record that will last. I mean, the speeches are fine. I get a few ears turned my way. But it has to be there for generations to come

01:36:33.040 - 01:36:46.960

because there is a beginning and God created the world and you all could create the wasp story from the beginning. In the beginning, there were the wasps and nobody will be able to tell it like you can.

01:36:47.400 - 01:36:57.660

I don't know what else I can say except stars in your crown must be getting awful heavy and I can't see how you're keeping them straight up there. Bless you, bless you, bless you.

01:36:57.700 - 01:37:02.700

- Thank you, thank you very much. You've done a great job. - Is that it? - Okay, go ahead.

01:37:03.220 - 01:37:14.640

- It's important to me as a child of WASP. I'm very, very proud of my mother. But it's important to me to hear the other stories. There's not many WASP left.

01:37:15.140 - 01:37:29.400

They're scattered all over the United States. I have not been able to make reunions. And what a wonderful way for me and for my daughter and my son to hear stories not only, all these women are fascinating.

01:37:30.340 - 01:37:52.160

I mean, they wouldn't have done what they did in being pioneers, really, of women in aviation during the war if they weren't fascinating. And I've heard my mother's stories, but I'm really excited about hearing the other women's stories. You know, because I've never heard any other WASP talk. This is

01:37:52.340 - 01:38:14.820

extremely important to me and for my children and their children and it's something that too many things in history are let, they die and not just the person but the stories die with them. And this is such a wonderful way to keep this alive. And for people that are connected with WASP, so many of my

01:38:14.620 - 01:38:25.020

My friends have found Mama and what she did so fascinating. They never heard of it before. And even people Mama's age had never heard of it before. This is what's so sad.

01:38:26.440 - 01:38:33.860

And it's so important to keep it alive. - That's great. - I mean, I-- - I'm so glad Barbara was here, aren't you?

01:38:33.860 - 01:38:41.860

- Oh, yeah. But I really am looking forward to the stories. I was saying, not just yours, I'm really looking forward to hearing the,

01:38:41.940 - 01:38:51.240

I'm so excited about going to this reunion because I've never been able to yet. - Yes, it will be an eye opener. - Oh yeah.

01:38:51.280 - 01:39:01.640

- Oh yes. - Just like the guy said, I think it was Colorado Springs where I live in the elevators going up and down, and they covered that NBC and this guy from NBC

01:39:01.760 - 01:39:11.180

was in the elevator and he said, "My God, 'cause I covered Woodstock, "I've covered everything in the world. "I've never seen such."

01:39:11.180 - 01:39:19.900

- No, I see wild people. (laughing) - People talk about national treasures. You all, you two are national treasures.

01:39:20.040 - 01:39:29.860

- Well, they said that when I left, when I left, don't you remember I told you? - If there's 600 of you left, there's 600 national treasures that nobody knows about.

01:39:30.380 - 01:39:39.660

And what a shame this is. I mean, there's been stories about saving Private Ryan and there's all this other stuff about the men in World War II.

01:39:39.940 - 01:39:50.420

And I think even the nurses in World War II have gotten more written about than you all have. I mean, people knew nurses existed. They didn't even know you existed.

01:39:50.780 - 01:39:59.860

- That's true, true. - And I think before, let's face it, you're dying off before you're all gone. - Oh dear, hang on to me, dear.

01:40:00.800 - 01:40:06.760

- No, don't try to get near me. - No, I got the lens camera. - All right, I'm not shooting. - No, but before you're all gone,

01:40:06.860 - 01:40:18.220

I just think it's just terrifically important to hear all these stories. - Volunteers of America right here, God help us. And it's evident it was your idea to push this, huh?

01:40:18.600 - 01:40:25.820

- Oh, it's wonderful, I just admire you so much. - I do too. - I appreciate that. - Well, if you've made one mark in life, it's this kid.

01:40:26.000 - 01:40:33.120

You can rest on your laurels after you get, but you're gonna be an old woman. - Your movie career is gone. - You'll have to rest on your laurels.

01:40:33.380 - 01:40:42.420

You're gonna be 80 years old. God, this is rude. - No, because I gotta get the wasp while they're still around.

01:40:42.460 - 01:40:49.760

- Yeah, that's what's scary. That's scary. That's scary. You've got maybe five or 10 years left.

01:40:49.940 - 01:40:53.380

- Well, or 30. - Oh, oh, yeah. - Yeah, depends on your mother. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:40:53.480 - 01:40:58.000

- We've got 30. - I ain't going to-- - With the early ones, you understand what I'm saying? - Yes, I do.

01:40:58.680 - 01:41:07.640

- And what I'm saying is they can still be here. They could be like my daddy, who, you know, you're here, but you can't tell your story. - I called one the other day.

01:41:08.000 - 01:41:13.680

- That's sad. - And it's sad. - Yes. - A year ago, if we had had the financial anything.

01:41:13.760 - 01:41:20.940

- Exactly. - But time has gone. - I know. - We gotta get a wealthy backer.

01:41:20.960 - 01:41:27.540

- Well, and I keep telling people, this is not only the history of the Watt. - Yeah. (indistinct chatter)

01:41:29.280 - 01:41:32.840

>> That's good. >> It was wonderful. >> So is Zoe. >> Yeah.

01:41:33.200 - 01:41:39.640

>> This is a wonderful picture. >> I thought that was good. >> Well, it's that funny, both grandsons. >> Right.

01:41:39.990 - 01:41:43.800

>> And the daughter and something. >> Is she in the front seat? >> Yes. >> Yes.

01:41:44.940 - 01:41:49.800

>> Let's zoom in on this. >> The woman downstairs is an older woman. She has an apartment. >> Mama?

01:41:49.950 - 01:41:54.820

>> Yeah? >> Are you in the front seat of this plane? >> Yes, dear. >> Okay.

01:41:54.890 - 01:42:02.660

>> White turbans, Irwin's turbans. We all wore white turbans. Yes, and the little enlisted man turned around backwards.

01:42:04.320 - 01:42:11.500

-Man, do I remember your graduation. -Oh, oh, my, you do remember. -General and y'all. -There were seven

01:42:11.660 - 01:42:19.460

generals. -We have pictures of that graduation at home. They have class books that has all the members of the class. Is she forty-five or forty?

01:42:20.540 - 01:42:30.780

Forty-four. I'm going to have it at home. We borrowed some from a gentleman who was an instructor there late and he gave us a whole bunch of, he had

01:42:30.860 - 01:42:38.760

like five different class books. The glare is just, oh let's get away from the light. There's much, no. Okay.

01:42:39.640 - 01:42:47.100

Which one's Tom? The one, the big old tall drink of water there. That's me and that's Ann Berry. But I didn't have him.

01:42:48.040 - 01:42:53.580

Oh, he was something. Is Guy Moore still alive? Yeah. I'm going to get the sign.

01:42:54.600 - 01:43:11.520

So next time you come, you're going to have to come to the library. And it was, I can't think of the girls, it doesn't matter, one of my babies was talking, I'd forgotten this one, I hadn't thought of it in a million years. That's true, that's another story I hadn't thought of in a million years.

01:43:12.200 - 01:43:32.560

But she was flying along the side, I mean we were coming back from Love Field to Dallas and she said, "I was flying along and I saw you and I came up and I waved to you and you were just busy and you said your head was up, then you disappeared. Nobody in the cockpit that would go on and then a little while your head would come back up again and she said

01:43:32.560 - 01:43:57.440

I wave some more and you look around and you go back and you disappeared again. And she said what in the world were you doing? And I said I'm stirring my finger nails. I had red polish and I stuck it in the slot for the, it just fit fine in the throttle slot. I said if I hadn't accident I mean I couldn't have closed the throttle back but I was doing my finger nails

01:43:57.940 - 01:44:14.560

and I'd look down I'd get all of that then I'd look up check see if anything was coming then I put some more finger nail polish on and she said nobody did their nails up in the air but you. I said well I was busy underground. I was busy underground. Well I had some more pictures to show.

01:44:16.240 - 01:44:42.240

[singing] And you copyrighted it. Is that an old copyright for it? Yeah.

01:44:42.740 - 01:44:48.520

Because I've got copyrights on 50 or 60 songs. Oh, good for you. No, this was a joke. The lawyer copyrighted it.

01:44:49.170 - 01:44:53.640

I thought I had more pictures. Is this your brother? That's my brother. Oh, how sweet.

01:44:54.060 - 01:45:02.560

Yeah, he was a doll. What's really interesting...