Recognition comes at last

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

alcorn@vindy.com

HOWLAND

Marie Barrett Marsh, a pioneer female aviator, likely would have thought the Congressional Gold Medal fuss in Washington, D.C., a little unnecessary.

“She was real modest. She didn’t think she had done anything special,” her son, George Marsh of Howland, said of his mother’s service as a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot) during World War II.

Marie, who grew up mostly in Youngstown, and the rest of the WASPs, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. It is the highest civilian honor given by Congress.

“We did it because we loved to fly, and we loved our country,” Marie once told her daughter, Janet Marsh of Hartford.

Unfortunately, the recognition came when the surviving WASPs are in their late 80s and early 90s. Many of the Gold Medals were presented posthumously, including Marie’s. She died April 29, 1997.

It is estimated that about 300 WASPs are living, some 200 of whom attended Gold Medal ceremonies last week in Washington, D.C.

Janet and her husband, Kenneth Lloyd, and several other of Marie’s eight children, along with other family members, attended the ceremonies.

Her daughter, Kathleen Fowler of Houston, accepted the medal on behalf of her mother.

Other family members who attended were George and his son, George, and Lannie Marsh, Marie’s granddaughter who lives near the District of Columbia.

“It was very moving,” Janet said.

“Everything was very impressive,” George added.

Marie’s other children are John of Greensburg, Pa.; David of Vienna; James of Hubbard, Janet’s twin; and Robert of Hartford. A son, Thomas, died as a teenager.

Of the 25,000 women who applied to be WASPs, 1,830 were accepted for training, and 1,074 earned their Silver Wings. Thirty-eight WASPs and trainees were killed while flying, according to Stars and Stripes, a military publication.

After completing WASP training, Marie was assigned to headquarters of the Weather Wing in Asheville, N.C., where she flew Weather Wing personnel to bases throughout the United States and was liaison with the Pentagon.

The WASP program came about because all male pilots were needed for combat and transport duty. WASPs delivered military aircraft to bases in the U.S. and Canada and flew planes with targets trailing behind to give soldiers experience with anti-aircraft guns.

Marie had flying experience before her military training, as did all WASPs.

She was a 1937 honors graduate of The Rayen School and graduated in 1941 from Youngstown College, where she was its first Homecoming queen.

Marie fulfilled her desire to fly during the summer of 1940, when Youngstown College, in cooperation with Bernard Airport on U.S. Route 422 east of Youngstown, offered civilian-pilot training. She became one of six women in the country at the time to complete advanced civilian-pilot training, Janet said.

After graduating from college, Marie taught school in Mecca for a year and then was hired by the Youngstown city schools, where she worked until May 1943, when she resigned to enter WASP training at Avenger Field in Texas.

WASPs were considered civilians, not members of the military, and were not entitled to military pay and benefits. It was not until 1977 that they received military status.

After WASP disbanded, Marie married John E. Marsh in 1944 and raised kids and taught night-school at Warren G. Harding High School, Janet said.

But, she didn’t give up her love for flying and adventure. She and her husband had planes, and her son, George, said she often took them swimming at Willow Lake or camping.

“She was gracious and humble and my best friend. She gave unconditional love,” Janet said.

The Marsh family lived in Warren and then on Warren-Sharon Road in Vienna, where most of the children attended school. When she died, Marie and her husband were Howland residents.