Downtown in Fairbanks in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska — Northwest (North America)
Women in Wartime
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 17, 2024
1. Women in Wartime Marker
This is not the time for women to be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and every weapon possible. Women pilots are a weapon waiting to be used.
Eleanor Roosevelt, 1942
LIFE [Magazine cover] JULY 19, 1943
American women rose to the service of the nation in many capacities with the outbreak of WWII. Some women joined the military, and others took jobs left vacant by the exodus of men to the armed forces. In 1942, Congress created the Women Air Force [sic - Airforce] Service Pilots (WASP), a civil corps. Twenty-five thousand female pilots volunteered, and 1,074 eventually trained on military aircraft and became WASPs. Women demonstrated their courage, dedication and heroism as ferry pilots, flight instructors and test pilots, freeing male pilots for combat. Thirty-eight WASPs died in the line of duty.
American women piloted almost every type of aircraft in the US arsenal. They flew many of the Russia-bound Lend Lease planes from their points of manufacture around the US to Great Falls, Montana. From there, the men of the US Army Air Corps 7th Ferrying Squadron flew the planes
this page online
During the war, Soviet women were stationed in Great Falls, Nome and Fairbanks as technical interpreters and office personnel. Women pilots in the USSR were allowed to fly in combat. Many distinguished themselves and earned the country's highest medal of honor.
Erected 2006 by Alaska-Siberia Research Center, State of Alaska, and the United States of America.
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Industry & Commerce • War, World II • Women.
Location. 64° 50.721′ N, 147° 43.017′ W. Memorial is in Fairbanks, Alaska, in Fairbanks North Star Borough. It is in Downtown. It is at the intersection of Noble Street and Wendell Avenue, on the left when traveling north on Noble Street. Marker is on the World War II Lend Lease Monument in Griffin Park, northeast of Golden Heart Plaza. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 360 Wendell Avenue, Fairbanks AK 99701, United States
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., August 17, 2024
2. Women in Wartime Marker
Regionally, this memorial is in the Alaska Railroad Corridor, in the Athabascan Region, and in Interior Alaska. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, the Pacific Rim, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Russian Empire.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: We Flew in the Same Sky (here, next to this marker); Home Front to Front Lines (here, next to this marker); The Settlement (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); c.1914 Agricultural Display (about 300 feet away); The Model Cafι / A. E. "Cap" Lathrop (about 300 feet away); Tanana Indians / Exploration (about 300 feet away); USS Alaska (SSBN 732) Presentation Anchor (about 300 feet away); Rotary Club of Fairbanks, Alaska (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Fairbanks.
Also see . . .
1. National WASP WWII Museum, Sweetwater TX. (Submitted on September 18, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)
2. Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (AFHSD Fact Sheet). (Submitted on September 18, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)
3. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (National Museum of the U.S. Army). (Submitted on September 18, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)
Credits. This page was last revised on September 18, 2024. It was originally submitted on September 18, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 181 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 18, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
