Jason Koski/University Photography
In the keynote address at a daylong celebration of Cornell veterans and military personnel on campus Nov. Adm. Michelle J. Howard, vice chief of naval operations, recalled the service of Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during WWII and early feminist leaders. Howard, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States Navy and the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Rushmore, reflected on Cornellian WASP Dawn Seymour '39 , one of 13 women to fly a B-17 bomber during WWII. The WASPs were a crucial force in the war effort, ferrying 50 percent of aircraft moved between military bases. Seymour and other WASPs took risks and made significant sacrifices, Howard said. As a training drill, they piloted planes towing targets at which male pilots shot live ammunition.
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