Making History: Wisconsin’s First All-female Honor Flight

Hundreds of thousands of American women served in the armed forces during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. However, the unique challenges those women faced and the sacrifices they made have not always been recognized. There were 88 women veterans aboard Badger Honor Flight's 41st mission on May 14th 2022. Of the 88 women, 84 were Vietnam-era veterans and one was a World War II veteran — she’ll be 99 this month.

For the first time, the organization flew a group of mostly women veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the memorials built in honor of their service. The flight was funded by a gift from a Green County woman. When she died, she left money to fund an honor flight and her only request was that it honor women veterans. Most of the women on the flight live in Wisconsin, but some traveled from states like Texas, North Carolina and Michigan to be part of the special group. 

When the women veterans arrived at the Dane County Regional Airport May 14, people lined the airport holding American flags and clapping. Inside the airport, the veterans received a hat and a jacket, courtesy of Badger Honor Flights. Before taking off from the airport, the veterans mingled, sharing stories and eating snacks. Around 7:30 a.m., they loaded the plane.

Badger Honor Flight also arranged a few special moments in the day, specifically because so many women were part of the trip. There was an all-woman flight crew on the flight from Madison to Washington, D.C. When they arrived in Washington, D.C., a water cannon shot the plane as a salute to the military and people who worked at the D.C. airport were waving flags in honor of the veterans. The veterans were treated to another surprise when they got off the plane. At Arlington, the women veterans heard from one of the only women currently serving as a sentinel for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

During their visit to the nation’s capital, the veterans also stopped by the World War II Memorial, the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam War Nurses Memorial and the Air Force Memorial. After their tour of veterans memorials and national monuments, the group loaded back onto a tour bus and went back to the airport, where they boarded a plane to come back to Wisconsin.

"It's been the most excellent day, a wonderful day," Leslie Smyth-Ayen said. She served in the Women's Army Corps with her twin sister, Susan Smyth, during the Vietnam War as a nurse. For the two sisters, the trip wasn't just about honoring their service. They also took time to remember their dad, who served in the Pacific Amphitheatre during WWII. 

"We've had a great day, It was really impactful to see a memorial just for us (referencing the Vietnam nurses memorial)," Smyth-Ayen said. "It's a very moving experience to see these things, I felt like royalty that day it was such an amazing experience."

Eileen Stevens, the flight coordinator reported, “So often we notice our female veterans will defer their seat, they say they don’t feel deserving of taking the honor flight. When questioned, they feel that since they were either administrative or in nursing they aren’t as deserving as our combat veterans on the front line. It doesn’t matter where you served, you put on that uniform and did what you were told."

Just some of the feedback we received from the women on the trip included:

“I knew about honor flight, but I never thought to go on a flight, I wasn’t in country during   Vietnam or the frontline. I felt like an imposter to want to go on honor flight.”

 “I’ve never felt accepted as a peer to my men counterparts, I served but I just was not comfortable on a regular honor flight. This felt like 'my honor flight', all these women veterans took ownership. You helped me realize that my service was important and impactful. That my service will help other women and will help future women achieve their goals of serving their country and achieving careers that I could only dream of. I've always been proud of my service to my country, but badger honor flight gave me a sense of career and dreams that women that followed. We all had so many tears-some good, some bad.”

On the plane, they had a “mail call” and each veteran received an envelope full of thank you cards from friends, family and strangers. When they got off the plane in Dane County, the veterans rode down the escalator one at a time, greeted by roughly 1,000 people on either side of the aisle clapping and cheering.