Ola Mildred Rexroat (August 28, 1917 – June 28, 2017) was the only Native American woman to serve in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).[1][2]
Ola Mildred Rexroat | |
|---|---|
 Ola Mildred Rexroat | |
| Nickname(s) | Millie |
| Born | August 28, 1917 Argonia, Kansas, United States |
| Died | June 28, 2017 (aged 99) Hot Springs, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Allegiance |
|
| Service | Women Airforce Service Pilots United States Air Force Air Force Reserve Command |
| Years of service | 1942–1954 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Awards | Congressional Gold Medal |
| Other work | Aviator, USAF air traffic controller |
Early life
editRexroat was born in Argonia, Kansas, to a Euro-American father and an Oglala mother. The family moved to South Dakota when she was young, and she spent at least part of her youth on the Pine Ridge Reservation.[3] She attended public school in Wynona, Oklahoma, for a time, and graduated from the St. Mary's Episcopal Indian School in Springfield, South Dakota, in 1932.[4] Rexroat initially enrolled in a teachers college in Chadron, Nebraska, but left before completing her degree to work for what is now the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a year.[5] She earned a bachelor's degree in art from the University of New Mexico in 1939.[4] After college, she again worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Gallup, New Mexico for a year.[5]
Aviation career and later life
edit
Rexroat next worked for engineers building airfields, where she decided to learn how to fly. In order to do so, she would need her own airplane or to join the WASPs. Selecting the latter, she moved to Washington, D.C., with her mother and sisters, and was also employed at the Army War College.[5] Rexroat then went for WASP training in Sweetwater, Texas, and was assigned the dangerous job of towing targets for aerial gunnery students at Eagle Pass Army Airfield after her graduation.[6] She also helped transport cargo and personnel.
When the WASPs were disbanded in December 1944, she joined the Air Force, where she served for ten years as an air traffic controller at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico during the Korean War.[2][6][7] She continued to work as an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration for 33 years after her time in the Air Force Reserves was complete.[5]
In 2007 she was inducted into the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame.[8]
Death
editRexroat died in June 2017 at the age of 99.[9] Immediately before her death she was the last surviving WASP in South Dakota and one of 275 living WASPs out of the original 1,074.[10] Several months after her death, the airfield operations building at Ellsworth Air Force Base was named after her.[11]
References
edit- ^ Nick Penzenstadler Journal staff (11 November 2010). "Last surviving South Dakota WASP, 'Sexy Rexy', recalls World War II service". Rapid City Journal.
- ^ a b "WASP filled with colorful pilots". St. George News. June 11, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
- ^ Long, Steve. "WWII WASP with Pine Ridge roots: "A Long the Way"". www.blackhillsfox.com. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
- ^ a b "Ola Mildred (Millie) Rexroat-McDonald". Lakota Country Times. 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
- ^ a b c d Rexroat, Ola Mildred (2009). Ola Mildred Rexroat: An Oral History. Texas Woman's University.
- ^ a b "Warriors at Heart: Some of the Native Women Who Served in the Military". indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2016. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
- ^ William C. Sturtevant (1978). Handbook of North American Indians: Indians in contemporary society. Government Printing Office. pp. 13–. ISBN 978-0-16-080388-8.
- ^ "WASP OLA REXROAT". wingsacrossamerica.us. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
- ^ Ola Rexroat-McDonald obituary, legacy.com; accessed July 3, 2017.
- ^ Wolf, White. "Ola Mildred Rexroat: The only Native American woman to serve in the Women Airforce Service Pilots". White Wolf. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
- ^ "W.A.S.P. Ola "Millie" Rexroat: "If I could do something like fly"". Soldier of Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-09.