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SUNDAY, MAY 10, 1931.

BETSY ROSS' name comes down through history, famous as the maker of the first Stars and Stripes, the flag symbolizing the United Colonies, which later became the United States when the War of the Revolution was successfully concluded.

Now, as the national observance of Flag Day approaches, we have a whole corps of modern Betsies, ready to do just as much for their country.

In the United States there are 200 women pledged to "respond instantly to any call made by the Government of the United States for service during any national emergency."

All are members of the Betsy Ross Flying Corps, organized in May, 1931, through the efforts of nationally known women aviators interested in aeronautics and national defense.

The "ladybirds" have perfected their organization with national headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., presided over by Miss Dorothy A. Lyon, native of Kentucky, a university graduate and office manager of a large baking concern, as national commander.

There are nine corps area lieutenant commands.  First Corps Area, Boston, Mass., is in charge of Miss Maurice Ames;  second, New York, Mrs. Opal Logal Kunz, founder and first national commander in 1931;  third, Germantown, Pa., Jane Dodge;  fourth, Memphis, Tenn., Phoebe Omlie;  fifth, Columbus, O., Martha Morehouse-Johnson;  sixth, Minneapilis, Minn., Lola Lutz;  seventh, Kansas City, Miss Lyon;  eighth, Tulsa, Okla., Dorothy McBirney;  ninth, Visalia, Calif., Pansy Bowen.

Other national officers are:  Adjutant, Althea Murphy, Philadelphia, Pa.;  finance officer, Dorothy Pressler, Oklahoma City, Okla.;  chaplain, Captain Gill Robb Wilson, Trenton, N. J.  Four members of the general staff are Mary Goodrich, Hartford, Conn.;  Peggy Remey, New York, who was national commander in 1932;  Manila Davis, Flatwoods, W. Va.;  Eleanor McRae, Atlanta, Ga.;  Novetah Holmes, Mary Sansom, Hartford, Conn.
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THE WORLD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 19[[?]]
Peace and War Air Unit Formed by Women Flyers
Betsy Ross Corps Wins "Appreciative Interest" of War Department

[[image - portrait photograph of MRS. OPAL LOGAN KUNZ]]

Organization of the Betsy Ross Corps, a group of women pilots formed "to serve their country in national emergencies of peace or war," was announced yesterday by Mrs. Opal Logan Kunz, who has been chosen first commander of the unit.  Some of America's best known feminine flyers are identified with the semi-military body.

"The Betsy Ross Corps is not organized with any idea of training women to become war-time combat pilots," Mrs. Kunz said, "but rather to serve as a sort of auxiliary aerial motor corps.  Specifically, we are striving to develop a flying reserve of girls who can be called on to take over such jobs as flying the mail, carrying dispatches, ferrying new planes from the factory to the zone of actual war operations and piloting aerial ambulances, thus releasing valuable men for service at the front."

Mrs. Kunz said the constitution and by-laws of the Betsy Ross Corps contemplated a distinctive uniform for the organization, which she declared emphatically would not be the "disgraceful shorts" but something "modest and inconspicuous."  She plans, if possible, to call the members together for a week or two of active training yearly along the lines followed by the Reserve and National Guard and will endeavor to obtain federal recognition and military planes for use at the camps.

Both the army and navy have indicated a friendly and "appreciative" interest in the Betsy Ross Corps movement, Mrs. Kunz said.  She added that the corps is "open to all of the 300 licensed girl flyers in the United States."

Glaldys O'Donnell is First Lieut. Commander of the Betsy Ross Corps;  May Haizlip, Second Lieut. Commander;  Margery Doig, Adjutant and Secretary;  Jane Dodge, Quartermaster, and the Rev. Gill Robb Wilson of Trenton, Chaplain.  Marjorie Stinson, Florence L. Barnes, Mary Goodrich, Manila Davis, Ruth Elder Camp and Eleanor McRae are directors.  Others present in person or by proxy at the organization meeting in Mrs. Kunz's home, 166 Second Avenue, were La Belle Sweeley, Ruth Bridwell McConnell and Jean La Rene.
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