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[[newspaper clipping]] PHILA, PA. PUBLIC LEDGER JUNE 11, 1933 [[image - drawing of planes and badge]] Women's Flying Corps, Named For The Creator Of First United States Flag, Stands Ready To Meet Any Emergency That May Confront the Nation "America saw the girl on the farm become the farmerette," she pointed out. "The country saw the city girl take her place on the street car as the conductorette. We saw them on the elevators, in the munitions factories — virtually everywhere. Then why should it be so very hard to visualize women as airplane pilots in the country's service in the next war, should it come? "We are not trying to bring forth a freakish lot of women, nor are we contemplating any theatrical, hysterical or sensational activities. Our work is the same humanitarian relief work which has always been done by women, only we are using the latest most modern medium for our service. Most of our members are married and many of these have children. The requirements of the corps will never interfere with a member's first duty — her children and her home." The Betsy Ross Flying Corps is only following in the footsteps of American women from the day the first white woman set foot on the soil of this continent. History books and popular legend tell of many deeds of sacrifice and daring from the time the Pilgrims landed on bleak New England shores down to Amelia Earhart's successful navigation of the Atlantic Ocean, when she made her solo airplane flight. In the Colonial days there are some accurately recorded historical facts about women whose spirit of love for their new country led them to great deeds of valor. Then there is much that is legend. Just how the Stars and Stripes came into being is the cause for dispute between those who demand accurate proofs before something becomes history and those who believe in the stories that are handed down from generation to generation and thus are classed as legends. One historian, after years of research, says that the Stars and Stripes had its origin in the Grand Union, the flag of the original thirteen colonies. The Grand Union was only a slight variation of the British Union ensign. The colonists broke up the solid red field, making it into thirteen alternating red and white stripes to represent the colonies. This Grand Union flag was first hoisted over the Colonial troops in January, 1776, at Cambridge, Mass. Then, when the colonies proclaimed their independence on July 4, 1776, the Grand Union became obsolete, and for a time the army had no fixed flag. It was on June 14, 1777, that the Stars and Stripes officially came into being as the adopted emblem of the young nation. AS SAID BEFORE, just where it originated is a matter of doubt. The version that is most generally accepted, however, is that the design was brought to Betsy Ross at her home in Philadelphia by a Continental Army officer, and she fashioned the banner that has since thrilled millions of Americans and is known around the world. It was approved by General Washington, according to the story, and that was enough for its general acceptance at the time. There is the story of how the flag was reproduced by victorious colonists at Fort Stanwix, New York. The soldiers tore up their white shirts, found some odd bits of red goods, and one of the officers gave up his blue overcoat, and thus the conquering troops made a flag over the captured fort. It is this spirit of the olden days that has come on down through American life, inculcated so firmly that the present generation is just as imbued with the ideals of service to its country in times of need as were its forebears. The Betsy Ross Corps organizers hope to see the day when the women's group will receive the same military recognition as that now given the Air Corps Reserve. The training courses are the same as those given in the army. It is not at all impossible that the next session of Congress will take some action toward given the women's organization some recognition. Already Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, before his untimely end on the ill-fated Akron, and Major General James E. Fechet have gone on record in their indorsement of the corps. "Creation of the corps," the former head of the United States Navy air forces said, "marks another step forward in aviation and in national defense to an extent that we cannot realize today. It is most important that women should take part, both in peace and in war, but especially in war, in the new field of aerial transportation, which forms a most powerful new weapon in warfare. In time of peace there are many positions they can fill, both in the air and on the ground, and similarly in war." General Fechet has been quoted as telling the Betsy Ross Corps organizers that in the next war a heavy burden will fall on the airmen of the country and that there will be none too many of them. There will be a large field of usefulness for women in the air, he has told them. "In the next war," he has predicted, "there undoubtedly will be some outstanding women pilots who will engage in actual combat flying at the front, sharing the glories and the dangers of men pilots." "The name Betsy Ross was chosen for the corps because of its historical value and the many fine qualities in the Colonial woman that the modern girl would do well to remember," according to Miss Lyon. "It is well known that Betsy Ross was an intimate friend of General George Washington, and she was commissioned to make the first flag of the United States, which consisted of 13 stars in a circle. This is the reason for the 13 stars in a circle on the Betsy Ross Corps insignia." ST. PAUL MINN. PRESS JUNE 11, 1933 SYRACUSE N. Y. POST JUNE 11, 1933 WATERBURY CONN. REP JUNE 11, 1933 JAMAICA N. Y. PRESS JUNE 11, 1933 LAWRENCE MASS SUN JUNE 11, 1933 ^[ [PAGE 154] ]
