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The disbandment of the Women Airforce Service Pilots and the Allied victory in World War II did not end WASPs’ attempts to receive veterans ’ status or other recognition for their wartime service. In , former WASPs placed their hopes on the Senate WASP bill that had been introduced at the same time as the defeated House bill, but because of the great media opposition to the program, no senator would sponsor the bill. WASPs attempted to obtain sympathetic publicity about their plight, but theirs was not the story the media wanted to tell. As World War II ended, the focus of the media and Congress was on victory, returning servicemen, and the postwar economy. There was no room for accounts of women pilots, particularly when they were claiming that their government had let them down. The media spotlighted the return of women from war roles back to the household. Individual members of the WASPs pressed their congressional representatives for a bill in support of the WASPs, but no one would introduce such a bill. The WASPs pursued lobbying campaigns pressing for veterans’ status. Many WASPs remained organized after their disbandment through the Order of Fifinella, a WASP service organization, which had been formed in October  following the announcement that the program was to be disbanded. “In the first years after the war, everybody had gone their own ways, but a few people kept holding small core groups together and organized what was called the Order of Fifinella,” said WASP Ethel Finley.1 Named the Order of Fifinella after the WASP insignia character, the organization was formed with the purpose of informing WASPs about employment possibilities and the continued fight to get reinstated in the Army Air Forces.2 In , the Order of Fifinella approached its members to support a resolution it submitted to Edith Nourse Rogers, chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee of the House.3 The resolution was for WASPs who had completed the program in good standing to receive full veterans’ rights and for the next of kin of WASPs who had died “in the line of duty” to receive compensation.4 On a Different Battlefield The WASP Fight for Militarization after the War 7  Despite the involvement of the Order of Fifinella and backing the by numerous former WASPs, the resolution did not receive enough overall support in Congress to be introduced. The Women’s Armed Services Reserve Bill In , Senate Bill  was introduced in Congress “to establish the Women’s Army Corps into the Regular Army, to authorize the enlistment and appointment of women in the Regular Navy and Marine Corps and the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve.”5 The bill came at a time when the contingent arrangements provided by World War II were ending. All military branches had been satisfied with the performance of women soldiers and wanted to maintain a regular component of women soldiers in the peacetime military. If approved, this would be the first time the U.S. military would have positions for women in the regular peacetime military branches.6 Representative Charles Brooks (Ill.) stated: “Mr. Chairman, this bill marks an epic in the development of our armed forces. For the first time during the period of peace we are authorizing organizations of women in our armed forces.”7 The Senate passed the bill to allow the women into the “Regular Army,” but the House held up the measure, introducing a compromise bill aimed at keeping the women in the Reserves.8 Some members of the House clearly believed that there existed tremendous differences between men and women, and expressed reservations over the “many considerations involved in the problem of placing women in a permanent status in the service.”9 Just as the congressional debate during World War II over the development of women’s auxiliaries centered on fears that women would be negatively affected by their wartime involvement, the  House debate focused on the propriety of women serving in the Regular Army. Unlike their wartime predecessors , however, the members of Congress who opposed the measure could not argue that women were incapable of military service, for the World War II records of women soldiers in all branches had been impeccable. Said Representative William Miller (Conn.): Certainly they have demonstrated during the war period and in the months and years since the shooting war ended that there is a place for them in the armed forces, that they can do a job fully as...

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