WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The New England Air Museum announced this week that it will receive a donation of a bronze casting of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, to recognize their pioneering service during World War II.
According to a release from the museum, the donation comes from Doug Griffin, the son of late WASP Ann Griffin Gleszer (1916-2011) and his wife Jill. All members of the WASP program received the Congressional Gold Medal in March 2010 from President Barack Obama to commemorate their contributions to the Armed Forces.
As one of the highest honors awarded to civilians, the Congressional Gold Medal is given to individuals or groups who perform outstanding deeds or acts of service in the interest of the U.S., according to the release. The WASP were the first female military pilots to receive the recognition.
In 2010, surviving WASP veterans received a bronze casting of the medal to recognize their service, the release said, adding that alongside the medal, Gleszer’s flight jacket and dress uniform will be displayed prominently in the “New England Women in Aviation." The permanent exhibit at the museum explores the contributions of the region’s female aviators.
Gleszer, born in Columbia, Conn., graduated from UConn with a Master’s Degree in Education, according to her obituary. While attending college, she took flying lessons and got her private pilot’s license before becoming an air traffic controller at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
A line from Gleszer’s obituary cites a quote from Gleszer featured in WASP Betty Turner’s book “Out of the Blue and Into History," as Gleszer explains where her love of flying came from.
“When I was 10 years old, Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic. He was my hero and model. Later on, Amelia Earhart showed me that women could fly, too. When I was at the University of Connecticut, I saved all the money I could get for flying lessons. By the time the war broke out, I had graduated from the university and had my private flying license,” Gleszer said, in “Out of the Blue and Into History”.
When the U.S. entered WWII, women pilots were in demand, and Gleszer applied to the Army Air Forces women’s training program at Avenger Field, Texas. She was accepted into class 440-9. Gleszer graduated after seven months of flight training and received her WASP wings, her obituary said.
Gleszer was then stationed at Robbins Army Airfield in Macon, Ga. as an engineering test pilot in BT-13’s at AT-6’s, according to her obituary.
Following the war, when the WASP were deactivated, Gleszer became a flight instructor and kept a plane in Simsbury. She later became a test pilot for aeronautical engineer, businessman and inventor Charles Kaman in Bloomfield and was pictured flying a Kaman Aircraft K-125 helicopter in a 1948 issue of “Life” magazine, her obituary said.
Gleszer went on to marry her husband Thomas, a WWII veteran and non-military pilot and flight instructor. They had been married for 42 years before Thomas’ death.
Gleszer was a foreign languages teacher at Simsbury High School and Newtown High School until her retirement in 1983, her obituary said.
In March 2010, Gleszer received the Congressional Gold Medal along with her WASP peers. She also received the Connecticut Veteran’s Wartime Service Medal from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, according to her obituary.
The New England Air Museum issued a statement within its release expressing its excitement to showcase the Congressional Gold Medal bronze casting.
“The New England Air Museum is proud to preserve and share Ann Griffin Gleszer’s legacy and the invaluable contributions of the WASP. The donation of her Congressional Gold Medal bronze casting and personal artifacts will inspire future generations to recognize and celebrate the remarkable history of female aviators,” it said.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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