Sky-High Recognition for Jane Miller

World War II was well underway when Jane Miller, 19, joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).

"Eleanor Roosevelt pinned on my wings. She was my hero. She was the kind of woman I admired," said Miller, now in her 80s. "She congratulated me, but I've lengthened that conversation through the years. We've had quite a little chat!"

Health restrictions kept Miller, a former The Sound person of the week, grounded at her Branford home March 10, when she and five other Connecticut women were among approximately 300 surviving WASPs to be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in the U.S. Capitol. Miller's grandchildren Hannah and Andy Miller (both of New Orleans) accepted Miller's medal.

Needless to say, female pilots were uncommon in the 1940s, but Miller never doubted she had the right stuff. Always encouraged by her mother to try whatever interested her, Miller said, "Life can be very interesting, if you're interested in making it interesting."

Her family moved to Colorado from Canada after Miller's father completed a minister of education assignment and took a prestigious university position in Boulder, Colorado. In high school, Miller joined the U.S. National Park Service, becoming a rare female Rocky Mountain summer guide. The job included mountain climbing using rope and hobnail boots. Miller went after the job after her brother bet her $20 she wouldn't get in. When he was sent to serve overseas, Miller took over his job, too, shuttling University of Denver students to an airfield to learn to fly so they could join the air force.

"Once you got them there, you had to sit around and wait to bring them back. I figured I might as well learn to fly," she said.

During wartime, Miller wanted to join the Red Cross (as her mother had in World War I), but she was too young.

"Mother was a nurse in the first World War and spent five years with the British Army. She was on the front in France. I was so impressed by her."

Instead of biding her time until she could join Red Cross, "I thought, well, to take in the time, I'll fly," she said.

After earning her WASP wings, Miller was stationed in Georgia for two years. She was one of two female test pilots at a U.S. Army Air Force base.

"As test pilot, you flew everything, the whole enchilada. But I liked flying single-engines… P40 fighters and my favorite, the AT6, for Advanced Trainer, the best plane flying. I flew hundreds and hundreds of hours."

Miller was flying with a co-pilot one day who said, "I hope you have your radio on…The war's over," she recalled.

Like all WASPs, Miller was considered a civilian and even paid her own way home. She immediately joined the Red Cross and was assigned to hostess a club for American soldiers stalled in England. During the assignment, she met her husband Richard Miller, also a pilot.

As for not receiving military status for her World War II service, Miller said, "I never felt the lack of it, but I do think there were a lot of girls who felt it. Now, I'm being treated like a flying queen! We're getting a lot of recognition, although it's too late for some of us."

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