Lady WWII pilot shares her story

Review of “My Piece of the Sky” by Oregonian, Anna Louise Flynn Monkiewicz, a WWII aviator. 

Review by Naomi Inman
Oregon Faith Report

Anna Louise Flyyn Monkiewicz grew up outside of Boston, MA in the smaller town of Natick, MA. She had two sisters and a brother. Anna remembers the day she first wanted to fly. She was 8 years old and Charles Lindbergh had just made his historic flight.

“I decided way back then that I wanted to fly,” she remembers. “I told my family that I wanted to fly, and they all thought I was a little crazy.” Mom and Pop answered, “You’re not old enough and you’re not rich enough.”

“I knew that others considered women fliers as out of the ordinary, however, I didn’t see flying as a gender thing anymore than swimming or dancing could be a gender thing.”

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Shanghai Diary

book-shanghai-diaries

Ursula Bacon fled Nazi Germany with her parents in 1939 and landed in Shanghai, China, along with more than 18,000 other Middle European Jews. The family spent most of the war years in a Japanese-controlled “designated area,” often referred to as the “Shanghai Ghetto.” She came to the United States in 1947.

She has written a book about her experiences, Shanghai Diary, A Young Girl’s Journey from Hitler’s Hate to War-torn China.

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Thirteen Folds

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I was stunned to find that in many schools across Oregon the Pledge of Allegiance is only recited during the week we celebrate Flag Day. It is worked in as a “lesson plan”. We’ve come a long way from showing daily allegiance for our country to simply discussing it in a lesson plan. But, I guess one week out of the year is better than none.

As a little girl I was taught the importance of honoring our country’s flag in school by a daily recitation of the Pledge. At home, my dad, the consummate veteran, would require that we all stand with hand over heart at the end of each days television broadcast when they lowered the flag and played the National Anthem. Those were the days when programming ended at midnight. Guess I’m showing my age a bit.

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