10 Reasons to Love Our Country

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Best Unsung Heroines
The 1,102 fliers in the Women Airforce Service Pilots logged 60 million air miles testing bombers and transporting troops from 1942 to 1944. Still, they received little recognition for helping the United States win World War II. The 38 women who died in training accidents or crashes weren't awarded medals; the government didn't even pay for their funerals, because, officially, they weren't part of the military.

It's different now. The Air Force began integrating female pilots into its ranks in 1976. And this year, the 17 women in the U.S. Senate cosponsored legislation that would award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 300-some women pilots who are still alive and to the rest posthumously.

Former WASP Betty Blake (pictured above with an Air Force captain), 88, thinks a medal would be nice. But it's the memory of her service that matters most. "I?was so excited to fly those beautiful planes," she says, "and to be able to do some good during the war."