Mary E. Parker Audrain
December 24, 1917 – July 28, 1973
Class: 43-W-5
Training Location: Avenger Field (Sweetwater, Tex.)
Assigned Bases: New Castle Army Air Base (Wilmington, Del.)
Planes flown: PT-19, AT-6, C-47
Mary E. Parker was born in Oxford, Chenango County, New York on December 24, 1917. She was the youngest of three daughters born to Charles Joel and Florence VanWagenen Parker. Mary attended Oxford schools and graduated from Oxford Academy in June 1935. She went on to Russell Sage College in Troy, New York where she earned her teaching degree and graduated in 1939. Following her graduation from Russell Sage College, Mary taught at the Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut.
Russell Sage College yearbook, Sage Leaves, described Mary as, “To a stranger, the sophisticate, To a person who knows her, the charm and freshness of a natural personality.” It goes on, “Jovial laughter with Style, Tall and Lanky with grace – a true impression of earnestness.”
On March 26, 1943, Mary decided to enter a new phase of her life. To help with the war effort and support the demand for women in the services, Mary joined the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots), a new corps of pilots in the Army Air Forces, that eventually provided 1,100 trained women pilots for the war effort. Mary entered the fifth class of the WASP and completed 27 weeks of AAF flight training at the WASP training base at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Mary earned her silver wings on September 11, 1943. Among the 124 entering her flight training class, she was among the 85 graduates and graduated as class flight leader.
A typical training day at Avenger Field began at 6am and ended at 10pm. The WASPs cleaned their barracks for inspection, marched, then completed physical and drill training, flight instruction in link trainers, basic, or advanced aircraft, and studied weather, navigation, physics, math, and aircraft and engines, among other subjects. After completing the WASP training program, Mary was chosen to be among only 13 WASPs to complete flight training in the four-engine B-17 “Flying Fortress” at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio. She went on to fly Fortresses for gunnery training and crew cohesion for crews heading for missions overseas. The WASPs flew over 60 million miles in the short time they were in service to their country and flew all types of AAF aircraft.
In June 1944, Congress voted to disband the WASP program as of December and Mary traded in her WASP uniform for another one – an American Red Cross uniform and served with the American Red Cross on Tinian Island. American Forces had supported the Battle of Tinian Island in July 1944 and by August 10, 1944, the battle was won. While Mary was based on Tinian, three airfields were built that provided air support in the Pacific war, including B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Red Cross workers served as field directors providing recreational and compassionate support for the troops, operated clubs, and were attached to military hospitals.
After Mary’s work with the American Red Cross, she moved to New York City where she worked as a buyer at Macy’s Department story and became personnel director for Macy’s, the equivalent today of Vice President for Human Resources.
On March 13, 1954, she returned to the chapel of the Westover School to marry Lawrence A. Audrain, editor of Print magazine in New York. Sadly, Lawrence died on September 9, 1957, only 3 1/2 years after their marriage. Mary remained in New York City as personnel director at Macy’s and then at Allied Stores, and on July 28, 1973, she died of heart complications at the age of 55 years. She and Lawrence are buried in the Van Wagenen Cemetery in Oxford, NY.
The women pilots of the WASP program were never entitled the same benefits of our military men until 1976 when Senator Barry Goldwater and Congresswoman Lindy Boggs presented a bill to Congress asking that these heroines be given the same status as their male counterparts. The bill passed and was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on September 10, 1976. As a result, Mary is now entitled to have a veteran’s memorial marker on her grave. In July 2009, the Women Airforce Service Pilots were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their World War II service. Fly high 1st Lieut. Mary E. Parker, you definitely earned your wings.
Sources:
Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas, WASP Collection
Findagrave.com
Oxford Academy & Central Schools
