Eileen Kesti long time resident of Hood River was one of the exceptional women who came to the aid of our country in a time when it needed her the most. As a youth Kesti dreamed of flying, in 1940 she made her first solo flight. She continued her aviation studies and received her commercial rating in 1943 and then was eligible for the WASP (Women Air force Service Pilots) program. She graduated from the WASP training in 1943 and began serving in the Air Force Transport Command. During her WASP career she flew 27 types of aircraft and gained 752 hours of military flight time. Kesti was given a special assignment to go to Washington, D.C. and receive an indoctrination course on high-altitude flying. A few weeks later the 22 members of this indoctrination course were put on a train for the new base at Camp Davis, North Carolina. Once there she started flying liaison-type aircraft, such as Stinson. She flew tracking missions, giving the gunner trainees a target to track. Her status, like the other WASPs was civilian employee. A status she and many others played an important part in changing. Kesti was heavily involved in writing letter to the legislature in an effort to get Veteran status passed for WASP. In 1979 Kesti was given a military discharge, her hard work to change the legislation was not in vain. Eileen Kesti passed away last year (September 5, 2001), but her memory lives on in scrapbooks, photos and in the thoughts of the 685 WASPs still living. Source: Cascade Weekly, November 14 & November 21, 2002. Copied and submitted by Earline Wasser Member of Columbia Gorge Genealogical Society c/o The Dalles/Wasco County Public Library 722 Court Street The Dalles, Oregon 97058 http://community.oregonlive.com/cc/genealogy Browse http://historysavers.com/orwasco/ for recently updated information regarding Wasco County. Links are at the bottom of the page.