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Local WWII pilot receives nation's top honor
Posted: Mar 12, 2010 11:54 AM by Ariel Wesler
Updated: Mar 12, 2010 11:54 AM
A 91-year-old woman from Los Osos was just one of the World War II pilots honored with a Congressional Gold Medal in Washington DC today.
91- year-old Dorothy Rooney of Los Osos and her fellow servicewomen are finally getting the recognition they deserve. . .a congressional gold medal.
"It wasn't something she bragged on or something like that, but she was proud of what she'd done," said Mark Richardson, Rooney's pastor at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Los Osos.
During World War 2, she took to the skies with more than a thousand Women Air Force Service Pilots. WASPS, as they were known, performed duties including testing newly developed aircraft and flying military planes across the country. More than 60 years later, Friends say Rooney's still full of life and a bit daring.
"She's kind of unstoppable. She's just an amazing person with lots of energy and will not say no," Richardson said.
He's been her pastor in Los Osos for the last 10 years.
"Sometimes you don't know, who it is you're sitting next to. You don't know the people in that detail," Richardson said.
But you can be sure on her way home from D.C., she'll be flying high.
Pastor Richardson says he hopes to have Rooney speak to the congregation about her trip when she returns home. Rooney has lived in Los Osos since 1994.
Carol Brinton Selfridge, 92, from Santa Barbara also flew to D.C. for the award.
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