Hutchinson News

The following article is in today's Hutchinson's Newspaper written by Clara Kilbourn.

Congressional medal honors servicewomen




Among those who will attend an awards ceremony with the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal that honors 1,074 World War II Women's Air Service pilots will be Jim Brady and his wife, Sheila. Jim Brady is the son of the late Eleanor J. Patterson Brady, formerly of the Penalosa and Lerado communities in rural Reno and Kingman counties.



Approximately 278 of the original 1,074 Women's Air Service Pilots are still living. Eleanor J. Patterson Brady served as the pilot of a B-26 plane and was stationed at several air bases across the country, including the Hays Army Air Corps base. She and her husband, the late Edwin Brady, also a pilot, met while they were in the military. Edwin Brady died in 1958 in a B-52 crash at Altus, Okla. Eleanor Brady died in 1964, leaving their four young children to be raised by family members.



Brothers John and Jim Brady were raised by their aunt and uncle, Joan and Bob Stillwell, of rural Penalosa. Sisters Ruth and Jean Brady (now Tharp, of Pratt) were raised by their aunt and uncle Vivian and Harold DeWeese, of rural Cunningham. The children's parents are buried in the Lerado Cemetery.



Among other relatives are cousins who reside in the Hutchinson, Pratt, Arlington, Cunningham and Kingman areas.



A potential snafu in the guest list for the ceremony occurred when it was forwarded to the credentials committee and eliminated many family members of the WASP force. Among those left off the list were Jim and Sheila Brady. A last-minute effort on Friday by Sen. Sam Browback, R-Kan., Congressman Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, and Congresswoman Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., reconfirmed the Bradys' invitation.



The minimum age to be a WASP was 21; Eleanor J. Patterson was only 17 years old when she was admitted to the group because of her excellent piloting skills, said her son, Jim Brady.



"It was our mother's love of flying that allowed her to be a part of the war effort at such a young age," Jim Brady said.



That same fascination with air flight led him to become an aeronautical engineer and a pilot. He served as a flight test engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He holds degrees from Wichita State, the University of Kansas and Ohio State, and pursued a career in aerospace.