Current Press Release

LAVALLETTE – During World War II, about 1,000 volunteers took to the air for the Allies as Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (W.A.S.P.). Historian and storyteller Carol Simon Levin recounts their amazing exploits in “A W.A.S.P. Takes Wing: Women Pilots in World War II,” 7 PM Wednesday, May 24, at the Ocean County Library Upper Shores Branch.

Hear and see their story through the eyes of Ann Baumgartner, the Jersey girl who became the only American female test pilot of experimental aircraft, and the first American woman to pilot a jet-propelled airplane.

The W.A.S.P.s completed training despite torrid Texas weather, insects, scorpions, snakes, and sexism. They delivered more than 12,000 planes, flew more than 60 million miles, and suffered 38 casualties, then were dismissed, told that men needed their jobs.

Founder of the Telling Her Stories website, Carol Simon Levin brings to vivid life dozens of “fascinating women history forgot,” who smashed gender and racial barriers for the benefit of American society and culture, at libraries and schools throughout New Jersey. She also performs her presentations as webinars.

The New Jersey Council for the Humanities Public Scholar is the author of Remembering the Ladies: From Patriots to Petticoats to Presidential Candidates. She has been featured in the New York Times, Garden State Legacy, the Leftscape podcast, and other media.

Carol holds a Bachelor’s degree in women’s history and the history of technology from Cornell University, and a Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Arizona.

Please register at www.theoceancountylibrary.org/events to attend this free program. For more information, visit the OCL Upper Shores Branch, 112 Jersey City Avenue, Lavallette, or call (732) 793-3996.

Keep up with Library programs and events at www.theoceancountylibrary.org, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, and Pinterest.

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