Killen to kids: 'Keep on keepin' on'

Valley Press ^ | on Wednesday, March 16, 2005. | ALISHA SEMCHUCK

[BenLurkin]

PALMDALE - Ty Hughes-Killen won't accept defeat. She never has. Even when faced with some of life's toughest adversities and deepest sorrows - like the death of her first husband in wartime - she kept plugging forward. And, she encourages others to follow her lead.

The former World War II Women Airforce Service Pilot, commonly referred to as a WASP, delivered her message of hope and persistence to a group of 125 seventh- and eighth-grade students Thursday at Juniper Intermediate School.

"Keep on keepin' on," Killen reiterated to the youngsters - a mix of students from Juniper and Pinecrest schools.

"I'm a retired teacher. I still go out and sub. I'll be 81 in May," the Lancaster resident said.

Students sat spellbound, listening to her story of determination.

"I'm going to talk (to) you for one reason. From the bottom of my heart, I feel I did not do one thing that you could not do, or you, or you," she said, her head panning the room, her eyes focusing in on one student after another.

"You're my future. I am a mother and grandmother. I don't know who's going to be a teacher here, or a mayor, senator or president."

No matter their background, Killen said they could succeed at their goals if they put forth a genuine effort.

And she told of her meager beginnings.

When she was 9, her parents worked in road construction, paving roads near Yuma, Ariz. Her family didn't have much money, she recalled.

So when someone brought an aircraft to the small town and the pilot offered area residents rides for a nominal fee, other children went. But her family couldn't afford that luxury.

Still, she longed for the opportunity to experience flight.

She and her brother went to the airfield, examined the plane, talked to the pilot, convinced him of their interest. The upshot: They got to ride for free.

"Something magical happened when the wheels left the earth. It was sundown. I'd never seen the world like that, and I'll never forget it."

During her junior year in high school, on Dec. 7, 1941, fighter pilots from Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

"I'll never forget that, either. I went out to the airport and asked for a job."

The man responsible for facility operations questioned her experience and knowledge, straight up asking what she could do.

She told him she could sweep the hangars, clean the bathrooms, do much of the maintenance type work to keep the airport running like a finely tuned machine.

"I learned what a clevis pin and a grommet key were. That's how you patched airplanes in those days.

"I didn't have a penny. I couldn't pay for flight lessons." But she went to the airport every single day after school and also spent her weekends there. At age 18, she received her pilot's license in Arizona.

Then she joined the WASPs in early 1943 and trained at Sweetwater Army Air Field in Sweetwater, Texas, better known as Avenger Field.

WASPs tested the planes that fighter pilots flew during the war. They had to check the safety features and reliability of the aircraft and report any flaws.

"It got a little hairy taking the bad ones back. You didn't know if you were going to make it. I landed on a highway." She said it was like a "paved runway. It was nice I didn't have a car coming at me."

She recalled one of the lowest points in her life during that time, when she heard an announcement over the loudspeakers at Avenger Field asking her to "report to the head office. That only meant one thing - something sad."

The director of trainees informed her that her "husband went down over India." He died in the wreckage.

"She asked if I needed anything." Killen only asked permission to be excused from dinner that day. As she left the office, she "noticed something strange. The whole squadron was behind me."

She realized how tightly they had bonded and how ready they were to offer each other support. She didn't "miss any of her training sessions."

"Why?" she rhetorically asked the students. "Because the little girl that slept right next to me lost two brothers in three weeks. And she didn't miss any training sessions. People were being killed. So we had to be strong and go on. We had to live with that. We weren't alone.

"I was scared all the time. That's the truth."

Killen asked the students to estimate what they think the flag is worth. She told them they could never put a price on it.

"Just remember one thing: You live in the greatest country in the world. And don't you forget it, because a lot of blood's been spilled."

Gwenn Reep, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade language arts at Juniper, invited Killen to speak in conjunction with a student research project that focused on the years between 1939 and 1945, aspects of the war and its impact on life in Europe, America and Japan and the issue of prejudice.

Reep said the class project culminated with Killen's speech as a survivor of World War II. She intended it as a history lesson. It grew into something more.

Eighth-grader Cesar Zenteno, 13, is a soccer enthusiast who has contemplated becoming a professional player one day. He said Killen's talk "encouraged me a lot to keep on trying."

Kirstie Callen, 14, also in the eighth grade, said, "I'm traumatized, in a good way. A lot of what she said really affected me. I know that I have to make something … of myself. It was good to have her talk. I want to pursue my life in the Army. So she really influenced me a lot."

Killen also pointed out that WASPs were considered civilians back in the day. Thus, when she was released from her assignment on Dec. 20, 1944, she left with none of the benefits granted to veterans. That honor of being recognized as a veteran didn't come until 35 years after the fact.

Killen said, "Would I do it again? You bet your sweet bippy!"

[BenLurkin]

"The Greatest Generation"

"NOW AND THEN - Former World War II WASP pilot Ty Hughes-Killen, above, spoke to students Thursday at Juniper Intermediate School in Palmdale. She said she was also a retired school teacher who still substitutes at age 81."RON SIDDLE/Valley Press

[backhoe]

Wow. Thank you for posting this. My Mom was a Master Sergeant in the WACs ( started when it was the WAAC- Women's Auxillary Air Corps. ) and it goosed a lot of old memories.