WASP
Peggy Wilson Martin 44-W-4 #The38
(8 February 1912 – 3 October 1944)
(Excerpt from To Live and Die a WASP)
A day after WASP Marie Robinson’s
crash and death, it was Peggy Martin (44-W-4) falling from the sky. At 32,
Peggy was one of the oldest WASPs, and yet, the details of her life have all
but disappeared. Even as late as 1993, the WASP Association’s file on Peggy was
“empty,” and the women were asking for contributions. Peggy was born February
8, 1912, in Seattle, Washington, to Carl and Edith Wilson. Her brother Willard,
her only sibling, was also born in Seattle seven years earlier. …
 |
| WASP Peggy Wilson Martin |
The 1940 census record tells us that Peggy was was divorced
from a man named Martin who she had married sometime between 1935 and 1940. Who
that man was and how long they were married is a mystery. The 1940 census also shows
that Peggy was a high school graduate and was working as a waitress in a
restaurant, but until she entered WASP training three years later, details of
her life are missing. ...
Peggy began training at Avenger Field November 1, 1943, and
graduated May 23, 1944. Her first duty assignment after graduation was the
pilot training base at Gardner Army Airfield near Taft, California. She was
only there a short time before she received orders for Arizona’s Marana Army
Airfield, about 30 miles northwest of Tucson. …
On October 3, 1944, Peggy climbed into a BT-13 Valiant with Marion Hagan (44-W-6). Marion had graduated from Sweetwater two months before, and Marana Air Base was her first assignment. She was riding as an observer as Peggy gunned the plane’s engine for takeoff. There was something sluggish in the way the engine struggled to get the Valiant into the air. About 11 miles from the field, the engine suddenly lost all
 |
| WASP Marion Hagen Mayfield |
Marion survived, but had severe injuries and suffered for
weeks in hospitals before recovery. Peggy only lived for an hour after arriving
at the hospital. She was returned to Southern California for burial in
Whittier’s Rose Hills Memorial Park.
 |
| WASP Peggy Wilson Martin |
#RIP
