Although an expert pilot, there was nothing Mary Hartson could do in the few moments she had when her plane struggled, spun and crashed.

It was 9:30 on a winter’s morning when Mary Pauline Hartson was born in Portland, Oregon and named, in part, for her father. Born to Paul Elmer Hartson and Isabel Blanche Hartson, she arrived on January 11, 1917.[i]

Mary’s father, Paul, was born in Nebraska. His father was an immigrant from Sweden, but his mother was from Illinois.[ii] Her parents were married on December 26, 1911 when Paul was 25 and Isabel was 36. Eighteen months later, they had their first child, Henry S. Hartson, born in 1913.

When Mary came along in 1917, her father, Paul, was working in Walla Walla, Washington and living there at least part of the time in the Grand Hotel, according to his WWI draft registration card. He was a salesman and expert for the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company.[iii]

The youngest, Kent Seymour Hartson, was born in 1920. At that time, the family was living in a rental home in Portland, Oregon. Paul is working as a cashier to support the family. Isabel is home with the two little ones, ages 3 and newborn while Henry is in school.

By 1930, the family had seen a change in circumstances as they owned a Portland home on East Salmon. Paul was working as a collector for an implement company. All the children are in school.

After the lower grades, Mary took college prep classes and graduated from Washington High School in Portland in 1934.[iv]

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

After high school graduation, Mary hit the workforce. Up through 1938, she was working as a stenographer in Portland. Sometime between 1938 and 1940, Mary makes a big move across country to Washington, D.C.[v]

As the war years begin to arrive, Mary has found a roommate and an apartment. She is 23 and living with Mariam Walker, 25, and both ladies are working for the U.S. Government. Mary is a clerk and Mariam a typist.[vi]

Meanwhile, Mary’s family are all busy working. As her mother keeps house, her father heads out as accountant for the Howard Cooper Corporation, a construction equipment company. Henry works as an insurance agent and Kent as a serviceman for an auto company.[vii]

Prior to 1943, Mary would have had to take flying lessons and accrue flying hours in order to consider her next life change. However, no record was discovered about where she took those lessons.

HER MILITARY STORY

Mary was a WASP in WWII and served in the 2537th AAFBU, CPS(B) at Perrin Field in Sherman, Texas.[viii]

President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the need to tap into women to increase manpower in the war. First news of the effort to take women pilots came in late 1942. Women had to pass through an interview process before being allowed to make a formal application and have a physical exam. The requirements gradually changed so April of 1944, applicants then took an Aviation Cadet qualifying examination. The requirements included American citizenship, an age range of 21 to 35 years old, a high school education and the women must know how to fly. They needed to provide a commercial pilot license with not less than 200 hours of logged flying time that included cross-country experience. When there were not enough women with 200 hours to fill positions, the required experience was lowered to 100 hours and later to 35 hours. The very first women’s flight class was named 43-W-1 for 1943-women-first class.[ix]

A big difference between men and women pilot candidates in WWII is cost. Women had to pay for their own flight lessons and flying time in order to accrue enough hours to apply. Women also paid for their own way to Texas to train and if they did not graduate, they had to pay their own way home. If a woman was killed, as Mary was, her family was expected to pay for the return of the body.

Mary joined the Woman’s Airforce Service Pilots at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas on April 6, 1943. She was in the class of 43-W-5[x]. At Sweetwater, she did her training and graduated on September 11, 1943. After graduation, she was assigned to be an instrument instructor and an engineering test pilot out of Sherman, Texas.[xi]

Both of Mary’s brothers register for the WWII draft. Kent enlists in the Navy in May of 1944, about a year after Mary went into the service.

HER LAST DAY

Mary took up a BT-13A #42-88794 Valiant[xii] that day to make an engineering check flight. Along was Staff Sergeant Orville H. Eitzen, 27. They took off from Perrin Field in Sherman, Texas.[xiii]

About 30 miles away from the airport, Mary began to have trouble while checking the aircraft’s radio.[xiv] The tragedy was witnessed by a Mr. and Mrs. Bert Coby of Madill, Oklahoma. They happened to be driving along a highway near the accident when the plane fell about 200 yards from them. The Colbys reported to The Madill Record newspaper they could tell by the way the plane was flying, it was in trouble. The aircraft went into a stall and spin.[xv]

It was discovered later both Mary and Orville’s safety harnesses were unfastened which indicated they were attempting to bail out.[xvi]

Shortly after seeing the plane was having difficulty, the witnesses watched it plumet nose first to the earth in an area near Willis, Oklahoma. Shortly after, another plane from Perrin Field arrived looking for the first plane.[xvii]

“_Mary was a courageous woman, miles ahead of her time. She has a wonderful family she never met, and we love her,” her family member, _Vicki Chase, wrote at flygirls.org.[xviii]

COMMENDATIONS

Congressional Gold Medal[xix]

World War II Victory Medal

United States Aviator Badge Army

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

Army Good Conduct Medal[xx]

MEMORIALS

A monument to the 38 WASPs killed in the line of duty can be found at their old base in Sweetwater, Texas.[xxi]

Mary Pauline Hartson is remembered at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado, in El Paso County. The marker can be found in the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery, on Parade Loop west of Stadium Boulevard.[xxii]

WASP Pilot Geraldine Noma Hardman named her daughter in honor of Mary Hartson.[xxiii]

HER GRAVE

WASP Pilot Mary Pauline Hartson is buried in Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial Mausoleum in Portland, Oregon.[xxiv]

AFTER THE WAR

Her brother, Kent, survived the war and both her brothers lived long lives.

RESEARCH NOTES

A few records incorrectly read Mary E. Hartson but her birth certificate is clearly written as Mary Pauline Hartson. The newspaper account of the accident refers to her by her middle name, Pauline, but her high school yearbook calls her Mary as do her parents reports in census records.

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

ADD TO THIS STORY

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by.” Click on the author’s name to find the contact link.

[i] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/61676/images/61676_302022005610_0317-00125?treeid=487800&personid=24225051987&hintid=&queryId=4e703364c1ec69e37b04dc2b22c5254d&usePUB=true&_phsrc=xxD361&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=342067

[ii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4454888_00399?pId=30075201

[iii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/6482/images/005245840_01054?pId=27215268

[iv] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70667114/mary-p-hartson

[v] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-00557-00028?treeid=487800&personid=24225051987&usePUB=true&_phsrc=xxD367&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=941359

[vi] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-00557-00028?treeid=487800&personid=24225051987&usePUB=true&_phsrc=xxD367&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=941363

[vii] https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-03389-00507?pId=63580969

[viii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70667114/mary-p-hartson

[ix] https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AFEHRI/documents/EnlistedWomen/womav.pdf

[x] http://womeninflight.blogspot.com/2012/03/wasps_9929.html

[xi] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70667114/mary-p-hartson

[xii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70667114/mary-p-hartson

[xiii] https://www.newspapers.com/image/595789126/?terms=%22pauline%20hartson%22&match=1

[xiv] http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/120359

[xv] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70667114/mary-p-hartson

[xvi] http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/120359

[xvii] https://www.newspapers.com/image/595789126/?terms=%22pauline%20hartson%22&match=1

[xviii] http://www.flygirls.org/THANKS.html

[xix] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2009-06-17/html/CREC-2009-06-17-pt1-PgE1457-2.htm

[xx] https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=508434

[xxi]https://books.google.com/books?id=F9GLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1404&lpg=PT1404&dq=%22Mary+Hartson%22+WASP&source=bl&ots=rpSgS6Cf1F&sig=ACfU3U1lvoe-JeNZdG1zDgthxQn9rrfozA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPiuCiltbvAhUG7qwKHSrQDqw4ChDoATAHegQICxAD#v=onepage&q=%22Mary%20Hartson%22%20WASP&f=false

[xxii] https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=161691

[xxiii]http://www.merujo.com/2005/05/my-mother-had-wings.html

[xxiv] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70667114/mary-p-hartson

Mary Pauline Hartson - findagrave.jpg

Mary Pauline Hartson from geni.jpg

Mary Hartson - Washington High School Yearbook.jpg

Women Airforce Service Pilots WWII in Memoriam Plaque.jpg

Mary Pauline Hartson - The_Madill_Record_Thu__Aug_17__1944_.jpg

Mary P. Hartson