Mary "Pat" (Hiller) Call WASP Collection

Collection

Identifier: 2020-11-15

Content Description

The Mary "Pat" (Hiller) Call WASP Collection consists of materials relating to Call’s service as a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) from 1942-1944. Materials are arranged alphabetically and span from 1939-2019 (bulk 1943-1980).

The collection consists of about 0.6 cubic feet of material, including military records, licenses and membership cards, flight records and logbooks, correspondence, photographs, ephemera, and clippings. Correspondence in the collection includes a recruitment telegram; acknowledgements of her military work, including a thank-you letter from Jacqueline Cochran; and letters relating to recognition of veteran status for WASPs. The collection also includes a 36-page memoir written by Call detailing her service and life during and after the war, as well as transcripts of oral histories by Call and Faith Buchner Richards.

Photographs in the collection consist of 61 black-and-white snapshots. Fifty-seven of the photos were originally affixed to loose album pages but were removed for preservation purposes; their original order has been retained. Three loose prints have captions, and many of the prints removed from the album pages have captions written on the backs, though the writing is partially obscured by glue. The images primarily depict Call and other WASP servicewomen and were likely taken in Texas. Other images were taken at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

The collection contains a few audiovisual items, including a VHS recording of the Skagit County Historical Museum program Those Who Served: Stories from WACS and WAVES of WWII, dated from November 10, 2002; a VHS copy of the CSPAN airing of the WASP Gold Medal Ceremony, 2010; two DVD disks of an oral history with Pat Call, titled Women Went to Work and WWII Women’s History Project; a DVD copy of WASP Recognition on King 5 News, April 7, 2010; a DVD titled WASP Homecoming 2013 – 70th Year, Sweetwater, Texas; and a DVD titled WASP Homecoming 2013 – 70th Anniversary Movie. Additionally, there are four audiocassette tapes labeled “Call Saga,” numbered 1-8.

Dates

Creation: 1939-2019

Creator

Call, Mary M. (Hiller), 1919-2019 (Person)

Language of Materials

All materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research and is accessible in the Dahlberg Research Center by appointment. The audiovisual materials may need preservation and digitization prior to use. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Biographical Note: Mary "Pat" Hiller Call

Mary “Pat” (Hiller) Call served with the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II.

Mary Marjorie (Hiller) Call, nicknamed "Pat," was born in 1919 in Kahoka, Missouri to Harrold Hiller and Sarah Nelle Tower. She attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison for a year before transferring to the University of Washington. In 1939, as a college student, she was one of four female students to be accepted to a Civilian Flight Training Course and received her private pilot’s license. She graduated with a BA in Sociology in 1940. After graduation, in 1942, she began working for United Airlines where she worked until 1943 when she signed on to the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). As a Woman Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), Call trained at Sweetwater, Texas, and flew routes primarily in Oklahoma and Texas. She resigned from the WAFS in 1944, just a month before the program was deactivated. After the war she worked for about a year as an Administrative Assistant for the Operations Department, U.S. Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island.

In 1946, she married Jerry Call. They had four children. After the war Call lived in Pocatello, Idaho and Chicago, Illinois before settling in Mount Vernon, Washington. She went on to teach elementary school in in Mount Vernon and Stanwood, Washington until she retired in 1980. She died October 22, 2019.

Biographical note derived from collection materials.

Extent

.6 Cubic Feet (1 full-width legal size document box and two oversize folders)

Additional Description

Existence and Location of Copies

Materials from this collection have been digitized and are available at The Museum of Flight Digital Collections.

Separated Materials

The following items have been separated from the archival component of this collection and are kept in the library: 1945 WASP Yearbook, assorted newsletters and periodicals, and 13 books. One folder of clippings related to women in aviation and WASPs has been moved to the Tech Files. For more information contact us.