My Mother served in World War II, in the Navy.

On this special day, I'd like to honor her service.

She trained Navy pilots to fly on instruments, using the "Link Trainer" (see movie).

My mother is not in this movie, but it shows what she did.

2. My Mother lost her fiance, a Navy sailor who lost his life when a kamikaze hit the deck of his destroyer.

She also had a pilot's license and learned how to fly the Navy combat planes.

Then she would train the Navy pilots and certify them by taking them up in the air . . .

3. . . . and she would put the airplane into a spin. She told me that the pilot could only get the plane out of a spin by using instruments. It's too hard to do it by sight.

Some of the would-be pilots turned green and couldn't do it, and she'd have to do it for them.

The pilots had to log a certain amount of time in the Link Trainer (again, see movie) -- in order to have the skills needed to land a plane on an aircraft carrier, even in foggy weather with low visibility.

Thank you, Mom!!

Thanks go to @cain_nate for inspiring me to write this thread.