Vivian "Millie" Bailey was a memorable women by any standards, and the fact that she lived such a long and productive life makes her someone I thought you might like to know about.
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1918, but raised in Oklahoma, Vivian was an American WW11 veteran, civil servant and volunteer. It was her can-do attitude that got her far. She commanded a segregated all-female unit during WW11 and continued helping service members all her life. At 102, she continued to live life to the fullest, completing her first skydiving jump at this age!
Vivian joined the Women's Army Auxillary Core in the early days of WW11. She was commissioned as a first lieutenant. As one of two black women in her general officers training class, she graduated with honors and went on to serve for the first time in an unsegregated unit.
Even after the war, Vivian never stopped serving. During the Vietnam War she and a group of friends put together care packages for deployed service members. She did the same during Desert Storm, and since 2004 she has ben packing boxes, soliciting funds and calling on elected officials for contributions to continue her work of sending care packages to our military.
She has met presidents and first ladies, generals and civic leaders, and all have mentioned that her can-do attitude has served her well. Nothing gave her family any inclination that she would rise to the heights she did, but indeed she did. Long before the military was desegregated, Vivian Bailey was being educated in a nearly "whites only" officers training class, leading an all black squad of women during WW11 and flying planes (unheard of at the time) in combat. She died peacefully in 2022.
No comments:
Post a Comment