Issaquah's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Honors Local Veterans

In a short ceremony taking place inside the Issaquah Valley Senior Center on Friday, members of Issaquah's VFW Post 3436 and local residents gathered to honor America's veterans.

"It's a special day," said Dave Waggoner of Issaquah VFW Post 3436.

Waggoner was pleased that people had come to honor veterans and hear their stories.

"It mean's veterans are not forgotten," Waggoner said.

Issaquah city council member and veteran Fred Butler gave a short address at the ceremony.

"Veterans do not take life for granted," Councilmember Fred Butler said in his remarks.

Butler spoke of the sacrifices veterans have made for the country and how the country has benefited from the influence of veterans, publicly and personally.

Butler also brought special attention to the needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Too many veterans with real skills can not find jobs in this tough economy," Butler said.

Butler asked that people reach out to help veterans through tough times.

"Let them know that we appreciate their sacrifice," Butler said.

During the second half of the ceremony Waggoner gave a special presentation on the life of Jayne Elizabeth Erickson, an Issaquah High School graduate who served as a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) during World War Two. WASPs ferried newly built planes to the front during the war, which freed male pilots up for combat duty.

Erickson faced many challenges when she joined the WASPs, said Waggoner.

Women had to pay to get themselves to training camps, had to buy their own uniforms, weren't paid as well, and, perhaps most disappointing, weren't treated as real service members. 

Erickson was killed during a training accident in 1944. Her fellow cadets had to take up a collection to ship her body home. Flintoft's funeral home in Issaquah volunteered to pick up her remains and transport them to Lakeview Cemetary in Seattle, said Waggoner.

Worst of all, said Waggoner, was that she wasn't buried as a veteran. As a woman she was not allowed to have a flag draped over her casket.

Waggoner said that no one was more upset than him by these revelations and that Issaquah VFW Post 3436 were going to set things right.

"We are going to get a flag and we are going to go in and give her a military funeral," Waggoner said.

Today Jayne Elizabeth Erickson's name is remembered on a monument standing in Issaquah's Memorial Field. The monument honors Issaquah's veterans, among whom Erickson is the only woman.