Print edition: 
Kansan Meriem Roby Anderson was one of about 200 women Wednesday who received a Congressional Gold Medal during a Capitol Hill ceremony.
The women were given the nation's highest award that Congress gives to honor civilians for their service during World War II.
During the war, Anderson was among more than 1,000 women who flew aircraft and were known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.
Anderson, 88, traveled from her home in Eureka to Washington, D.C., for the event.
"I think this is great. It is long overdue," Anderson said when reached by cell phone. "It is something you don't expect."
More than six decades ago, Anderson was stationed at Enid Army Air Base in Oklahoma, where she tested basic and advanced training planes.
The assignment was risky; at least 38 of the women were killed in service.
Until 1977, the women were considered not members of the military, but civilians. After 1977, they were afforded veteran status.
The women took the same ground school and flight training as the men. They did everything the men did — except for combat flying.
In many ways, their work was just as harrowing. They were the ones who tested planes that had been damaged from crashes, or that had experienced any engine change, wing change or anything that may have caused a plane to be worked on.
They also ferried planes from factories to bases to be flown overseas.
"Some men thought the woman's place was in the home so they wouldn't repair the planes right," Anderson told The Eagle in 2004. "But more were for us than against us.''
Anderson said she was notified a month ago that she would be receiving the award. She spoke only briefly Wednesday.
"I'm having trouble hearing you because we are kind of celebrating, there are so many people here — relatives and friends of WASPs," Anderson said.
Many of the estimated 300 WASPs who are still alive are now in their late 80s and 90s.
The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded in 2000 to the Navajo Code Talkers and in 2006 to the Tuskegee Airmen.
