From ‘La Mer’ to the air: ‘Bloody Hundredth’ B-17 pilot shares impressions of war

Marie Mountain, Women’s Air Force Service Pilot, completed U.S. Air Force pilot training during World War II and graduated in February 1944. Mountain accumulated approximately 1,000 flying hours in military aircraft, including the North American Aviation T-6 and BT-13 Valiant training aircraft, and as a co-pilot in the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-26 Marauder bomber aircraft. She met 1st Lt. John A. Clark, a trainee pilot in the U.S. Air Force, in Las Vegas in 1944, and the couple later married in July 1945. After 63 years together, Marie passed away in 2008. Now a 100th Bomb Group veteran and World War II survivor, Clark attended the 100th BG reunion and shared stories about Marie and the WASPs pioneering work that paved the way for women flying today in all branches of the military. (Courtesy photo from John A. Clark and 100th Bomb Group Foundation)