Faribault Airport Renamed to Honor World War II WASP Liz Strohfus

The calendar changes to March and the first Wednesday of each month we are scheduled to visit with representatives of the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce.

I honestly don't know what information they will have for us today but one thing is for certain, it will be informative. If you can't listen at 9:30AM, go to our YouTube channel and watch at your leisure.

The Faribault City Council unanimously passed a resolution last night renaming the Faribault airport "Faribault Municipal Airport-Liz Wall Strohfus Field."

Liz was a Women's Air Service Pilot (WASP) during World War II and actually trained some of the soldier pilots to handle certain aircraft. The renaming makes Faribault the first city in the nation to honor a WASP by renaming its airport.

We will get the Chamber's take on the resolution passed by the council last night.

I remember when Liz was the grand marshal of the Heritage Days parade a couple of years ago, suggesting to someone in Central Park at opening ceremonies the airport should be named after her.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen while she was still with us.

I miss Liz a lot. She used to always give me a peck on my cheek and I will never forget that laugh and smile that would come across her face every time I saw her.

I was there when she was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame and she was very proud that night, but, as she always did, made it a point to tell everyone her heroes were the soldiers fighting overseas.

Sadly after coming home she hoped to become a commercial airline pilot and never received the opportunity, even though she had logged a sufficient number of hours of flying time to do the job. It was a different time and women were not welcome in those traditional "male jobs."