Despite all these hardships and hazards, there were more volunteers to fly the mail than there were spaces available. These young men were out to prove the Air Corps could do the job. With the coming of spring weather and with experience, crashes and casualties declined. Its operation, labeled a fiasco or a victory depending on one's point of view, had focused attention on the Corps's inadequacies in equipment, training, and organization. The young lieutenants who suffered and too often died during that terrible winter of 1934, deserve a large share of credit for an outcome that few had foreseen.
Valor takes many forms in peace and in war.
Published March 1995. For presentation on this web site, some Valor articles have been amended for accuracy.