Margaret “Maggie” Gee

WWII Pilot & Political Activist. Margaret “Maggie” Gee was an aviator with the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) in WWII.

Illustration of Margaret “Maggie” Gee by Russell G. Chong.

Margaret “Maggie” Gee was one of two Chinese American women to serve. As a WASP pilot, she trained male pilots for combat, participated in ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice and testing repaired aircraft. She entered the service 1944 and served until the WASP service was disbanded in 1944.

In March, 2010, President Obama bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal (CGM) to the surviving WASP, 60 years after their service. Maggie was the first Chinese American veteran and female to be recognized with the CGM award.

After the war, Maggie attended the University of California, Berkeley, became a physicist and worked on weapon systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Maggie was active in politics for decades as an elected member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, the Berkeley Democratic Club and served as the California Democratic Party Executive and Asian Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus.

In 1998, Montgomery Hom reunited Maggie Gee, his godmother, with her WWII training aircraft, the Stearman, a PT-17 for the filming of “We Served With Pride”. Maggie dressed in period flight attire was taken up for a flight. It had been 50 years since her last flight.

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