Ola Mildred Rexroat-McDonald was born in 1917 in Kansas.  Her mother was a Oglala American Indian and her family often stayed at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, with her grandmother, who was an Oglala-Lakota Indian. She subsequently went to school in Springfield, South Dakota,  attended Chadron State Teachers College in Nebraska, and graduated from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1939. Her father was a publisher, and as a youngster her family frequently moving to different parts of the country. 

Ola applied and became one of the 1,879 women accepted into the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) program and one of the only 1,073 who completed the program’s training. She was WASP’s only Native American member.

Rexroat passed the grueling training program at Avenger Field, Texas, and alongside 1,073 other women pilots, received her wings.

After graduating from training, Rexroat served at Eagle Pass Army Airfield in Eagle Pass, Texas. There, she performed a variety of duties, ranging from flying military personnel to transporting cargo. Notably, one of her duties included the dangerous job of flying an aircraft and towing targets for student gunners to practice their aim.

Throughout her time being part of this exclusive club of American pilots, Rexroat’s fellow WASPs often cheered her on as “Sexy Rexy.”

When the WASPs disbanded in 1944, Rexroat worried she would never fly again.

Ola then joined the Air Force and served 10 years at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico as an air traffic controller during the Korean War. Afterward, she went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an air traffic controller until she retired.

For her service, Rexroat, along with the rest of her fellow WASPs, received Congressional Gold Medals in 2009.

Rexroat died in 2017 at the age of 99. Shortly after, on Oct. 2, 2017, Ellsworth Air Force Base renamed its airfield operations building in her honor.

Arlington National Cemetery

OLA MILDRED REXROAT-MCDONALD's Profile Picture

OLA MILDRED REXROAT-MCDONALD

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