Mary Lee Settle (b. 1921)

Abstract

When she was twenty-one, in 1942, Mary Lee Settle left her home in Washington, DC to join the British Royal Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Twenty-five years later, she remembered her experiences in her book All the Brave Promises, dedicated ‘to the wartime other ranks of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, Royal Air Force — below the rank of sergeant.’ Her American sensibility was affronted by the class distinctions she observed and by the arrogance of the authority which controlled her life and the lives of her fellow airwomen. After the war, Settle lived in Britain for a number of years, eventually returning to the United States, where she is a highly-regarded novelist.KeywordsCorporal PunishmentCommanding OfficerAmerican SensibilityBlind ActionBalloon BarrageThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.