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Mary Babnik Brown

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Mary Babnik Brown
BornNovember 22, 1907
Pueblo, Colorado
DiedApril 14, 1991(1991-04-14) (aged 83)
Pueblo, Colorado
Occupation(s)Laborer, labor leader
Parent(s)Frank Wolf Babnik[1] and Mary Babnik[2]
Washington Institute of Technology letter 26 Nov 1943 inviting Brown to submit her hair for the government war effort

Mary Babnik Brown (November 22, 1907 – April 14, 1991) was an American who became known for having donated her hair to the United States military during World War II. Thirty-four inches (86 cm) long, her blonde hair had never been chemically treated or heated with curling irons.[3]

Brown declined compensation for her donation, believing what she had done was her patriotic duty.[2] President Ronald Reagan wrote to her on her 80th birthday in 1987 to thank her, and in 1990 she received a special achievement award from the Colorado Aviation Historical Society during a ceremony at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.[3]

Early life

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Brown (née Babnik, often misspelled Babnick) was born in Pueblo, Colorado, to Frank and Mary Babnik, immigrants from Slovenia. Her father worked at the railroad and her mother was a domestic helper. Her parents named her Mitzi, a Slovenian name, but she Americanized it to Mary. The oldest of the children, she had three younger siblings; her sister, Josephine, arrived in 1908, followed by two brothers, Frank in 1910 and Joseph in 1912. Brown spent her early childhood in the Bessemer and Grove neighborhoods of Pueblo. Her father abandoned the family around 1920, leaving her mother to raise the children.[1][4]

Brown left elementary school when she was 12 years old to help support the family. She first obtained part-time domestic work for $5 a week.[2] By lying about her age when she was 13, she was able to find a permanent job at the National Broom Factory, which paid 75 cents a day when she started; she ended up working there for 42 years. Her siblings contributed to the family financially by picking up chunks of coal on railroad tracks that had fallen from steam-engine trains.[4]

Brown became a well-known dancer in Pueblo. She began dancing as a hobby in her early teens, winning her first dancing contest at the age of nineteen. She danced so often at the Arcadia Ballroom (now razed) on Fifth Street in downtown Pueblo that her nickname was "Arcadia Mary". During World War II she taught GIs how to dance. She had a saying: "My first love is my family, but dancing is my second."[4]

Hair donation

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In 1943, she saw an advertisement in a Pueblo newspaper that said the government was looking for hair from women for the war effort, although no details were given as to how it would be used. The ad said only that they wanted blonde hair that was at least 22 inches long (56 cm), and which had not been treated with chemicals or hot irons.[5][6]

Brown's hair was 34 inches (86 cm) long and had never been cut, chemically treated or heated with irons. It was her most prized possession. She washed it with "pure soap" twice weekly and combed it twice a day; it stretched down to her knees when she combed it out. She normally wore it wrapped around her head in a braid, and as a result was known as the "lady with the crown".[2][7][8]

The government purchasing agent at the Washington Institute of Technology told her that her hair would be used for meteorological instruments.[9] She sent off samples, and they concluded that it would be appropriate.[10] Brown agreed in 1944 to have it cut. The government offered to pay her for it in war savings stamps, but she refused, seeing it as her duty to help in the war effort.[2] She ended up feeling traumatized by the loss of it, and cried for two months afterwards.[11]

Brown's hair was used in scientific equipment to make precise measurements of humidity, paramount in the production of military aircraft and other war equipment.[12]

Later life

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Brown married Carl Brown sometime after 1944, and became Mary "Mitzi" Babnik Brown. In 1947 she became vice president of the State Federation of Labor, the first woman to hold that position.[4] She also became an active member of the Pueblo Democratic party, and was the vice president and president of the Slovenian Lodge SNPJ (Slovenian National Benefit Society).[1] She spent her last years of her life in the 300 block of Spring Street in Pueblo.[4]

Awards and honors

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  • Brown received a special achievement award on November 17, 1990, from the Colorado Aviation Historical Society in a ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy.[5] She was inducted into their Hall of Fame.[13][14]
  • Paul Harvey told Brown's story on his nationally broadcast program The Rest of the Story, on November 19, 1990.[4]
  • The city of Pueblo, Colorado, declared November 22, 1991, as "Mary Babnik Brown Day". The formal ceremony of medical personnel at a banquet at the Pueblo Country Club was recorded by NBC-TV. It aired the following month on NBC's The Story Behind the Story.[1]

Norden bombsight myth

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Reagan's letter from November 6, 1987 helped perpetuate the myth Mary's hair was used in the Norden bombsight

For many years it was incorrectly claimed that her hair was used to make the crosshairs in the Norden bombsight, a myth perpetuated by notable personalities such as President Ronald Reagan and radio personality Paul Harvey. The crosshairs on the Norden bombsight are etched into a glass reticle; no human hair is used.[15]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b c d Pitts, Gail (April 16, 1991). "Pueblo's Mary Babnik Brown dies at 83 in her family home". The Pueblo Chieftain. Pueblo, Colorado.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gibney, Jim (July 5, 1987). "Pueblo woman's hair went to war – a blond bomber". The Denver Post. Denver, Colorado.
  3. ^ a b "Her hair helped aim WWII bombs". Tampa Tribune. November 19, 1990. p. 5-A.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Smith, John Elvans (2001), Mary Babnik and her hair, Pueblo, Colorado: Pueblo Lore magazine, pp. 3–8
  5. ^ a b "A.F. lauds woman who gave hair". Deseret News. Desert News newspaper. 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014. "What she didn't know back in 1942 was that her hair was used as cross hairs in a secret bombsight used on bombers."
  6. ^ Smith, John Elvans (2001), "Mary Babnik and her hair", Pueblo Lore, Pueblo, Colorado, p. 8, Through all the years Mary said she was never told what became of her hair.
  7. ^ Denver Post. July 5, 1987. First two paragraphs of newspaper article: "PUEBLO- Mary Babnik had long hair in the early 1940s. Her blond tresses, normally worn braided atop her head, stretched 34 inches [86 cm] to her knees when she combed them out. At 36, Mary was proud of her hair, combing it twice a day and washing it with pure soap twice a week."
  8. ^ Mitchel, Karen (2002–2012). "Pueblo County, Colorado / Mary Babnick Brown". Retrieved 2 January 2014. "She had begun braiding her hair as a toddler and called it her crowning glory. 'I had never had it cut,' she said. "I cried for two months . . I sent them all of it In 1942, Mary Babnik Brown was known as 'the lady with the crown' because of the long braided hair she wore wrapped around her head."
  9. ^ E. Leon Virts, US government purchasing agent (November 26, 1943). Letter, Washington Institute of Technology.
  10. ^ "Two Puebloans earn Aviation Hall of Fame - p8A". The Chieftain. Pueblo: The Chieftain newspaper. November 11, 1990.
  11. ^ Adams, Doug (2011). "The Blonde and the Bomber: The Hair that Whipped Hitler". Life In The Delta February. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Woman's locks key to sights". Star News. Colorado Springs, Colorado: Star News newspaper. Nov 22, 1990. Retrieved 6 Jan 2014.
  13. ^ Desert News newspaper. "A.F. LAUDS WOMAN WHO GAVE HAIR" Published: Monday, Nov. 19 1990: "Bill Feder, founder of the International B-24 Memorial Museum in Pueblo, learned recently that a Pueblo woman had donated her hair, and he began looking for her. He told Brown that her hair was used experimentally as cross hairs in a bomb-aiming device known as the Norden bombsight."
  14. ^ Pueblo Chieftain newspaper. "Two Puebloans earn Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame" Published: Sunday, Nov. 11 1990: "Two Puebloans will be among eight inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame at 1 P.M. Nov. 17 at the U.S. Air Force Academy Officers Club near Colorado Springs. The special achievement award will go to Mrs. Brown. Her long, golden hair was given to the Air Force for use in the Norden bombsight. The hair was the exact thickness needed for crosshairs in the bombsight."
  15. ^ Hart, Dan (23 April 2016). "The Politics, Pickle Barrels, and Propaganda of the Norden Bombsight". Museum of Aviation. Retrieved 9 September 2019.

Bibliography

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External images
image icon Brown next to Norden bombsight 1990
image icon Brown's obituary April 16, 1991
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