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Mary Babnik Brown (November 22, 1907 – April 14, 1991) was an American citizen who became known for having donated her hair to the United States military during World War II. Thirty-four inches long, her blonde hair had never been chemically treated or heated with curling irons, and therefore proved resilient enough to use as crosshairs in Norden bombsights for bomber aircraft, which have to withstand a wide range of temperatures and humidity.〔 Brown was never compensated for her donation; she was offered war savings stamps, but turned them down, believing what she had done was her patriotic duty.〔 She was told at the time only that the hair was needed for meteorological instruments, and had no idea how it had been used until 1987.〔 President Ronald Reagan wrote to her that year on her 80th birthday to thank her, and in 1991 she received a special achievement award from the Colorado Aviation Historical Society during a ceremony at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.〔Donovan, Dick (January 15, 1991). "America honors woman whose hair helped win WW2," ''Weekly World News'', (p. 43 ). *Reagan, Ronald (November 6, 1987). Letter, White House.〕 == Early life == 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 help. 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.〔〔 〕 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.〔 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.〔 Brown became a well-known dancer in Pueblo. She began dancing as a hobby in her early teens, winning her first dance 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."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mary Babnik Brown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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