It took an act of Congress, but World War II pilot Elaine Harmon was finally laid to rest Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Family and attendees escorted Harmon’s ashes to Arlington’s Columbarium, where there was a brief service.
Harmon was one of 14 Maryland women who flew non-combat missions during World War II.
Then McSally introduced legislation that would require the cemetery in Arlington, Va., to make WASPs eligible for inurnment.
In 2002, WASPs won the right to have their ashes placed at Arlington, but the Army, which manages the cemetery, revoked those rights past year.
In December, an AP article about the family’s campaign prompted widespread criticism of the Army for excluding WASPs. It was duly signed into law by President Barack Obama in May this year.
“I remember from what her daughter and her granddaughters have told me, she [Harmon] was so patriotically stirred by the fact that these women that she had served with were being honored at Arlington, were having their ashes or remains laid there, that she decided she wanted to be buried at Arlington, and left a written request for her daughter”, says Ms. Rickman.
“These were feisty, brave, adventurous, patriotic women”, she said, recalling that some of the WASPs gave her pep talks when she considered leaving the Air Force early on. McSally made sure she was in attendance for Wednesday’s funeral. Caroline Jensen, who brought with her a special flag that she said “went on a journey that is worthy of a WASP”.
“I was mostly confused at first”.
Granddaughter Tiffany Miller added, “She was – as you may have figured out already – not your typical grandmother”.
Harmon’s ashes were laid to rest at a funeral service with military honors. Every year for Halloween, she dressed up as the Wicked Witch to spook children who trekked up the dark house on the hill for candy, she said. As The Associated Press notes, “eligibility for in-ground burial at Arlington, which has severe space limitations, is extremely tight, and not even all World War II veterans are eligible for burial there”.
But eligibility for above-ground placement of ashes is not quite as strict.
Kate Landdeck, a Texas Woman’s University history professor who has researched the WASPs, said roughly 1,100 women earned their wings while the program was in effect from 1942 to 1944.
Fewer than 100 are still alive, Landdeck said. The youngest is 93.
WASP pilot Elaine Danforth Harmon (R) greets guests during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the US Capitol on March 10, 2010 in Washington, DC. The group was not granted veteran status until 1977.
“If the WASPs were good enough to fly and risk their lives for our country, they’re good enough for Arlington”, Mikulski said in a statement.
“No one knew who these women were in the 1990s”, Landdeck said.
“This says something about how strongly the women of America, and, thank God, an terrible lot of the men, understand what these women did in the war”, says Rickman.
Shirley Chase Kruse, 94, of Pompano Beach, Florida, was one of several WASPs who attended Wednesday’s service.
“There are certain times when it can be frustrating to break through those barriers – proving we have the capability to be fighter pilots – and the handful of times when I was exhausted of it or frustrated or discouraged, they [the WASPs] would inspire me to fight another day”, she said.
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McSally said they told her.
