Elaine Harmon’s ashes will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, Wednesday, with military honors. That was until previous year, when the Army chose to make WASPs ineligible for Arlington, citing dwindling available space and saying that WASPs shouldn’t have been included in the first place, WRC reported.
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Harmon died in April 2015 at age 95.
‘Every American should be grateful for their service, and I am honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard-earned recognition they deserve, ‘ President Obama said in 2009.
On Wednesday, Harmon’s ashes will be inurned at a funeral service with military honors.
During WWII, no United States women were allowed to participate directly in combat, though many found themselves in combat situations throughout the duration of the war. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, herself a retired Air Force pilot who was the first female fighter pilot in USA history to fly in combat. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), supporters of the bill, were in attendance at today’s ceremony, along with five WASPs and former FOX news anchor Greta Van Susteren. But since the women were technically civilians, the US Army that employed them would not allow the US flag to be put on the coffin of fallen pilots.
During a flyover at the funeral, McSally stood and watched with Harmon’s fellow WASPs. The WASPs delivered war planes, ferried cargo and towed targets for other pilots. “My mother and all the WASPs deserve this honor”.
Veteran WASP Elaine Harmon (right), is finally being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. WASPs won the right to an Arlington burial in a de facto Army ruling in 2002, as The Christian Science Monitor previously reported.
McSally said the WASPs were an inspiration for her when she was the only female pilot in her training class.
“These were feisty, brave, adventurous, patriotic women”, she said.
Harmon’s relatives appealed for a change in policy, the Post reports. “These women should have been active-duty at the time”, McSally says.
“She had no idea she’d have to fight about it; she just assumed she’d be able to be here”, Miller said. “Most of us WASP followers knew that Elaine had wanted to be buried there”.
The Harmon family presented McSally with an engraved “114 Congress HR 4336” silver WASP wings bracelet and the congresswoman led the auditorium in singing the “Air Force Song”.
“I said, I just happen to be in Congress, so we’re going to fix this thing”, she said. It was duly signed into law by President Barack Obama in May this year.
Harmon’s granddaughter, Erin Miller, helped lead the lobbying efforts. “In a way, we’ve already grieved, and this now is about closure”.
Then McSally introduced legislation that would require the cemetery in Arlington, Va., to make WASPs eligible for inurnment.
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“This says something about how strongly the women of America, and, thank God, an bad lot of the men, understand what these women did in the war”, says Rickman.
