Members of Elaine Harmon’s family are presented with a flag during an inurnment ceremony for the former Women Airforce Service Pilot at Arlington National Cemetery. She never knew that the Secretary of the Army had overturned the decision about a month before she died at 95.
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Elaine Harmon, who died a year ago at 95, was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II.
And, finally, after her death at 95 previous year, she brought down one more barrier when an act of Congress made it legal for her and the approximately 100 surviving WASPs to be buried at Arlington with full military honors. In May, President Barack Obama signed legislation allowing cremated WASPs to have their final resting places in Arlington.
And on Wednesday morning, Harmon’s ashes were inurned in a funeral with military honors.
Erin Miller, one of Harmon’s granddaughters, put her law firm work on hold and worked like mad to reverse the ban, all the while storing her grandmother’s ashes in her closet.
And for many years, WASPs were eligible to have their ashes placed in urns at Arlington.
“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.
It is hard to be granted in-ground burial at Arlington because of space limitations, but ashes and above-ground inurnment is easier.
But her family had to fight to get her buried at Arlington.
“I said, ‘Carlos, I’m so happy you care about this issue but only one person can take the lead – do you have wings and ovaries?'” she said, referring to a conversation she had on the House floor with fellow Republican, Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo. “But eligibility for placement of ashes, or above-ground inurnment, is not quite as strict”.
More than 1,000 women served as WASPs from 1942 until 1944, according to the WASP museum. Fewer than 100 are still alive and the youngest of them is now 93-years-old.
The women test-flew repaired military aircraft, trained combat pilots and towed airborne targets that other pilots fired at with live ammunition. 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.
In the end it took an Act of Congress to open the cemetery to the WASPs once again.
And the Chick Fighter Pilots (a real association) were there to tell them how much she meant to them, too.
“No one knew who these women were in the 1990s”, Landdeck said. She says she recalled Harmon’s adventurous spirit and said she hoped more people would learn about the history of the WASPs.
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“It sounds amusing, but we’re all kind of excited”, Harmon’s granddaughter, Erin Miller, told the Associated Press as the family prepared for the ceremony.
