The WASPs flew countless U.S. Army Air Force planes for non-combat service missions in World War II to free up their male counterparts for combat duty.
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The Obama administration said the only way to change that was an act of Congress. Among them was flying combat planes to test them after they had been repaired and towing targets so other pilots could use them for firing practice using live ammunition. 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. The WASPs paid for their own room and board during training. They received support from around the country.
The service finished with McSally and Miller leading the rest of the room in the Air Force hymn “Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder”.
“I mean, the men who were doing the same roles before, alongside and after them, they were military”.
But since that time, the women and their descendants have fought for recognition at every step.
Family and friends said the sense of adventure that led Harmon to fly military airplanes carried over into the rest of her life.
After the WASPs were disbanded, numerous records detailing the program were deemed classified until the 1970s, when the push to grant them veteran status began.
It took decades more – until 2002 – before WASPs were allowed to be laid to rest at Arlington with full military honors.
It took an act of Congress, but World War II pilot Elaine Harmon is finally being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on September 7, 2016.
After Harmon saw the first such funeral, The Washington Post reports, she knew that’s what she wanted.
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.
The military cited limited space. The rules for in-ground burials are very strict at Arlington.
“I realize that at some point they are going to run out of space 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.
The unsafe work required of WASPs, in an era when women faced overt discrimination, appealed to women with a certain fearlessness, Landdeck said. It took an act of Congress and more than a year of perseverance by relatives and others after Harmon’s passing to get the right to the official burial. A story about it by the Associated Press sparked a campaign to have the ban reversed, fuelled by a change.org petition that garnered no fewer than 175,000 signatures. The bill, and a companion measure in the Senate, quickly gathered scores of cosponsors and passed in 20 weeks, being signed into law by the president in May.
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Harmon’s ashes are now inurned at Arlington with military honors.
