But on Wednesday, the ashes of Elaine Harmon, a woman pilot who flew non-combat missions in the Second World War, will be laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery. While the Veterans Administration runs most military cemeteries, the Secretary of the Army runs Arlington National Cemetery. But when Ms. Harmon passed away past year, her family was surprised to find that a rule had been passed prohibiting WASPs from being interred there.
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Former Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, who attended the funeral, found Harmon’s story interesting and connected her family to McSally.
During WWII, no USA women were allowed to participate directly in combat, though many found themselves in combat situations throughout the duration of the war.
When the U.S. Air Force became an independent branch in 1947 they sent letters to the WASP inviting them to join the reserves. Not long after the WASP’s 1977 victory recognizing their service as having been active duty, Harmon and a handful of others realized the bill had been written in a limiting way. “This is an honor Lieutenant Elaine Harmon and the WASPs have earned and deserve”. The government neglected to provide financial benefits and gave no military honors to WASPs who flew during the war and did not recognize their contributions for decades.
But since that time, the women and their descendants have fought for recognition at every step.
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. WASPs won the right to an Arlington burial in a de facto Army ruling in 2002, as The Christian Science Monitor previously reported.
Obama signed separate legislation in 2009 awarding the pilots the Congressional Gold Medal. She was one of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a group of women who flew military aircraft during World War II so that men were freed up for combat missions.
Harmon’s relatives appealed for a change in policy, the Post reports.
Elaine Harmon was born in Baltimore, where she spent most of her life, except for her time in the service.
Toward the end of the ceremony, Harmon’s family surprised McSally by giving her a silver bracelet featuring WASP wings and the bill number, HR 4336, engraved on the back.
“Everyone was horrified”, says Rickman.
Today, AP employs the latest technology to collect and distribute content – we have daily uploads covering the latest and breaking news in the world of politics, sport and entertainment. A petition on Change.org gathered more than 175,000 signatures. “Finally the fight is over and WASPs will be honored on their own merit”.
The WASP flew for the Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1944.
“We had exactly the same training as the male cadets – some of the women ferried airplanes, some towed targets”, she said. She owed those women, she said, including Harmon.
Harmon’s family fought the rule, and in May, President Barack Obama signed legislation allowing WASPs in Arlington.
“It sounds amusing, but we’e all kinds of excited”, Ms Miller told the AP. ‘In a way, we’ve already grieved, and this now is about closure’. “They just care if you know how to fly and shoot straight eventually”, McSally said at a reception afterward at Arlington’s Women in Military Service for America Memorial.
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“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.
