A rule change is keeping a group of female US pilots who flew noncombat missions during World War II from having their ashes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
A rule change is keeping a group of female US pilots who flew noncombat missions during World War II from having their ashes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
The women, known as WASPs, served in a special unit called Women Airforce Service Pilots. They flew noncombat missions to free up male pilots for combat.
During the war, the women were considered civilians. But since 1977, federal law has granted them status as veterans. Since 2002, they have been eligible to have their ashes placed at Arlington with military honours.
But in March, then-secretary of the Army John McHugh ruled that WASPs never should have been allowed in and revoked their eligibility.
The family of a WASP who died in April, Elaine Harmon, is pushing to have the eligibility restored. Her ashes are sitting in a closet in her daughter’s home.
After Harmon died at age 95, her daughter, Terry Harmon, 69, was dismayed to learn that the Army had moved to exclude WASPs. She said her mother had helped lead the effort to gain recognition for WASPs.
“These women have been fighting this battle, off and on, for over 50 years now,” she said.
A petition on change.org to overturn Mr McHugh’s directive has received more than 4,000 signatures. Ms Harmon also hopes Congress will ask incoming secretary of the Army Eric Fanning about the issue at his upcoming confirmation hearing.
Mr McHugh’s memo, which Terry Harmon obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, says Army lawyers reviewed the rules in 2014 and determined that WASPs and other World War II veterans classified as “active duty designees” are not eligible for inurnment — placement of their urns in an above-ground structure at Arlington.
The largest group affected by the memo is the Merchant Marine, nearly 250,000 of whose members served during World War II. The WASP programme was much smaller — just over 1,000 women were accepted into the programme, which ran from 1942 to 1944. In a statement, Army spokesman Paul Prince said the cemetery superintendent in 2002 had no authority to allow WASPS’ remains into the cemetery.
