From:
Martha McSally
Subject: RE: Women WWII Pilots
Denied Final Rest at Arlington National Cemetery
Date:
January 4, 2016
at 6:15:02 PM MST
I will be on Greta Van Susteren tomorrow night talking about
this. I am drafting legislation now to introduce to fix this. Total bs.
More than 1,000 Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) served during World War II, flying more than 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft. (US Air Force)Associated Press | |McLEAN, Va. -- The ashes of World War II veteran Elaine Harmon are sitting in a closet in her daughter's home, where they will remain until they can go to what her family says is her rightful resting place: Arlington National Cemetery.
Harmon piloted
aircraft in World War II under a special program, Women Airforce Service
Pilots, that flew noncombat missions to free up male pilots for combat. Granted
veteran status in 1977, the WASPs have been eligible to have their ashes placed
at Arlington with military honors since 2002.But earlier this year,
then-Secretary of the Army John McHugh reversed course and ruled WASPs
ineligible.
After Harmon died in
April at age 95, her daughter, Terry Harmon, 69, of Silver Spring, Maryland, 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.
Harmon's family and
others are working to overturn McHugh's directive. A petition on change.org has received more than 4,000
signatures. Harmon also hopes Congress will ask incoming Secretary of the Army
Eric Fanning about the issue at his upcoming confirmation hearing.
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