New law allows female WWII pilot to be inurned at Arlington

The Army revoked those burial rights a year ago over concerns about available space at the cemetery. “They were great pioneers”. And her daughter got to work, creating a Change.org petition to right the wrong.

Ms. Harmon’s husband, Ernest, was a veteran who died in a plane crash was buried at Arlington, their daughter Terry Harmon pointed out during the family memorial service Wednesday. She “scrambled over Washington on the morning of September 11, 2001, on a potential suicide mission to take down Flight 93 before it could hit Washington”, The Washington Post noted.

Harmon wanted Arlington to be her final resting place, something that had been possible for WASPs beginning in 2002. “We understand that”, she said.

Women Airforce Service Pilot Elaine Harmon was finally laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery today in a service that was both reverent and joyful.

Harmon died in April 2015 at age 95.

“Doesn’t that bring back memories?” one of the female pilots said at the service as three P-51 Mustangs roared overhead. They scrounged up clothing that looked like the men’s uniforms.

And for many years, WASPs were eligible to have their ashes placed in urns at Arlington. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, herself a retired Air Force pilot who was the first female fighter pilot in USA history to fly in combat.

“While certainly worthy of recognition, [the WASP service] does not, in itself, reach the level of active duty service required” said the site, claiming the eligibility criteria were “more stringent, due to space limitations”. 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. The government wouldn’t even pay for that.

Besides family, dozens of current servicewomen and female veterans were on hand to thank Harmon’s family for what they have done and what it represents.

Another wrote that she “drew on the strength of those who went before me”, to fly her fighter jet, which she brought up to supersonic speed when she was flying with Harmon’s flag “just for fun”. “It was appalling, if I can use that word”.

“The only reason was because of sexism”, Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., told Here & Now. She says the WASPs were an inspiration for her when she was the only female pilot in her class.

Air Force Honor Guard. “Why would you choose to leave?” She even had “H.R. 4336”, the name of McSally’s legislation, tattooed on her forearm.

“These were feisty, brave, adventurous, patriotic women”, she said. Heather “Lucky” Penney told Harmon’s family, a family that fought hard against a ban from the Army that “refused to recognize female WWII pilots for burial in the cemetery”, The Washington Post noted.

In the reception after Harmon’s burial, Terry Harmon said, “My mother’s last dying wish was to have her remains in Arlington”.

When her grandmother was denied, Erin worked with Rep. Martha McSally to quickly pass legislation in less than 20 weeks.

After the fight, the ceremony on Wednesday was emotional and largely triumphant. It was the first time a World War II WASP earned that honor on her own merit.

At the service, Jensen read the flag’s flight log.