Kvinnelige flypiloter fra 2. verdenskrig nektes begravelse ved æresgravplass
Terry Harmon kjemper for å gi moren, som var en av de første kvinnelige flypilotene i 2. verdenskrig, retten til å bli stedt til hvile på æreskirkegården Arlington National Cemetery.
Siden 2002 har disse hatt rett til å bli stedt til hvile på æresgravplassen Arlington, med tilhørende militær begravelse, men i 2015 ble dette omgjort av den amerikanske hæren.
Avslo søknad
Det skulle vise seg at advokater for hæren hadde funnet at såkalte «active duty designees» ikke hadde rett til å få urnene deres plassert på Arlington. De kvinnelige pilotene i WASP falt inn under denne definisjonen.
Kjemper for å få retten tilbake
Det er opprettet en petisjon på change.org for å gi pilotene i WASP tilbake retten til å bli stedt til hvile på æresgravplassen.
I skrivende stund har denne blitt signert av over 28.000 personer.
Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., on Wednesday introduced a bill that would allow the cremated remains of women who flew non-combat missions during World War II to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
The WASP Arlington Inurnment Restoration Act would overturn former Army Secretary John McHugh's decision earlier this year to not allow the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, to be inurned at the storied cemetery.
McSally, a retired Air Force colonel and the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, said that WASP pilots have been eligible for inurnments at Arlington since 2002, but McHugh revoked that eligibility in early 2015.
"This decision is simply appalling," McSally said. "At a time when we are opening all positions to women, the Army is closing Arlington to the pioneers who paved the way for pilots like me and all women to serve in uniform. It doesn't make sense."
In a Tuesday blog post, Arlington National Cemetery said that's not quite what happened.
The cemetery said that the confusion stemmed from a law allowing the secretary of Defense to declare certain groups as active duty to make them eligible for certain Veterans Affairs Department benefits, such as burial and inurnment at national cemeteries maintained by VA.
But Arlington is not run by VA, the cemetery said. The cemetery's administration made a mistake when officials misinterpreted that law and granted eligibility to some WASPs before 2010. McHugh clarified the eligibililty issue in 2015, and said those who were mistakenly inurned there would remain.
And because space is extremely limited, the cemetery said, it must be more stringent on its eligibility criteria.
"WASPs have never been eligible either for inurnment or burial at Arlington," the cemetery said. "The service of Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II is highly commendable and, while certainly worthy of recognition, it does not, in itself, reach the level of active duty service required for inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery."
McSally said the issue of WASP eligibility was brought up by the family of former WASP Elaine Harmon, who died in April. Harmon's family tried to inurn her in Arlington, but was rejected.
"This was our grandmother's last wish and we want to see this through," Whitney Miller, Harmon's granddaughter, said in McSally's release.
According to the Air Force's Historical Studies Division, the WASP program graduated 1,074 female pilots during World War II. The women ferried combat aircraft across the country, towed airborne targets for gunnery training, and trained combat pilots. Thirty-eight died during the war - 11 were killed during training, and the other 27 died during missions.
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