WWII female pilots (WASPS) now can be buried at Arlington (but, there is NO war on women!!)
(the fact that it has taken THIS long, the fact that the patriarchal assholes in charge deemed their service "did not rise to the level required" is beyond disgusting. These women were true sheroes, and the treatment they received at the hands of the govt they served is a true obscenity_
WWII female pilots now can be buried at Arlington
WASPs Ann McClellan, Catherine Houser, Mary Jane Stephens, Lida Dunham and an unidentified woman in their barracks.
President Obama signed a measure allowing WWII female pilots to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2015, those in the WASP program were deemed ineligible to be buried at the Army-operated cemetery
(CNN)Women who served as pilots during World War II finally can be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, thanks to bipartisan efforts. President Barack Obama signed a bill into law allowing the ashes of woman who flew in the Women Airforce Service Pilots program (WASP) to be laid to rest at the military cemetery.
For Tiffany Miller, who launched an online petition last year to have her grandmother Danforth Harmon's ashes allowed into Arlington, the recent news has been overwhelming.
"It was her last wish to be in Arlington. We haven't been able to hold a funeral for her because we wanted to honor that wish," the 37-year-old told CNN. Harmon's grandmother was fresh out of college when she joined the WASP program in 1944, flying with male pilots who needed to go through instrument training. The 22-year-old was in the program for less than a year before it was dismantled, but the experience had a lasting impact, Miller said.
These original fly girls flew countless U.S. Army Air Forces planes for noncombat missions during the war in order to free up their male counterparts for combat. Between 1942 and 1944, they flew more than 60 million miles in bombers, transports and trainer aircraft.
In 1977, the female pilots were granted veteran status, but it wasn't until 2002 that they were able to be buried at Arlington, which falls under Army regulations, unlike cemeteries operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2015, then-Army Secretary John McHugh revoked that right after lawyers determined that those in the WASP program, listed as "active duty designees," did not meet Army eligibility rules. That meant their ashes could no longer be placed in an above-ground structure at Arlington, according to a memo from McHugh that the Miller family obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
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http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/21/politics/wwii-female-pilots-arlington-cemetery-irpt/