Move afoot to let female pilots' ashes rest at Arlington Cemetery

McLEAN, Va. -- An Arizona congresswoman filed legislation Wednesday to ensure a group of female World War II pilots can have their ashes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

The pilots known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, flew military aircraft in noncombat roles during wartime to free up male pilots for combat.

The women were considered civilians until Congress retroactively granted them veteran status in 1977.

Since then, the women have been permitted to have their ashes placed at Arlington, the cemetery in northern Virginia overlooking the nation's capital.

And since 2002, they have been eligible for placement with military honors.

But last year, then-Secretary of the Army John McHugh rescinded their eligibility. In a memo, he said lawyers had determined they never should have been allowed in Arlington in the first place.

Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., said the Army's exclusion of WASPs is wrong and filed legislation to reverse McHugh's decision.

The family of WASP Elaine Harmon, who died last year at 95, has been waging a campaign to restore the rules granting WASPs the right to be placed at Arlington.

An Associated Press article last week about the family's campaign prompted widespread criticism of the Army for excluding WASPs.

A petition on Change.org sponsored by the Harmon family has received more than 31,000 signatures.

In the meantime, the family has been keeping Harmon's ashes in a closet while they press for inclusion at Arlington.

Eligibility for in-ground burial at Arlington, which has severe space limitations, is tight, and not even all World War II veterans are eligible for burial there.

But eligibility for placement of ashes, or inurnment, is not quite as strict.