Arizona congresswoman Martha McSally has filed legislation to allow a group of female World War II pilots to have their ashes laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. McSally is a retired Airforce colonel herself.
In McSally’s words, the Army is on the “wrong side of this.”
Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, flew military planes in noncombat roles during wartime to free up male pilots for combat. But the women were only considered civilians until Congress retroactively granted them veteran status in 1977. At that point, they were permitted to have their ashes placed at Arlington.
But last year, then-secretary of the Army John McHugh rescinded their eligibility. In a memo, he said lawyers had determined they should never have been allowed in Arlington in the first place.
That decision was widely criticized and prompted an online petition that now has more than 30,000 signatures.
