{"id":163072,"date":"2016-05-27T12:28:01","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T16:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=163072"},"modified":"2022-07-19T15:46:02","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T19:46:02","slug":"bringing-recognition-to-forgotten-group-of-women-veterans-163072","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/bringing-recognition-to-forgotten-group-of-women-veterans-163072\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing recognition to forgotten group of women veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Robin L. Flanigan<\/em><\/p>\n

Tiffany Miller \u201900 knows what her late grandmother, the matriarch\u00a0of the family, wanted done with her ashes. Elaine Danforth\u00a0Harmon had clearly spelled out her wishes on a handwritten note\u00a0found in a fireproof box after her death in April 2015: she wanted\u00a0them placed at Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n

A year later, Miller and her family continue to fight to have\u00a0that request granted for her maternal grandmother, who\u2019d been\u00a0a member of the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) during\u00a0World War II. At the time of Harmon\u2019s death, Miller\u2019s family\u00a0was unaware that only a month before, the Army, which has jurisdiction\u00a0over the cemetery, had ruled WASPs ineligible for inurnment\u00a0at Arlington.<\/p>\n

To Miller, it was the latest in a history of slights against the\u00a01,074 women pilots who transported military planes, towed targets\u00a0for live ammunition training, and trained male pilots to fly.<\/p>\n

\"World
Miller’s grandmother Elaine Harmon, at WASP training in Texas in 1944. (photo courtesy of Tiffany Miller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy grandmother used to say that the WASPs were forgotten\u00a0about for 30 years, and that has stuck with me,\u201d says Miller.<\/p>\n

During and after the war, WASPs were considered civilians.\u00a0In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a law granting WASPs\u00a0military veteran status in the first public recognition of the pilots\u00a0since the end of World War II. In 2002, a military directive made\u00a0WASPs eligible for inurnment at Arlington with military honors.<\/p>\n

But Miller\u2019s efforts are paying off, with political\u00a0support and public opinion overwhelmingly on the\u00a0side of the WASPs. On March 22, the U.S. House of\u00a0Representatives passed the Women Airforce Service\u00a0Pilot Arlington Inurnment Restoration Act, which directs\u00a0the Army to ensure that the cremated remains\u00a0of WASPs are eligible for inurnment in Arlington\u00a0National Cemetery with full military honors. It passed\u00a0385-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just totally incredible and unexpected,\u201d says\u00a0Miller, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area and\u00a0has been working toward such a result with her older\u00a0sister, Erin, a lawyer, and younger sister, Whitney,\u00a0a former lobbyist.<\/p>\n

A similar bill moved quickly through the Senate, and on May 20, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.<\/p>\n

For Miller, the battle to move her grandmother\u2019s\u00a0ashes from her mother\u2019s bedroom closet to the nation\u2019s\u00a0most hallowed ground is meaningful on multiple\u00a0levels. A women\u2019s studies major at Rochester, she was\u00a0also president of the Women\u2019s Caucus (now called\u00a0College Feminists).\u00a0During her tenure, she organized\u00a0a panel discussion about women and war, in which\u00a0her grandmother\u2014and her mother, who worked for\u00a0the American Red Cross in Vietnam\u2014participated.\u00a0She says WASPs are still all but unknown. \u201cPeople\u00a0know about the Tuskegee Airmen because of Steven\u00a0Spielberg, but not many people know about the\u00a0WASPs,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I tell people about them,\u00a0they say, \u2018Really? Women flew in the war?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about services of veteran students and employees at the University >><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

To change that, Miller, with a background in project\u00a0management, gives media interviews, attends press\u00a0conferences, checks comments posted on her petition,\u00a0and scours the Internet every day for the latest news\u00a0stories about the legislation, introduced by Rep. Martha\u00a0McSally of Arizona, the Air Force\u2019s first female fighter pilot to fly in combat.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s sister, Erin Miller, says Tiffany has always\u00a0been \u201cvery tenacious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always been the kind of person who sees\u00a0something that\u2019s wrong and then immediately wants\u00a0to do anything she can to make it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tiffany Miller is as firmly dedicated to women\u2019s\u00a0equality as she was in college. \u201cShe\u2019s always sending\u00a0[Whitney and me] New York Times articles about the injustices\u00a0in the world, especially when it comes to women\u2019s issues,\u201d\u00a0Erin adds. \u201cThat\u2019s always something that\u2019s at the front of her\u00a0mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tiffany is especially proud of the Congressional Gold Medal\u00a0that Harmon received from President Barack Obama in 2009.\u00a0Shortly after returning from the White House, Harmon donated\u00a0the medal to the College Park Aviation Museum in Maryland,\u00a0where she lived.<\/p>\n

\"group
Miller\u2019s grandmother, Elaine Harmon (above at\u00a0left), and other members of the WASPs in 2009 were awarded the\u00a0Congressional Gold Medal by President Barack Obama. (White House photo \/ Pete Souza)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t about her,\u201d Miller says. \u201cShe wanted people to know\u00a0who the WASPs were, that they did something for this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more reason to get closure for herself, her family, and her\u00a0grandmother, who died at 95 and was inducted into the Maryland\u00a0Women\u2019s Hall of Fame on April 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just no way it would be satisfying for anybody in my\u00a0family to have a funeral somewhere else,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019d feel as\u00a0if we let her down, that we\u2019d let the WASPs down. Knowing my\u00a0grandmother, she wouldn\u2019t have taken no for an answer. We have\u00a0to make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tiffany Miller ’00 and her family worked for years to overturn a ruling that prohibited World War II Women Airforce Service Pilots\u2014known as WASPs\u2014from being buried at Arlington National Cemetery. 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