Show notes
Erin Miller is the proud granddaughter of Elaine Danforth Harmon, a member of the Women Air-force Service Pilots (WASP) during WWII. Her grandmother’s last request was to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC). After she died in April 2015, this request was denied by the US Army which runs ANC. Erin led a grassroots, social media, and direct lobbying campaign to fight the decision. This campaign was a success.
On May 20, 2016, President Obama signed H.R. 4336, the bill introduced in Congress by Representative Martha McSally (AZ-2) in January 2016, which then became a law to officially recognize the service of WASP as eligible for ANC. The funeral was held on September 7, 2016, at ANC. This was followed by a family memorial service at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, where Erin, her mother Terry, her sister Tiffany, Air Force pilots Lt. Col. Caroline Jensen, and Maj. Heather Penney and Representative Martha McSally spoke to honor Elaine's life and service. Erin is a licensed attorney in Maryland. She has a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, a Master’s in International Studies from the University of Leeds (UK), and a B.A. in History from the University of California, San Diego. Credits Written and curated by Sara Collini. Images and sources courtesy of the WASP Archive, The TWU Libraries’ Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas. National WASP WWII Museum, Portal to Texas History and IMLS. US Air Force Collection, Record Group 342, National Archives. Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Veterans History Project, Library of Congress. Jacqueline Cochran Collection, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, and Museum. US Air Force Official Website: https://www.af.mil/ Bibliography Cornelsen, Kathleen. “Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II: Exploring Military Aviation, Encountering Discrimination, and Exchanging Traditional Roles in Service to America.” Journal of Women’s History 17.4 (2005): 111–119. Hodgson, Marion Stegeman. Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996. Merryman, Molly. Clipped Wings: The Rise and Fall of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II. New York: New York University Press, 1998. Noggle, Anne. For God, Country, and the Thrill of It: Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II: Photographic Portraits and Text. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1990. Rickman, Sarah Byrn. Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2008. Sage, Jenny. “Ladies of Lockbourne: Women Airforce Service Pilots and the Mighty B-17 Flying Fortress.” Ohio History 124 (2017): 5–27. Strebe, Amy Goodpaster. Flying for Her Country: the American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II. Westport: Praeger Security International, 2007. Yellin, Emily. Our Mothers’ War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II. New York: Free Press, 2004.
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Nichol Malachowski
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