人妻少妇专区

Alumni Gazette

Tiffany Miller 鈥�00 knows what her late grandmother, the matriarch of the family, wanted done with her ashes. Elaine Danforth Harmon had clearly spelled out her wishes on a handwritten note found in a fireproof box after her death in April 2015: she wanted them placed at Arlington National Cemetery.

A year later, Miller and her family continue to fight to have that request granted for her maternal grandmother, who鈥檇 been a member of the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) during World War II. At the time of Harmon鈥檚 death, Miller鈥檚 family was unaware that only a month before, the Army, which has jurisdiction over the cemetery, had ruled WASPs ineligible for inurnment at Arlington.

To Miller, it was the latest in a history of slights against the 1,074 women pilots who transported military planes, towed targets for live ammunition training, and trained male pilots to fly.

鈥淢y grandmother used to say that the WASPs were forgotten about for 30 years, and that has stuck with me,鈥� says Miller.

During and after the war, WASPs were considered civilians. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a law granting WASPs military veteran status in the first public recognition of the pilots since the end of World War II. In 2002, a military directive made WASPs eligible for inurnment at Arlington with military honors. Early in 2015, following a legal review of the 2002 rule, then Secretary of the Army John McHugh announced that the Army would reverse that policy.

Miller has been a leader in a national campaign to get the Army to restore the eligibility of WASPs for inurnment at Arlington. It鈥檚 led to interviews in the New York Times and other national media, a Change.org petition with more than 170,000 signatures鈥攁nd even legislation on behalf of the pilots.

In a public statement released in January, an Army spokesman said that the 2002 rule had come from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has no authority over the Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington鈥檚 鈥渆ligibility criteria are far more stringent鈥� than those of other military cemeteries, he said, 鈥渄ue to space limitations.鈥�

But Miller鈥檚 efforts are paying off, with political support and public opinion overwhelmingly on the side of the WASPs. On March 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women Airforce Service Pilot Arlington Inurnment Restoration Act, which directs the Army to ensure that the cremated remains of WASPs are eligible for inurnment in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. It passed 385-0.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just totally incredible and unexpected,鈥� says Miller, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area and has been working toward such a result with her older sister, Erin, a lawyer, and younger sister, Whitney, a former lobbyist. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate.

For Miller, the battle to move her grandmother鈥檚 ashes from her mother鈥檚 bedroom closet to the nation鈥檚 most hallowed ground is meaningful on multiple levels. A women鈥檚 studies major at Rochester, she was also president of the Women鈥檚 Caucus (now called College Feminists). During her tenure, she organized a panel discussion about women and war, in which her grandmother鈥攁nd her mother, who worked for the American Red Cross in Vietnam鈥攑articipated. She says WASPs are still all but unknown. 鈥淧eople know about the Tuskegee Airmen because of Steven Spielberg, but not many people know about the WASPs,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I tell people about them, they say, 鈥楻eally? Women flew in the war?鈥� 鈥�

To change that, Miller, with a background in project management, gives media interviews, attends press conferences, checks comments posted on her petition, and scours the Internet every day for the latest news stories about the legislation, introduced by Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona, the Air Force鈥檚 first female fighter pilot to fly in combat.

Miller鈥檚 sister, Erin Miller, says Tiffany has always been 鈥渧ery tenacious.鈥�

鈥淪he鈥檚 always been the kind of person who sees something that鈥檚 wrong and then immediately wants to do anything she can to make it right.鈥�

Tiffany Miller is as firmly dedicated to women鈥檚 equality as she was in college. 鈥淪he鈥檚 always sending [Whitney and me] New York Times articles about the injustices in the world, especially when it comes to women鈥檚 issues,鈥� Erin adds. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 always something that鈥檚 at the front of her mind.鈥�

Tiffany is especially proud of the Congressional Gold Medal that Harmon received from President Barack Obama in 2009. Shortly after returning from the White House, Harmon donated the medal to the College Park Aviation Museum in Maryland, where she lived.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 about her,鈥� Miller says. 鈥淪he wanted people to know who the WASPs were, that they did something for this country.鈥�

Even more reason to get closure for herself, her family, and her grandmother, who died at 95 and was inducted into the Maryland Women鈥檚 Hall of Fame on April 7.

鈥淭here鈥檚 just no way it would be satisfying for anybody in my family to have a funeral somewhere else,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檇 feel as if we let her down, that we鈥檇 let the WASPs down. Knowing my grandmother, she wouldn鈥檛 have taken no for an answer. We have to make this happen.鈥� 鈥擱obin L. Flanigan