Posted on 01/03/2016 1:57:22 PM PST by Kaslin
My feeling has always been that men in the Merchant Marine should have at least been considered, but I have to temper that with the concept of making rules that have a lot of exceptions, and once one starts doing that, it can wave with the political wind depending on whom is being pandered to.
White
Anglo
Saxon
Protestants
Not enough Blacks in the WASPS,and the racists in the Obama coven can’t have that.
Got a good conduct medal for not raping the local House Frau's.
>>They were granted veteran status over 30 years ago
Do all veterans qualify for Arlington? I know that there used to be criteria and not all veterans qualified.
I have a simple solution by presidential decree or law enacted in congress allow only world war 2 combat vets to be buried and when the last combat vet dies officially close Arlington burial.
High government officials shouldn’t be there at all.
Don’t you mean schlonging? Or is that the same thing?
There were many defense and quasi-military operations during WWII. Every one of them was important to the war effort.
As mentioned already, the Merchant Marine operations were quite hazardous, and could easily be seen as a military mission, esp when the Wolfpacs were on the prowl.
Steel plants, shipyards, munitions factories, and Aircraft Factories were all considered secured locations, and all had active duty military on site. And although these support ops were essential to winning the war, and every job filled there by a woman freed up a potential soldier to face the enemy, none were considered “military service”, and none eligible for a Veteran’s burial at a state or federal cemetery.
This WASP is eligible to be interred in a State or National Cemetery along with other US Vets, and that is truly an honor our country bestows on those who served. My Father is interred in a Veterans’ Cemetery in SC, and looking at the headstones of his “neighbors”, he is in the company of true American Heroes.
Arlington is not the only cemetery in the country that honors and accepts our fallen Veterans.
My Will says my ashes are to be scattered over Arlington Cemetery by a friend who loves drones. ;)
I dunno. While not combat, just selflessly piloting those WWII-era planes at thousands of feet of elevation deserves much recognition.
We could ask Hillary The Liar. LOL!
What was he thinking? Those brave women deserve to be with the brave men.
I don’t dispute that non-military personnel were important to the war effort. I simply don’t think they should be allowed burial at Arlington or other military cemeteries.
I think it is an absolute, horrible travesty that people like Ted Kennedy are buried in Arlington, and there are probably a lot more like that.
K
I disagree. These women performed a vital role during the war and combined flew 60 Million Miles transporting aircraft, some I think even to England.
They more than put their lives on the line just as much as the men in the Army Air Corps did. The rules have been stretched since W.W. II to include a number of people and categories that allowed burial at Arlington.
Here is a link for info on the WASP’S https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots
I am including some statistics I came across a few years ago and the terrible toll the Army Air Corps suffered during W.W. II. The worst were all the accidents right here in the U.S.. Those women put themselves in that same danger day and day out. If we are only taking about such a small number then I think they more than earned it.
Amazing WW2 Aircraft Facts
On average, 6,600 American servicemen died every month during WWII (about 220 a day).
276,000 aircraft were manufactured in the US .
43,000 planes were lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat.
14,000 were lost in the continental U.S.
The staggering cost of aircraft in 1945 dollars
B-17 $204,370. P-40 $44,892.
B-24 $215,516. P-47 $85,578.
B-25 $142,194. P-51 $51,572.
B-26 $192,426. C-47 $88,574.
B-29 $605,360. PT-17 $15,052.
P-38 $97,147. AT-6 $22,952.
From Germany ‘s invasion of Poland Sept. 1, 1939 until Japan ‘s surrender on Sept. 2, 1945 equals 2,433 days. America lost an average of 170 planes a day.
A B-17 carried 2,500 gallons of high octane fuel and carried a crew of 10 airmen.
9.7 billion gallons of gasoline were consumed.
108 million hours were flown.
460 thousand million rounds of aircraft ammo was fired overseas.
7.9 million bombs were dropped overseas.
2.3 million combat flights.
299,230 aircraft used.
808,471 aircraft engines used.
799,972 propellers.
The US lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and support personnel plus 13,873 airplanes -— inside the continental United States. There were 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months.
Averaging 1,170 aircraft accidents per month—— nearly 40 a day.
It gets worse.....
Almost 1,000 planes disappeared en route from the US to foreign climes. But 43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948 on combat missions (18,418 in Europe ) and 20,633 due to non-combat causes overseas.
In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943, 60 B-17s were shot down. That was a 16 percent loss rate and meant 600 empty bunks in England. In 1942-43, it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete the intended 25-mission tour in Europe .
Pacific theatre losses were far less (4,530 in combat) owing to smaller forces committed. The B-29 mission against Tokyo on May 25, 1945, cost 26 Superfortresses, 5.6 percent of the 464 dispatched from the Marianas.
On average, 6,600 American servicemen died per month during WWII, about 220 a day. Over 40,000 airmen were killed in combat and another 18,000 wounded. Some 12,000 missing men were declared dead, including those “liberated” by the Soviets but never returned. More than 41,000 were captured. Half of the 5,400 held by the Japanese died in captivity, compared with one-tenth in German hands. Total combat casualties were 121,867.
The US forces peak strength was in 1944 with 2,372,000 personnel, nearly twice the previous year’s figure.
Losses were huge-—but so were production totals. From 1941 through 1945, American industry delivered more than 276,000 military aircraft. That was not only for US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but also for allies as diverse as Britain , Australia , China and Russia .
Our enemies took massive losses. Through much of 1944, the Luftwaffe sustained hemorrhaging of 25% of aircrews and 40 planes a month.
Experience Level:
Uncle Sam sent many men to war with minimum training. Some fighter pilots entered combat in 1942 with less than 1 hour in their assigned aircraft..
The 357th Fighter Group (The Yoxford Boys) went to England in late 1943 having trained on P-39s, then flew Mustangs. They never saw a Mustang until the first combat mission.
With the arrival of new aircraft, many units transitioned in combat. The attitude was, “They all have a stick and a throttle. Go fly `em.” When the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in Feb 44, there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition. The Group commander, Col. Donald Blakeslee, said, “You can learn to fly 51s on the way to the target.”
A future P-47 ace said, “I was sent to England to die.” Many bomber crews were still learning their trade. Of Jimmy Doolittle’s 15 pilots on the April 1942 Tokyo raid, only five had won their wings before 1941. All but one of the 16 co-pilots were less than a year out of flight school.
In WW2, safety took a back seat to combat. The AAF’s worst accident rate was recorded by the A-36 Invader version of the P-51: a staggering 274 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. Next worst were the P-39 at 245, the P-40 at 188, and the P-38 at 139. All were Allison powered.
Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. The B-17 and B-24 averaged 30 and 35 accidents per 100,000 flight hours respectively— a horrific figure considering that from 1980 to 2000 the Air Force’s major mishap rate was less than 2.
The B-29 was even worse at 40 per 100,000 hours; the world’s most sophisticated, most capable and most expensive bomber was too urgently needed to be able to stand down for mere safety reasons.
(Compare: when a $2.1 billion B-2 crashed in 2008, the Air Force declared a two-month “safety pause”).
The B-29 was no better for maintenance. Although the R3350 was known as a complicated, troublesome power-plant, only half the mechanics had previous experience with it.
Navigators: Perhaps the greatest success story concerned Navigators. The Army graduated some 50,000 during WW2. Many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving “Uncle Sugar” for a war zone. Yet they found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or running out of fuel - a tribute to the AAF’s training.
At its height in mid-1944, the USAAF had 2.6 million people and nearly 80,000 aircraft of all types.
Today the US Air Force employs 327,000 active personnel (plus 170,000 civilians) with 5,500+ manned and perhaps 200 unmanned aircraft. That’s about 12% of the manpower and 7% of the airplanes of the WW2 peak.
SUMMATION: Another war like that of 1939-45 is doubtful, as fighters and bombers have given way to helicopters and remotely-controlled drones, eg. over Afghanistan and Iraq.
But within our living memory, men left the earth in 1,000-plane formations and fought major battles five miles high, leaving a legacy that remains timeless (for which we should be grateful).
>>I dunno. While not combat, just selflessly piloting those WWII-era planes at thousands of feet of elevation deserves much recognition.
Do the male ferry pilots deserve the same recognition?
The fact that Ted Kennedy is buried there scorches me to the soul.
Yup; this title sure sucked THIS honkie in!!
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