Chaplain (Major General) Steven Schaick, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains, spent three years as a young captain conducting funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. He has plenty of fond memories of his service there, but ask him about his most poignant recollection and he’ll tell you about the flyover.
It was the fall of 1995, when Chaplain Schaick, still new to the cemetery, conducted the funeral of a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP). These women served theircountry during World War II by testing and ferrying aircraft, towing targets for anti-aircraft practice, and training male pilots. Despite their contribution, the women were not considered part of the U.S. military. They received no veterans benefits until 1977, and were barred from being buried in Arlington National Cemetery until 2005. The woman whose funeral Chaplain Schaick would be conducting was being buried as a spouse.
As part of the funeral, Schaick met with the deceased woman’s family, where he asked the woman’s sister about her. “She loved flying and she loved being able to contribute to the war effort, even if her country did not recognize it,” he recalled her telling him. As he departed, the sister grabbed Schaick’s hand and asked, “You know what would make this day perfect?” Schaick, caught off guard, responded, “I don’t know.” She told him: “I just wish my sister would have a flyover for today.” Flyovers, also known as missing-man formations, were reserved for military pilots or well-known military/political figures. When Schaick reminded her there would be no flyover, the sister explained, “In own my mind, in my own heart, my sister deserves a flyover… I wanted to share that with you.”
At the grave site, Schaick watched as the Air Force honor guard set the casket in place. He then delivered a short service, and dropped to one knee to tell the sister, “Thank you for the privilege of being a part of a moment to honor your sister.” But he never finished his sentence. Just as he spoke, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 departing from nearby Reagan National Airport banked hard to the left and flew over the cemetery, its roaring engines blanking out all sound.
Schaick and the woman’s sister looked at each other, tears rolling down their cheeks. “We both knew what the next words out of our mouths were going to be,” he explained. “Thank you for the flyover.” While the anomaly might not have been a formation of Air Force fighter jets, the woman who served her country so proudly had finally received her salute.
“To me, this was indicative of the great privilege I had as a chaplain,” said Schaick. “Being a part of what appeared, on the surface, to be a military tradition of honoring people and their dependents, but it was always more than that. There was sacred activity.”
TO LEARN MORE
- “Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls,” by Susan Stamberg, National Public Radio, https://www.npr.org/2010/03/09/123773525/female-wwii-pilots-the-original-fly-girls
- “Female WWII Pilots Can Now Be Buried at Arlington National Cemetery,” by Erin Blakemore, Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/female-wwii-pilots-can-now-be-buried-arlington-national-cemetery--180959203/
PHOTO CAPTION: Air Force Chaplain (Captain) Steven Schaick presides at a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in the 1990s. Today, Schaick serves as the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains, but he fondly remembers his time at Arlington. (credit: Chaplain Steven Shaick)
PHOTO CAPTION: A Southwest Airline Boeing 737 flies over Arlington National Cemetery after taking off from Reagan National Airport. During a funeral conducted by Captain Steven Schaick a Southwest plane flew over Arlington National Cemetery, providing a flyover. (credit: Kevin M. Hymel for Arlington National Cemetery)
Author: Kevin Hymel
