[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1558 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1558
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the brave women
who served in World War II as members of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and
U.S. Navy Nurse Corps.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 11, 2023
Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Daines, Ms. Warren, Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs.
Blackburn, and Mr. Braun) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the brave women
who served in World War II as members of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and
U.S. Navy Nurse Corps.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war
against the Empire of Japan, followed by declarations of war
against Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941. In 1935, there
were fewer than 600 United States Army nurses and 1,700 United
States Navy nurses on active duty. By the time World War II
ended, more than 59,000 Army nurses and 14,000 Navy nurses had
volunteered to serve.
(2) The Act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 759; chapter 227),
granted women in the Nurse Corps ``relative rank.'' This gave
them the right to wear the military insignia, but did not
confer military status or privileges. This arrangement meant
women serving throughout World War II received 50 percent of
the pay as compared to their male counterparts, and none of the
veteran benefits. Because they did not receive military status,
they received no orientation or training before being deployed
to hospitals near the front lines.
(3) Nurses served under fire in field hospitals and
evacuation hospitals across 6 continents, on hospital trains
and ships, and as flight nurses on medical transport planes.
Several nurses were killed in action when their ships were
torpedoed or field hospitals were bombed. Some even entered
into combat areas as flight nurses to retrieve the wounded, and
2 groups were captured as prisoners of war by the Japanese.
(4) General Douglas MacArthur ordered Army nurses to the
Bataan Peninsula to prepare 2 emergency hospitals for United
States and Filipino forces. General Hospital 1 received
casualties directly from the front lines, and more than 1,200
battle casualties requiring major surgery were admitted within
a month. General Hospital 2 accepted patients strong enough for
evacuation, as it was out in the open, with no tents or
buildings, and only tree canopy to conceal them from Japanese
aircraft. Hospital 1 was bombed on March 29, 1942, killing or
wounding more than 100 patients, but the nurses carried on with
their duties as well as they were able. Following the United
States Army surrender of the Philippines to the Japanese on May
6, 1942, 67 Army nurses were taken to Santo Tomas Internment
Camp in Manila, where they remained until February 1945. During
the 37 months in captivity, these women endured primitive
conditions and starvation rations, but continued to care for
the ill and injured in the internment camp hospital.
(5) Early in the morning of November 8, 1942, 60 nurses
attached to the 48th Surgical Hospital landed off the coast of
North Africa. The nurses wore helmets and carried full packs
containing medical equipment. Without weapons, they waded
ashore amid enemy sniper fire and ultimately took shelter in an
abandoned civilian hospital, where they began caring for
invasion casualties. There was no electricity or running water,
and the only medical supplies available were those the nurses
had brought themselves.
(6) In Anzio, Italy, nurses dug foxholes outside their
tents or under their cots and cared for patients under German
shellfire. The field hospital tents were marked by large red
crosses and were sometimes deliberately hit with artillery
shells and bombs. On February 7, 1944, a German pilot being
pursued by British fighter planes dropped 5 antipersonnel bombs
on the hospital, destroying 29 ward tents, killing 26 and
wounding 64. The dead included 3 nurses, 2 medical officers, a
Red Cross worker, 14 enlisted men and 6 patients. Troops came
to refer to the hospital area as ``Hell's Half-Acre'' because
it was hit so frequently by enemy fire. At least 200 nurses
took part in the Anzio campaign, caring for more than 33,000
patients behind enemy lines.
(7) Army and Navy nurses acclimated quickly to difficult
and dangerous conditions with a minimum of complaints, and were
essential members of the field armies.
(8) The presence of nurses at the front improved morale
because soldiers realized that they would receive skilled care
in the event they were wounded.
(9) Thanks largely to the efforts of these nurses, fewer
than 4 percent of the American soldiers who received medical
care in the field or underwent evacuation died from wounds or
disease.
(10) After the war, broad public health missions required
that Army and Navy nurses supervise communicable disease
measures as former enemy countries were reorganized. In
Hiroshima, these officers cared for victims of the atomic
bombs. In Munich, they prevented mass epidemic in refugee
camps. Army and Navy nurses even provided prenatal, infant, and
mental health care in other former-enemy territories.
(11) Nurses received 1,619 medals, citations, and
commendations during the war, reflecting the courage and
dedication of all who served. Sixteen medals were awarded
posthumously to nurses who died as a result of enemy fire,
including 6 nurses who died at Anzio, 6 who died when the
hospital ship Comfort was attacked by a Japanese suicide plane,
and 4 flight nurses. Thirteen other flight nurses died in
weather-related crashes while on duty.
(12) In 1944, Congress passed a bill that granted Army and
Navy Nurses actual military rank and benefits, approved for the
duration of the war plus 6 months.
(13) In 1947, Congress passed legislation establishing a
permanent Army and Navy Nursing Corps and gave members
permanent officer status with equal pay and the same benefits
as those given to male officers.
(14) In 1948, all military branches were integrated and
female doctors were finally admitted to the Army Medical Corps.
(15) Although African-American nurses were fully qualified
and prepared to serve as nurses at the onset of World War II,
racial segregation and discrimination made it difficult for
Black women to join the ranks of the Army Nurse Corps.
(16) As the Army Nurse Corps began expanding its recruiting
process, thousands of Black nurses who wanted to serve their
country filled out applications.
(17) While the Army did eventually integrate African-
American nurses in 1941, it did so unwillingly and placed a
quota on the number of African-American nurses that they would
accept, capping the number allowed to join at 56.
(18) Many of them had hardship tours and were sent to
segregated camps to take care of African-American soldiers and
would rotate and allow White nurses reprieve in taking care of
German prisoners of war. As the war progressed, the number of
Black nurses allowed to enlist remained low, although the quota
was officially lifted in July 1944.
(19) The extraordinary efforts of these women are deserving
of belated official recognition.
(20) The United States is eternally grateful to the nurses
of the Army and Navy Nurse Corps for their bravery and
dedication to their patients through World War II, which saved
lives and made significant contributions to the defeat of the
Axis powers.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate
arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of
appropriate design in honor of World War II Army and Navy Nurse Corps
members, in recognition of the critical military service and devotion
to duty of those nurses.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award described in
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act
as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the gold medal with suitable
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
(c) Smithsonian Institution.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal
under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for
display as appropriate and made available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received
under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere,
particularly at--
(A) appropriate locations associated with the Army
and Navy Nurse Corps of World War II, including--
(i) the U.S. Army Medical Center of
Excellence;
(ii) the Women in Military Service for
America Memorial;
(iii) the U.S. Army Women's Museum;
(iv) the National Naval Medical Centers;
and
(v) the National World War II Museum; and
(B) any other location determined appropriate by
the Smithsonian Institution.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs
of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--Medals struck pursuant to this Act are
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States
Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck
under this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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