118 S1558 IS: WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act
U.S. Senate
2023-05-11
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II
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1558
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.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.