[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5765-S5766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TO AWARD A CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL TO THE WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE 
                           PILOTS (``WASP'')

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee 
on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from further 
consideration of S. 614.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 614) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to The 
     Women Airforce Service Pilots (``WASP'').

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Hutchison 
technical amendment at the desk be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be 
read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon 
the table, and any statements relating to this measure be printed in 
the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 1200) was agreed to, as follows:

       On page 3, line 11, strike ``Army Air Force'' and insert 
     ``Army Air Forces''
       On page 3, line 13, strike ``Air Force'' and insert ``Air 
     Forces''
       On page 3, line 17, strike ``Army Air Force'' and insert 
     ``Army Air Forces''
       On page 4, line 2, strike ``Force'' and insert ``Forces''

  The bill (S. 614) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 614

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII, known as the 
     ``WASP'', were the first women in history to fly American 
     military aircraft;
       (2) more than 60 years ago, they flew fighter, bomber, 
     transport, and training aircraft in defense of America's 
     freedom;
       (3) they faced overwhelming cultural and gender bias 
     against women in nontraditional roles and overcame multiple 
     injustices and inequities in order to serve their country;
       (4) through their actions, the WASP eventually were the 
     catalyst for revolutionary reform in the integration of women 
     pilots into the Armed Services;
       (5) during the early months of World War II, there was a 
     severe shortage of combat pilots;
       (6) Jacqueline Cochran, America's leading woman pilot of 
     the time, convinced General Hap Arnold, Chief of the Army Air 
     Forces, that women, if given the same training as men, would 
     be equally capable of flying military aircraft and could then 
     take over some of the stateside military flying jobs, thereby 
     releasing hundreds of male pilots for combat duty;
       (7) the severe loss of male combat pilots made the 
     necessity of utilizing women pilots to help in the war effort 
     clear to General Arnold, and a women's pilot training program 
     was soon approved;
       (8) it was not until August 1943, that the women aviators 
     would receive their official name;
       (9) General Arnold ordered that all women pilots flying 
     military aircraft, including 28 civilian women ferry pilots, 
     would be named ``WASP'', Women Airforce Service Pilots;
       (10) more than 25,000 American women applied for training, 
     but only 1,830 were accepted and took the oath;
       (11) exactly 1,074 of those trainees successfully completed 
     the 21 to 27 weeks of Army Air Forces flight training, 
     graduated, and received their Army Air Forces orders to 
     report to their assigned air base;
       (12) on November 16, 1942, the first class of 29 women 
     pilots reported to the Houston, Texas Municipal Airport and 
     began the same military flight training as the male Army Air 
     Forces cadets were taking;
       (13) due to a lack of adequate facilities at the airport, 3 
     months later the training program was moved to Avenger Field 
     in Sweetwater, Texas;
       (14) WASP were eventually stationed at 120 Army air bases 
     all across America;
       (15) they flew more than 60,000,000 miles for their country 
     in every type of aircraft and on every type of assignment 
     flown by the male Army Air Forces pilots, except combat;
       (16) WASP assignments included test piloting, instructor 
     piloting, towing targets for air-to-air gunnery practice, 
     ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice, ferrying, transporting 
     personnel and cargo (including parts for the atomic bomb), 
     simulated strafing, smoke laying, night tracking, and flying 
     drones;
       (17) in October 1943, male pilots were refusing to fly the 
     B-26 Martin Marauder (known as the ``Widowmaker'') because of 
     its fatality records, and General Arnold ordered WASP 
     Director, Jacqueline Cochran, to select 25 WASP to be trained 
     to fly the B-26 to prove to the male pilots that it was safe 
     to fly;
       (18) during the existence of the WASP--
       (A) 38 women lost their lives while serving their country;
       (B) their bodies were sent home in poorly crafted pine 
     boxes;
       (C) their burial was at the expense of their families or 
     classmates;
       (D) there were no gold stars allowed in their parents' 
     windows; and
       (E) because they were not considered military, no American 
     flags were allowed on their coffins;
       (19) in 1944, General Arnold made a personal request to 
     Congress to militarize the WASP, and it was denied;
       (20) on December 7, 1944, in a speech to the last 
     graduating class of WASP, General Arnold said, ``You and more 
     than 900 of your sisters have shown you can fly wingtip to 
     wingtip with your brothers. I salute you . . . We of the Army 
     Air Force are proud of you. We will never forget our debt to 
     you.'';
       (21) with victory in WWII almost certain, on December 20, 
     1944, the WASP were quietly and unceremoniously disbanded;
       (22) there were no honors, no benefits, and very few 
     ``thank you's'';
       (23) just as they had paid their own way to enter training, 
     they had to pay their own way back home after their honorable 
     service to the military;
       (24) the WASP military records were immediately sealed, 
     stamped ``classified'' or ``secret'', and filed away in 
     Government archives, unavailable to the historians who wrote 
     the history of WWII or the scholars who compiled the history 
     text books used today, with many of the records not 
     declassified until the 1980s;
       (25) consequently, the WASP story is a missing chapter in 
     the history of the Air Force, the history of aviation, and 
     the history of the United States of America;
       (26) in 1977, 33 years after the WASP were disbanded, the 
     Congress finally voted to give the WASP the veteran status 
     they had earned, but these heroic pilots were not invited to 
     the signing ceremony at the White House, and it was not until 
     7 years later that their medals were delivered in the mail in 
     plain brown envelopes;
       (27) in the late 1970s, more than 30 years after the WASP 
     flew in World War II, women were finally permitted to attend 
     military pilot training in the United States Armed Forces;
       (28) thousands of women aviators flying support aircraft 
     have benefitted from the service of the WASP and followed in 
     their footsteps;
       (29) in 1993, the WASP were once again referenced during 
     congressional hearings regarding the contributions that women 
     could make to the military, which eventually led to women 
     being able to fly military fighter, bomber, and attack 
     aircraft in combat;
       (30) hundreds of United States servicewomen combat pilots 
     have seized the opportunity to fly fighter aircraft in recent 
     conflicts, all thanks to the pioneering steps taken by the 
     WASP;
       (31) the WASP have maintained a tight-knit community, 
     forged by the common experiences of serving their country 
     during war;
       (32) as part of their desire to educate America on the WASP 
     history, WASP have assisted ``Wings Across America'', an 
     organization dedicated to educating the American public, with 
     much effort aimed at children, about the remarkable 
     accomplishments of these WWII veterans; and
       (33) the WASP have been honored with exhibits at numerous 
     museums, to include--
       (A) the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC;
       (B) the Women in Military Service to America Memorial at 
     Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia;
       (C) the National Museum of the United States Air Force, 
     Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio;
       (D) the National WASP WWII Museum, Sweetwater, Texas;
       (E) the 8th Air Force Museum, Savannah, Georgia;

[[Page S5766]]

       (F) the Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston, Texas;
       (G) the American Airpower Museum, Farmingdale, New York;
       (H) the Pima Air Museum, Tucson, Arizona;
       (I) the Seattle Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington;
       (J) the March Air Museum, March Reserve Air Base, 
     California; and
       (K) the Texas State History Museum, Austin, Texas.

     SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

       (a) Award Authorized.--The President pro tempore of the 
     Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall 
     make appropriate arrangements for the award, on behalf of the 
     Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design in 
     honor of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) 
     collectively, in recognition of their pioneering military 
     service and exemplary record, which forged revolutionary 
     reform in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
       (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award 
     referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 
     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 in 
     honor of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the gold medal 
     shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it will 
     be displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
       (2) Sense of the congress.--It is the sense of the Congress 
     that the Smithsonian Institution shall make the gold medal 
     received under this Act available for display elsewhere, 
     particularly at other locations associated with the WASP.

     SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

       Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the 
     Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the 
     gold medal struck under this Act, at a price sufficient to 
     cover the costs of the medals, including labor, materials, 
     dyes, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.

     SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

       Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for 
     purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

     SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

       (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized 
     to be charged against the United States Mint Public 
     Enterprise Fund, an amount not to exceed $30,000 to pay for 
     the cost of the medal authorized under section 2.
       (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of 
     duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in 
     the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

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