[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 93 (Thursday, May 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S3903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 249--HONORING WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THEIR 
  SERVICE IN WORLD WAR II AND RECOGNIZING THE ROLE OF REPRESENTATIVE 
 EDITH NOURSE ROGERS IN ESTABLISHING THE WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS 
                       AND THE WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS

  Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cotton, Ms. 
Ernst, and Ms. Hirono) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Armed Services:

                              S. Res. 249

       Whereas during World War II (referred to in this preamble 
     as the ``War''), despite social stigmas against women serving 
     in uniform, women in the United States served in the Armed 
     Forces in vast numbers;
       Whereas Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts 
     introduced legislation to create the Women's Army Auxiliary 
     Corps (referred to in this preamble as the ``WAAC'') in May 
     1941, which was signed into law by President Franklin D. 
     Roosevelt on May 15, 1942;
       Whereas the first director of the WAAC, Oveta Culp Hobby, 
     was sworn in on May 16, 1942, and shortly thereafter began 
     the process of recruiting women to join the WAAC, which 
     garnered over 35,000 applications for an anticipated 1,000 
     available positions;
       Whereas the first recruits for the newly-created WAAC 
     arrived at the first training center on July 20, 1942, with 
     125 enlisted women and 440 officer candidates, 40 of whom 
     were Black;
       Whereas, during the War, women serving in the Army in the 
     WAAC and the Women's Army Corps (referred to in this preamble 
     as the ``WAC'') performed duties traditionally performed by 
     men;
       Whereas, in unspoken recognition of the value of their 
     services, the Army removed the auxiliary status of the WAAC 
     units in 1943, which gave women all of the rank, privileges, 
     and benefits of male soldiers;
       Whereas almost \1/2\ of the members of the WAC during the 
     War served in the Army Air Forces as officers and enlisted 
     personnel, with duties including radio operator, 
     photographer, and flight clerk;
       Whereas 7,315 of those members of the Army Air Forces WAC 
     were serving overseas in all theaters of the War in January 
     1945;
       Whereas, at the end of the War, 657 women were honored for 
     their service in the WAAC and the WAC, receiving medals and 
     citations, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the 
     Legion of Merit, the Air Medal, the Soldiers' Medal for 
     heroic action, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star;
       Whereas, in 1946, the Army requested that Congress 
     establish the WAC as a permanent part of the Army, perhaps 
     the single greatest indication of the value of women in the 
     Army to the effort of the United States in the War;
       Whereas, during the War, women served with the Army Air 
     Forces in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, the 
     Women's Flying Training Detachment, and the Women Air Force 
     Service Pilots (referred to in this preamble as ``WASPs'');
       Whereas women serving with the Army Air Forces--
       (1) ferried planes from factories to airfields;
       (2) performed test flights of repaired aircraft towed 
     targets used in live gunnery practice; and
       (3) performed a variety of other duties traditionally 
     performed by men;
       Whereas women pilots flew more than 70 types of military 
     aircraft, from open-cockpit primary trainers to P-51 
     Mustangs, B-26 Marauders, and B-29 Superfortresses;
       Whereas, from September 10, 1942, to December 20, 1944, 
     1,074 WASPs flew an aggregate 60,000,000 miles in wartime 
     service;
       Whereas, although WASPs were promised military 
     classification, they were classified as civilians, and the 38 
     WASPs who died in the line of duty were regrettably buried 
     without military honors;
       Whereas WASPs did not receive official status as military 
     veterans until March 1979, when WASP units were formally 
     recognized as components of the Air Force;
       Whereas, during the War, women in the Navy served in the 
     Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (referred to 
     in this preamble as ``WAVES'');
       Whereas, approximately 90,000 WAVES served the Navy in a 
     variety of capacities and in such numbers that, according to 
     a Navy estimate, enough sailors were freed for combat duty to 
     crew the ships of 4 major task forces, each including a 
     battleship, 2 large aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, 4 
     light cruisers, and 15 destroyers;
       Whereas WAVES who served in naval aviation taught 
     instrument flying, aircraft recognition, celestial 
     navigation, aircraft gunnery, radio, radar, air combat 
     information, and air fighter administration, but were not 
     allowed to be pilots;
       Whereas, at the end of the War, Secretary of the Navy James 
     Forrestal stated that members of the WAVES ``have exceeded 
     performance of men in certain types of work, and the Navy 
     Department considers it to be very desirable that these 
     important services rendered by women during the war should 
     likewise be available in postwar years ahead'';
       Whereas, during the War, women served in the Marine Corps 
     Women's Reserve;
       Whereas more than 23,000 women served at shore 
     establishments of the Marine Corps, and by the end of the 
     War, 85 percent of the enlisted personnel assigned to 
     Headquarters Marine Corps were women;
       Whereas, during the War, women were assigned to over 200 
     different specialties in the Marine Corps and, by performing 
     those duties, freed other Marines for active duty to fight;
       Whereas, during the War, women served in the Coast Guard 
     Women's Reserve (referred to in this preamble as ``SPARs'');
       Whereas more than 10,000 women volunteered for service with 
     the Coast Guard during the period from 1942 through 1946, and 
     when the Coast Guard was at the peak of its strength during 
     the War, 1 out of every 16 members of the Coast Guard was a 
     SPAR;
       Whereas the SPARs who attended the Coast Guard Academy were 
     the first women in the United States to attend a military 
     academy;
       Whereas, by the end of the War, more than 400,000 women had 
     served the United States in military capacities;
       Whereas those women who served, despite their merit and the 
     recognized value and importance of their contributions to the 
     effort of the United States during the War--
       (1) were not given status equal to their male counterparts; 
     and
       (2) struggled for years to receive the appreciation of 
     Congress and the people of the United States;
       Whereas those women helped to catalyze the social, 
     demographic, and economic evolutions that occurred after the 
     War and that continue to this day; and
       Whereas those pioneering women are owed a great debt of 
     gratitude for their service to the United States: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors the women who served the United States in 
     military capacities during World War II;
       (2) commends those women who, through a sense of duty and 
     willingness to defy stereotypes and social pressures, 
     performed military assignments to aid the war effort, 
     allowing for more combat capacity;
       (3) recognizes that those women, by serving with diligence 
     and merit, not only opened up opportunities for women that 
     had previously been reserved for men, but also contributed 
     vitally to the victory of the United States and the Allies in 
     World War II; and
       (4) honors the contributions of Congresswoman Edith Nourse 
     Rogers and her fellow Members of Congress who supported the 
     establishment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and the 
     Women's Army Corps.

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