S. 5016 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two 

An Act 

To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs located 

in Anchorage, Alaska, as the ‘‘Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus of the 

Alaska VA Healthcare System’’, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson 

Campus of the Alaska VA Healthcare System Act of 2022’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) Mary Louise (Milligan) Rasmuson was born April 11, 

1911, in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

(2) Mary Louise received a Bachelor of Science degree 

from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and a Master of 

Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh. 

(3) Mary Louise was one of the first two women to receive 

an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the Carnegie 

Institute of Technology. 

(4) In 1942, Mary Louise joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps as a Private and was in the first graduating class. 

(5) Mary Louise worked up the ranks, and in 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Mary Louise as the Fifth 

Director of the Women’s Army Corps and she was reappointed 

to this position by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. 

(6) In 1962, Colonel Rasmuson retired from the Army. 

(7) Colonel Rasmuson was recognized for her outstanding 

service in the Women’s Army Corps with the Legion of Merit 

award with two Oak Leaf Clusters for her work in expanding 

the roles and duties of women in the Army, as well as her 

role in integrating Black women in the Women’s Army Corps. 

(8) Colonel Rasmuson became Director of the Women’s 

Army Corps during tumultuous times and is credited with 

enhancing the image and recruitment of women into the 

Women’s Army Corps during her years as the Director. 

(9) Colonel Rasmuson expanded opportunities for women 

to serve in assignments previously reserved only for men, 

starting with the assignments of 12 enlisted women into the 

First Missile Master Unit at Fort Meade, Maryland. 

(10) Colonel Rasmuson was instrumental in enabling 

women to be promoted above the grade of E–7 into the highest 

enlisted ranks of the Army, E–8 and E–9. 
S. 5016—2 

(11) During her time in the Women’s Army Corps, Colonel 

Rasmuson was the guiding force behind the Army opening 

up the college enlistment option to women under the selfenhancement programs and witnessed the first female enlisted 

member attend college under those programs. 

(12) The career of Colonel Rasmuson also laid the groundwork for women to be fully integrated into the United States 

Army when the Women’s Army Corps was disbanded in 1978. 

(13) In 1961, Mary Louise married a prominent leader 

in Alaska, Elmer E. Rasmuson, and she was the first Director 

of the Women’s Army Corps to be married while serving in 

that position. 

(14) After her retirement from military service in 1962, 

Mary Louise moved to Alaska where she continued her leadership as a veteran in her community in Alaska. 

(15) Mary Louise served as First Lady of Anchorage after 

the devastating magnitude 9.2 earthquake in 1964, after her 

husband, Elmer, was elected as mayor, serving from 1964 to 

1967. 

(16) Mary Louise was an advocate of social justice, education, and the arts during her 45 years of work on the Board 

of the Rasmuson Foundation. 

(17) Mary Louise served as the Honorary Chair and was 

a major founder to renovate the Anchorage Veterans Memorial 

on the Delaney Parkstrip in downtown Anchorage. 

(18) Mary Louise also contributed to the Army Women’s 

Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, and 

the National Museum of the United States Army. 

(19) Mary Louise was the Chair of the Anchorage Museum 

Foundation and helped establish the museum in Anchorage, 

serving as its Chair for 21 years. 

(20) On July 30, 2012, Mary Louise died at her home 

in Anchorage, at the age of 101, but her legacy of character 

and leadership will endure as an example to all who serve 

in the United States military. 

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF COLONEL MARY LOUISE RASMUSON CAMPUS 

OF THE ALASKA VA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. 

(a) DESIGNATION.—The medical center of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs in Anchorage, Alaska, shall, after the date of 

the enactment of this Act, be known and designated as the ‘‘Colonel 

Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus of the Alaska VA Healthcare 

System’’. 
S. 5016—3 

(b) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 

document, paper, or other record of the United States to the medical 

center referred to in subsection (a) shall be considered to be a 

reference to the Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus of the 

Alaska VA Healthcare System. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.