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[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5016 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        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.
        (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 self-enhancement 
    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''.
    (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.
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