I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2014 

To award a congressional gold medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots 

(‘‘WASP’’). 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 21, 2009 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. BARTLETT, 

Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. 

MCCARTHY of California, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mrs. 

TAUSCHER, Mr. EDWARDS of Texas, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, 

Mrs. MALONEY, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. 

SNYDER, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. MASSA, Mr. STEARNS, 

Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. GOHMERT, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, 

Ms. BERKLEY, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 

KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. KISSELL, Mr. ROONEY, Mr. SPRATT, Mrs. 

KIRKPATRICK of Arizona, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. BUCHANAN, 

Mr. CALVERT, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WOLF, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. TURNER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. SAM

JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. SCALISE, Ms. WOOLSEY, 

Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. FILNER, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. HALL

of Texas, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. CONNOLLY of 

Virginia, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, 

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. BRADY of 

Texas, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. 

CAMPBELL, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Ms. HARMAN, 

Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. BONNER, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Ms. 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland, Mr. 

MANZULLO, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. MACK, Mr. WEINER, Mr. 

CRENSHAW, Mr. SCHOCK, Mr. LEE of New York, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. 

UPTON, Mr. CLAY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. 

MARCHANT, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. SHULER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 

BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. EHLERS, 

Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. YOUNG

of Alaska, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. MCKEON, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. RADANOVICH, 

Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. TANNER, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. MEEK

of Florida, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Ms. MOORE of WisVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:03 Apr 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H2014.IH H2014

smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
2 

•HR 2014 IH

consin, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. SESSIONS, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 

Florida, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. REYES, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. OBERSTAR, 

Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. 

GUTIERREZ, Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN, 

Mr. ADLER of New Jersey, Mr. WU, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. 

SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. DREIER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. LANCE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 

BARROW, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mr. PIERLUISI, Mr. CARTER, Mr. OLVER, 

Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. CAO, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. 

MORAN of Virginia, Mrs. LUMMIS, and Mr. ADERHOLT) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 

and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To award a congressional gold medal to the Women Airforce 

Service Pilots (‘‘WASP’’). 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds that— 

5 (1) the Women Airforce Service Pilots of 

6 WWII, known as the ‘‘WASP’’, were the first women 

7 in history to fly American military aircraft; 

8 (2) more than 60 years ago, they flew fighter, 

9 bomber, transport, and training aircraft in defense 

10 of America’s freedom; 

11 (3) they faced overwhelming cultural and gen12 der bias against women in nontraditional roles and 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
3 

•HR 2014 IH

1 overcame multiple injustices and inequities in order 

2 to serve their country; 

3 (4) through their actions, the WASP eventually 

4 were the catalyst for revolutionary reform in the in5 tegration of women pilots into the Armed Services; 

6 (5) during the early months of World War II, 

7 there was a severe shortage of combat pilots; 

8 (6) Jacqueline Cochran, America’s leading 

9 woman pilot of the time, convinced General Hap Ar10 nold, Chief of the Army Air Forces, that women, if 

11 given the same training as men, would be equally ca12 pable of flying military aircraft and could then take 

13 over some of the stateside military flying jobs, there14 by releasing hundreds of male pilots for combat 

15 duty; 

16 (7) the severe loss of male combat pilots made 

17 the necessity of utilizing women pilots to help in the 

18 war effort clear to General Arnold, and a women’s 

19 pilot training program was soon approved; 

20 (8) it was not until August 1943, that the 

21 women aviators would receive their official name; 

22 (9) General Arnold ordered that all women pi23 lots flying military aircraft, including 28 civilian 

24 women ferry pilots, would be named ‘‘WASP’’, 

25 Women Airforce Service Pilots; 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
4 

•HR 2014 IH

1 (10) more than 25,000 American women ap2 plied for training, but only 1,830 were accepted and 

3 took the oath; 

4 (11) exactly 1,074 of those trainees successfully 

5 completed the 21 to 27 weeks of Army Air Force 

6 flight training, graduated, and received their Army 

7 Air Force orders to report to their assigned air base; 

8 (12) on November 16, 1942, the first class of 

9 29 women pilots reported to the Houston, Texas 

10 Municipal Airport and began the same military 

11 flight training as the male Army Air Force cadets 

12 were taking; 

13 (13) due to a lack of adequate facilities at the 

14 airport, 3 months later the training program was 

15 moved to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas; 

16 (14) WASP were eventually stationed at 120 

17 Army air bases all across America; 

18 (15) they flew more than 60,000,000 miles for 

19 their country in every type of aircraft and on every 

20 type of assignment flown by the male Army Air 

21 Force pilots, except combat; 

22 (16) WASP assignments included test piloting, 

23 instructor piloting, towing targets for air-to-air gun24 nery practice, ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice, 

25 ferrying, transporting personnel and cargo (includVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:03 Apr 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2014.IH H2014

smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
5 

•HR 2014 IH

1 ing parts for the atomic bomb), simulated strafing, 

2 smoke laying, night tracking, and flying drones; 

3 (17) in October 1943, male pilots were refusing 

4 to fly the B–26 Martin Marauder (known as the 

5 ‘‘Widowmaker’’) because of its fatality records, and 

6 General Arnold ordered WASP Director, Jacqueline 

7 Cochran, to select 25 WASP to be trained to fly the 

8 B–26 to prove to the male pilots that it was safe to 

9 fly; 

10 (18) during the existence of the WASP— 

11 (A) 38 women lost their lives while serving 

12 their country; 

13 (B) their bodies were sent home in poorly 

14 crafted pine boxes; 

15 (C) their burial was at the expense of their 

16 families or classmates; 

17 (D) there were no gold stars allowed in 

18 their parents’ windows; and 

19 (E) because they were not considered mili20 tary, no American flags were allowed on their 

21 coffins; 

22 (19) in 1944, General Arnold made a personal 

23 request to Congress to militarize the WASP, and it 

24 was denied; 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
6 

•HR 2014 IH

1 (20) on December 7, 1944, in a speech to the 

2 last graduating class of WASP, General Arnold said, 

3 ‘‘You and more than 900 of your sisters have shown 

4 you can fly wingtip to wingtip with your brothers. I 

5 salute you . . . We of the Army Air Force are proud 

6 of you. We will never forget our debt to you.’’; 

7 (21) with victory in WWII almost certain, on 

8 December 20, 1944, the WASP were quietly and 

9 unceremoniously disbanded; 

10 (22) there were no honors, no benefits, and very 

11 few ‘‘thank you’s’’; 

12 (23) just as they had paid their own way to 

13 enter training, they had to pay their own way back 

14 home after their honorable service to the military; 

15 (24) the WASP military records were imme16 diately sealed, stamped ‘‘classified’’ or ‘‘secret’’, and 

17 filed away in Government archives, unavailable to 

18 the historians who wrote the history of WWII or the 

19 scholars who compiled the history text books used 

20 today, with many of the records not declassified 

21 until the 1980s; 

22 (25) consequently, the WASP story is a missing 

23 chapter in the history of the Air Force, the history 

24 of aviation, and the history of the United States of 

25 America; 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
7 

•HR 2014 IH

1 (26) in 1977, 33 years after the WASP were 

2 disbanded, the Congress finally voted to give the 

3 WASP the veteran status they had earned, but these 

4 heroic pilots were not invited to the signing cere5 mony at the White House, and it was not until 7 

6 years later that their medals were delivered in the 

7 mail in plain brown envelopes; 

8 (27) in the late 1970s, more than 30 years 

9 after the WASP flew in World War II, women were 

10 finally permitted to attend military pilot training in 

11 the United States Armed Forces; 

12 (28) thousands of women aviators flying sup13 port aircraft have benefitted from the service of the 

14 WASP and followed in their footsteps; 

15 (29) in 1993, the WASP were once again ref16 erenced during congressional hearings regarding the 

17 contributions that women could make to the mili18 tary, which eventually led to women being able to fly 

19 military fighter, bomber, and attack aircraft in com20 bat; 

21 (30) hundreds of United States servicewomen 

22 combat pilots have seized the opportunity to fly 

23 fighter aircraft in recent conflicts, all thanks to the 

24 pioneering steps taken by the WASP; 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
8 

•HR 2014 IH

1 (31) the WASP have maintained a tight-knit 

2 community, forged by the common experiences of 

3 serving their country during war; 

4 (32) as part of their desire to educate America 

5 on the WASP history, WASP have assisted ‘‘Wings 

6 Across America’’, an organization dedicated to edu7 cating the American public, with much effort aimed 

8 at children, about the remarkable accomplishments 

9 of these WWII veterans; and 

10 (33) the WASP have been honored with exhibits 

11 at numerous museums, to include— 

12 (A) the Smithsonian Institution, Wash13 ington, DC; 

14 (B) the Women in Military Service to 

15 America Memorial at Arlington National Ceme16 tery, Arlington, Virginia; 

17 (C) the National Museum of the United 

18 States Air Force, Wright Patterson Air Force 

19 Base, Ohio; 

20 (D) the National WASP WWII Museum, 

21 Sweetwater, Texas; 

22 (E) the 8th Air Force Museum, Savannah, 

23 Georgia; 

24 (F) the Lone Star Flight Museum, Gal25 veston, Texas; 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
9 

•HR 2014 IH

1 (G) the American Airpower Museum, 

2 Farmingdale, New York; 

3 (H) the Pima Air Museum, Tucson, Ari4 zona; 

5 (I) the Seattle Museum of Flight, Seattle, 

6 Washington; 

7 (J) the March Air Museum, March Reserve 

8 Air Base, California; and 

9 (K) the Texas State History Museum, 

10 Austin, Texas. 

11 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

12 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The President pro tem13 pore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep14 resentatives shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

15 award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 

16 of appropriate design in honor of the Women Airforce 

17 Service Pilots (WASP) collectively, in recognition of their 

18 pioneering military service and exemplary record, which 

19 forged revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces of the 

20 United States of America. 

21 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 

22 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

23 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec24 retary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
10 

•HR 2014 IH

1 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec2 retary. 

3 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

5 gold medal in honor of the Women Airforce Service 

6 Pilots, the gold medal shall be given to the Smithso7 nian Institution, where it will be displayed as appro8 priate and made available for research. 

9 (2) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense 

10 of the Congress that the Smithsonian Institution 

11 shall make the gold medal received under this Act 

12 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

13 locations associated with the WASP. 

14 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

15 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre16 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

17 bronze of the gold medal struck under this Act, at a price 

18 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

19 materials, dyes, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

20 SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

21 Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med22 als for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 

23 Code. 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS
11 

•HR 2014 IH

1 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS 

2 OF SALE. 

3 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

5 Public Enterprise Fund, an amount not to exceed $30,000 

6 to pay for the cost of the medal authorized under section 

7 2. 

8 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

9 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be 

10 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

11 Fund. 

Æ 


smartinez on PROD1PC63 with BILLS