WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act

Subjects: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:  <p><strong>WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act</strong></p> <p>This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to World War II Army and Navy Nurse Corps members in recognition of their critical military service and devotion to duty.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1558 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1558

 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the brave women 
who served in World War II as members of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and 
                         U.S. Navy Nurse Corps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 11, 2023

 Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Daines, Ms. Warren, Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs. 
Blackburn, and Mr. Braun) introduced the following bill; which was read 
  twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the brave women 
who served in World War II as members of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and 
                         U.S. Navy Nurse Corps.

    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 ``WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war 
        against the Empire of Japan, followed by declarations of war 
        against Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941. In 1935, there 
        were fewer than 600 United States Army nurses and 1,700 United 
        States Navy nurses on active duty. By the time World War II 
        ended, more than 59,000 Army nurses and 14,000 Navy nurses had 
        volunteered to serve.
            (2) The Act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 759; chapter 227), 
        granted women in the Nurse Corps ``relative rank.'' This gave 
        them the right to wear the military insignia, but did not 
        confer military status or privileges. This arrangement meant 
        women serving throughout World War II received 50 percent of 
        the pay as compared to their male counterparts, and none of the 
        veteran benefits. Because they did not receive military status, 
        they received no orientation or training before being deployed 
        to hospitals near the front lines.
            (3) Nurses served under fire in field hospitals and 
        evacuation hospitals across 6 continents, on hospital trains 
        and ships, and as flight nurses on medical transport planes. 
        Several nurses were killed in action when their ships were 
        torpedoed or field hospitals were bombed. Some even entered 
        into combat areas as flight nurses to retrieve the wounded, and 
        2 groups were captured as prisoners of war by the Japanese.
            (4) General Douglas MacArthur ordered Army nurses to the 
        Bataan Peninsula to prepare 2 emergency hospitals for United 
        States and Filipino forces. General Hospital 1 received 
        casualties directly from the front lines, and more than 1,200 
        battle casualties requiring major surgery were admitted within 
        a month. General Hospital 2 accepted patients strong enough for 
        evacuation, as it was out in the open, with no tents or 
        buildings, and only tree canopy to conceal them from Japanese 
        aircraft. Hospital 1 was bombed on March 29, 1942, killing or 
        wounding more than 100 patients, but the nurses carried on with 
        their duties as well as they were able. Following the United 
        States Army surrender of the Philippines to the Japanese on May 
        6, 1942, 67 Army nurses were taken to Santo Tomas Internment 
        Camp in Manila, where they remained until February 1945. During 
        the 37 months in captivity, these women endured primitive 
        conditions and starvation rations, but continued to care for 
        the ill and injured in the internment camp hospital.
            (5) Early in the morning of November 8, 1942, 60 nurses 
        attached to the 48th Surgical Hospital landed off the coast of 
        North Africa. The nurses wore helmets and carried full packs 
        containing medical equipment. Without weapons, they waded 
        ashore amid enemy sniper fire and ultimately took shelter in an 
        abandoned civilian hospital, where they began caring for 
        invasion casualties. There was no electricity or running water, 
        and the only medical supplies available were those the nurses 
        had brought themselves.
            (6) In Anzio, Italy, nurses dug foxholes outside their 
        tents or under their cots and cared for patients under German 
        shellfire. The field hospital tents were marked by large red 
        crosses and were sometimes deliberately hit with artillery 
        shells and bombs. On February 7, 1944, a German pilot being 
        pursued by British fighter planes dropped 5 antipersonnel bombs 
        on the hospital, destroying 29 ward tents, killing 26 and 
        wounding 64. The dead included 3 nurses, 2 medical officers, a 
        Red Cross worker, 14 enlisted men and 6 patients. Troops came 
        to refer to the hospital area as ``Hell's Half-Acre'' because 
        it was hit so frequently by enemy fire. At least 200 nurses 
        took part in the Anzio campaign, caring for more than 33,000 
        patients behind enemy lines.
            (7) Army and Navy nurses acclimated quickly to difficult 
        and dangerous conditions with a minimum of complaints, and were 
        essential members of the field armies.
            (8) The presence of nurses at the front improved morale 
        because soldiers realized that they would receive skilled care 
        in the event they were wounded.
            (9) Thanks largely to the efforts of these nurses, fewer 
        than 4 percent of the American soldiers who received medical 
        care in the field or underwent evacuation died from wounds or 
        disease.
            (10) After the war, broad public health missions required 
        that Army and Navy nurses supervise communicable disease 
        measures as former enemy countries were reorganized. In 
        Hiroshima, these officers cared for victims of the atomic 
        bombs. In Munich, they prevented mass epidemic in refugee 
        camps. Army and Navy nurses even provided prenatal, infant, and 
        mental health care in other former-enemy territories.
            (11) Nurses received 1,619 medals, citations, and 
        commendations during the war, reflecting the courage and 
        dedication of all who served. Sixteen medals were awarded 
        posthumously to nurses who died as a result of enemy fire, 
        including 6 nurses who died at Anzio, 6 who died when the 
        hospital ship Comfort was attacked by a Japanese suicide plane, 
        and 4 flight nurses. Thirteen other flight nurses died in 
        weather-related crashes while on duty.
            (12) In 1944, Congress passed a bill that granted Army and 
        Navy Nurses actual military rank and benefits, approved for the 
        duration of the war plus 6 months.
            (13) In 1947, Congress passed legislation establishing a 
        permanent Army and Navy Nursing Corps and gave members 
        permanent officer status with equal pay and the same benefits 
        as those given to male officers.
            (14) In 1948, all military branches were integrated and 
        female doctors were finally admitted to the Army Medical Corps.
            (15) Although African-American nurses were fully qualified 
        and prepared to serve as nurses at the onset of World War II, 
        racial segregation and discrimination made it difficult for 
        Black women to join the ranks of the Army Nurse Corps.
            (16) As the Army Nurse Corps began expanding its recruiting 
        process, thousands of Black nurses who wanted to serve their 
        country filled out applications.
            (17) While the Army did eventually integrate African-
        American nurses in 1941, it did so unwillingly and placed a 
        quota on the number of African-American nurses that they would 
        accept, capping the number allowed to join at 56.
            (18) Many of them had hardship tours and were sent to 
        segregated camps to take care of African-American soldiers and 
        would rotate and allow White nurses reprieve in taking care of 
        German prisoners of war. As the war progressed, the number of 
        Black nurses allowed to enlist remained low, although the quota 
        was officially lifted in July 1944.
            (19) The extraordinary efforts of these women are deserving 
        of belated official recognition.
            (20) The United States is eternally grateful to the nurses 
        of the Army and Navy Nurse Corps for their bravery and 
        dedication to their patients through World War II, which saved 
        lives and made significant contributions to the defeat of the 
        Axis powers.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives 
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate 
arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of 
appropriate design in honor of World War II Army and Navy Nurse Corps 
members, in recognition of the critical military service and devotion 
to duty of those nurses.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award described in 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act 
as the ``Secretary'') 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 
        under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
        Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for 
        display as appropriate and made available for research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received 
        under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at--
                    (A) appropriate locations associated with the Army 
                and Navy Nurse Corps of World War II, including--
                            (i) the U.S. Army Medical Center of 
                        Excellence;
                            (ii) the Women in Military Service for 
                        America Memorial;
                            (iii) the U.S. Army Women's Museum;
                            (iv) the National Naval Medical Centers; 
                        and
                            (v) the National World War II Museum; and
                    (B) any other location determined appropriate by 
                the Smithsonian Institution.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--Medals struck pursuant to this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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