(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 Univer-
sity 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 du-
ties of women in the Army, as well as her role in 
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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 recruit-
ment of women into the Women’s Army Corps dur-
ing her years as the Director. 
(9) Colonel Rasmuson expanded opportunities 
for women to serve in assignments previously re-
served 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 en-
abling 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 be-
hind the Army opening up the college enlistment op-
tion to women under the self-enhancement programs 
and witnessed the first female enlisted member at-
tend college under those programs. 
(12) The career of Colonel Rasmuson also laid 
the groundwork for women to be fully integrated 
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into the United States Army when the Women’s 
Army Corps was disbanded in 1978. 
(13) In 1961, Mary Louise married a promi-
nent 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 commu-
nity in Alaska. 
(15) Mary Louise served as First Lady of An-
chorage after the devastating magnitude 9.2 earth-
quake in 1964, after her husband, Elmer, was elect-
ed as mayor, serving from 1964 to 1967. 
(16) Mary Louise was an advocate of social jus-
tice, 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. 
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(19) Mary Louise was the Chair of the Anchor-
age 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 mili-
tary. 
SEC. 
3. 
DESIGNATION 
OF 
COLONEL 
MARY 
LOUISE 
RASMUSON CAMPUS OF THE ALASKA VA 
HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. 
(a) DESIGNATION.—The medical center of the De-
partment 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 Cam-
pus of the Alaska VA Healthcare System’’. 
(b) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regula-
tion, 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. 
Æ 
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