IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 808 
Recognizing the life and legacy of the first woman to achieve the rank 
of general in the United States Military, Anna Mae Hays. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 29, 2018 
Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire (for herself and Mrs. WALORSKI) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the life and legacy of the first woman to achieve 
the rank of general in the United States Military, Anna 
Mae Hays. 
Whereas Anna Mae Hays was born in Buffalo, New York, on 
February 16, 1920, to her parents Daniel Joseph 
McCabe and the former Mattie Humphrey; 
Whereas as a young woman growing up in Allentown, Penn-
sylvania, Hays practiced nursing by tying bandages 
around the legs of a kitchen table where her parents, Sal-
vation Army officers, often invited the ill to eat dinner; 
Whereas at the age of 22 in May 1942, Hays joined the 
United States Army in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to 
serve as a nurse during World War II; 
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•HRES 808 IH 
Whereas Hays deployed to Assam, India, where she helped 
treat some of the more than 49,000 patients taken to the 
20th General Hospital, including troops injured in com-
bat in Burma, and those who required amputations inside 
operating rooms constructed from bamboo; 
Whereas Hays endured austere living conditions, weathered 
monsoon season, burned leeches from her skin, and 
placed herself at risk for deadly diseases, including ma-
laria and dengue fever, for two and one-half years during 
World War II; 
Whereas Hays completed her initial commitment and decided 
to continue her service in the Army; 
Whereas Hays answered her country’s call again when the 
Korean war broke out on June 25, 1950; 
Whereas Hays landed on the shores of Inchon, South Korea, 
amid a United States naval bombardment of North Ko-
rean forces; 
Whereas Hays helped set up one of the first military hos-
pitals, the 4th Field Hospital, in Inchon, South Korea; 
Whereas Hays worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to help 
render medical aid to more than 25,000 patients by phys-
ically assisting in creating sleeping quarters and per-
forming her duties through frigid weather and supply 
shortages; 
Whereas Hays reported for duty as the head emergency room 
nurse at what was then named Walter Reed Army Med-
ical Center in May 1956 and, in the following month, was 
assigned to care for President Dwight D. Eisenhower 
throughout his 23-day hospital stay; 
Whereas Hays earned a bachelor’s degree from Teachers Col-
lege at Columbia University in 1958; 
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•HRES 808 IH 
Whereas Hays was sworn in as the 13th Chief of the Army 
Nurse Corps on September 1, 1967; 
Whereas Hays traveled to Vietnam three times to assess the 
state of nursing during the Vietnam war, oversaw a dras-
tic increase in the number of nurses deployed overseas, 
and helped modernize Army nursing practices; 
Whereas Hays earned a master’s degree from the Catholic 
University of America in Washington, DC, in 1968; 
Whereas Hays paved a career path for other women in the 
military by recommending the end to a policy that auto-
matically discharged those who became pregnant; 
Whereas, on June 11, 1970, Hays was promoted to brigadier 
general, the first woman in the United States Military to 
attain the rank of general officer; 
Whereas Hays recommended the removal of a policy that pre-
vented women with young children from joining the Army 
Nurse Corps; 
Whereas Hays worked tirelessly on behalf of Army nurses, re-
lieving nursing shortages, increasing educational opportu-
nities, bettering the status of and gaining greater peer 
recognition for nurses, enforcing stronger practice stand-
ards, and enhancing utilization; 
Whereas Hays retired in 1971 after more than 29 years of 
service with many awards and honors, including the Dis-
tinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit with 
Oak Leaf Cluster; and 
Whereas Hays’ life and legacy cleared a path for women in 
the military to obtain high ranks and helped create a 
stronger force for defending our Nation: Now, therefore, 
be it 
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•HRES 808 IH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog-
nizes the life and legacy of the first woman to achieve the 
rank of general in the United States Military, Anna Mae 
Hays. 
Æ 
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