IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 204
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Pasqualine J. 
Gibbons of Denver, Colorado, an African American woman who valiantly 
served her country in the Army Air Corps during World War II, was 
unfairly passed over for promotion and should have held the grade 
of technical sergeant, rather than private first class, upon her discharge 
from the service on January 2, 1946. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2005
Ms. DEGETTE (for herself, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. WATT, and Mr. UDALL of 
Colorado) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
Pasqualine J. Gibbons of Denver, Colorado, an African 
American woman who valiantly served her country in 
the Army Air Corps during World War II, was unfairly 
passed over for promotion and should have held the 
grade of technical sergeant, rather than private first 
class, upon her discharge from the service on January 
2, 1946.
Whereas Pasqualine J. Gibbons, of Denver, Colorado, honor-
ably served in the Army Air Corps from July 29, 1944, 
to January 2, 1946;
•HRES 204 IH 
Whereas Ms. Gibbons, while in the Army Air Corps, served 
as a psychiatric social worker following basic training; 
Whereas despite the efforts of and directives from the mili-
tary to incorporate African Americans into the Army Air 
Corps during World War II, many commanders neverthe-
less demonstrated an unwillingness to treat African 
Americans with full equality; 
Whereas the policy of ‘‘separate but equal’’ in the Army Air 
Corps during World War II oftentimes led to second-class 
citizenship for African Americans, resulting in fewer op-
portunities for advancement for African Americans and 
an unwillingness to promote African Americans to a high-
er military rank when such a promotion was due; 
Whereas Ms. Gibbons was passed over and denied promotion 
several times, notwithstanding her receipt of a total of 
eight letters of commendation by the time of her dis-
charge from military service; 
Whereas in a letter of commendation, dated December 7, 
1945, Captain Ian N. J. Fogeling, stated that Ms. Gib-
bons performed her work in a superior manner and that 
she had been ‘‘repeatedly recommended for well-deserved 
promotions . . . and despite our having repeatedly rec-
ommended her, these were not forthcoming due to admin-
istrative difficulties and technicalities entirely outside of 
our control.’’; 
Whereas Ms. Gibbons was discharged from military service in 
the grade of private first class, rather than in a higher 
grade that she would have held but for having been 
passed over and denied promotion; 
Whereas Ms. Gibbons has not been able to sufficiently recon-
struct her military record due to the destruction of mili-
•HRES 204 IH 
tary records in the fire at the National Personnel 
Records Center in 1973; 
Whereas Ms. Gibbons has requested a correction of her mili-
tary records from the Air Force Board for Correction of 
Military Records 1997, but was denied on the grounds 
that her military record was incomplete and Ms. Gibbons’ 
appeal of this ruling to the Assistant Secretary of the Air 
Force for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and 
Environment was denied on similar grounds; and 
Whereas Ms. Gibbons is a 97-year old veteran who deserves 
to receive the recognition for her service during World 
War II due to her: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that Pasqualine J. Gibbons of Denver, Colo-
rado, while in the Army Air Corps during World War II, 
was unfairly passed over for promotion and should have 
held the grade of technical sergeant, rather than private 
first class, upon her discharge from the service on January 
2, 1946.
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