WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act
Bill: H.R.7759 | Sponsor: Rep. Stefanik, Elise M. (R-NY)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal Act
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.

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 U.S. Army Nurses and 1,700 U.S. 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 Army Reorganization Act of 1920 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 
        WWII 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 
        frontlines.
            (3) Nurses served under fire in field hospitals and 
        evacuation hospitals across six 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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) Enlisted 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 enlisted 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. Enlisted 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 (referred 
        to in this Act as the ``ANC'').
            (16) As the ANC 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 POWs. 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) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, 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 presentation 
described in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to 
in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a 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 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 section 5134 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.
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