Joint resolution making an emergency appropriation for the fiscal year 1951, and for other purposes
PL 82-22 (H.J.Res.238), enacted 04/25/1951

65 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 23—APR. 25, 1951 
3 3 
pursuant to tJie military order of the President of the United States, 
dated July 26, 1941, including among such military forces organized 
guerrilla forces under commanders appointed, designated, or subse-
quently recognized by the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific 
Area, or other competent authority in the Army of the United States, 
and who dies, or has died, after separation from such service under 
conditions other than dishonorable. Payments under this Act shall 
be subject to the applicable provisions of Veterans Regulation Num-
bered 9 (a), as amended, except that in case any such person has died 
^u*s ^^notefoil 
heretofore, the time for filing claim for reimbursement of such }739. " ' • 
expenses shall be extended until tw^o years after the date of this 
enactment. 
Approved April 25, 1951, 
Public Law 22 
CHAPTER 38 
' 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
^prii 25,1951 
Making an emergency appropriation for tne fiscal year 1951, and for other —[H. j . Res. 238] 
purposes. 
Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatwes 
of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled^ That there are hereby 
appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro-
priated, for an additional amount for "Expenses of Defense Produc-
tion", $10,000,000: Provided^ That expenditures from this appropria-
tion shall be charged to the applicable appropriation whenever the 
Third Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1951, is enacted into law. 
Approved April 25, 1951. 
Public Law 23 
CHAPTER 39 
To authorize the payment by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs of a gratu- 
[IL_5iiL _. 
itous indemnity to survivors of members of the Armed Forces who die in 
active service, and for other purposes. 
Be it eixacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of Anfierica in Congress assembled^ 
PART I—SERVICEMEN'S INDEMNITY 
demnK^onQsi"' 
SEC. 1. This part may be cited as the "Servicemen's Indemnity Act 
of 1951". 
SEC. 2, Except as hereinafter provided, on and after June 27, 1950, an^"*""^*'" '"^"'•' 
any person in the active service of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine 
Corps, Coast Guard, or the Reserve components thereof, including the 
National Guard when called or ordered to active duty or active train-
ing duty for fourteen days or more; cadets and midshipmen at the 
United States Military, Naval, and Coast Guard Academies; com-
missioned officers of the Public Health Service w^hile entitled to full 
military benefits as provided in section 212 (a) of tho Act of July 1, 
1944 (58 Stat. 689), as amended (42 U. S. C. 213); and commissioned 
officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey while assigned to duty 
during a period of war or an emergency as proclaimed by the Presi-
dent or the Congress on projects for the Army, Navy, or Air Force 
in areas outside the continental United States or in Alaska or in 
coastal areas of the United States determined by the Department of 
34 
PUBLIC LAW 23—APR. 25, 1951 
[65 STAT. 
Extended 
active 
service. 
Reserve personnel 
engaged in aerial 
flights. 
Death from disabil-
ity incurred while en 
route. 
62 Stat. 604. 
50U.S. C S u p . I V , 
app. § 451 and note. 
P a y m e n t 
of in-
demnity. 
Designation of ben-
eficiary, etc. 
'Parent.' 
Restriction. 
Payment in install-
ments. 
Applicability of au-
tomatic 
indemnity 
coverage. 
Defense to be of immediate military hazard, shall be automatically 
insured by the United States, without cost to such person, against 
death in such service in the principal amount of $10,000: Provided, 
That any person called to extended active service for a period exceeding 
thirty days shall continue to be so protected for a period of one 
hundred and twenty days after separation or release from such active 
service: Provided further, That persons in the Reserve components, 
including the National Guard, while engaged in aerial flights in Gov-
ernment owned or leased aircraft for any period, with or without 
pay, as an incident to their military or naval training, shall be deemed 
to be in the active service for the purposes of this Act: And 
provided 
further, That for the purposes of this part, any person, who, on or 
after June 27,1950, was or shall be provisionally accepted and directed 
or ordered to report to a place for final acceptance or for entry upon 
active duty in the military or naval service and who died or shall die 
as the result of disability incurred while en route to such place and 
within one hundred and twenty days after the incurrence of such dis-
ability, or any registrant under the Selective Service Act of 1948, as 
amended, who on or after June 27, 1950, in response to an order to 
report for induction into the Armed Forces and who, after reporting 
to a local draft board, died or dies as the result of disability incurred 
while en route from such draft board to a designated induction station 
and within one hundred and twenty days after the incurrence of such 
disability shall be deemed to have died in active service. 
SEC, 3. Upon certification by the Secretary of the service depart-
ment concerned of the death of any person deemed to have been auto-
matically insured under this part, the Administrator of Veterans' 
Affairs shall cause the idemnity to be paid as provided in section 4 
only to the surviving spouse, child or children (including a stepchild, 
adopted child, or an illegitimate child if the latter was designated 
as beneficiary by the insured), parent (including a stepparent, parent 
by adoption, or person who stood in loco parentis to the insured at 
any time prior to entry into the active service for a period of not less 
than one year), brother, or sister of the insured, including those of 
the half-blood and those through adoption. The insured shall have 
the right to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of the indemnity 
within the classes herein provided; to designate the proportion of the 
principal amount to be paid to each; and to change the beneficiary or 
beneficiaries without the consent thereof but only within the classes 
herein provided. If the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries do not 
survive the insured, or if none has been designated, the Administrator 
shall make payment of the indemnity to the first eligible class of 
beneficiaries according to the order set forth above, and in equal shares 
if the class is composed of more than one person. Unless designated 
otherwise by the insured, the term "parent" shall include only the 
mother and father who last bore that relationship to the insured. 
Any installments of an indemnity not paid to a beneficiary during 
such beneficiary's lifetime shall be paid to the named contingent 
beneficiary, if any; otherwise, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries within 
the permitted class next entitled to priority: Provided, 
That no 
payment shall be made to the estate of any deceased person. 
SEC. 4. The indemnity shall be payable in equal monthly install-
ments of one hundred and twenty in number with interest at the rate 
of 21/4 per centum per annum. 
SEC. 5. The automatic indemnity coverage authorized by section 2 
shall apply to any person in the active service of the named Armed 
Forces who, upon death in such active service, or within one hundred 
and twenty days after separation or release from such active service 
65 STAT.1 
PUBLIC LAW 23—APR. 25, 1951 
35 
as prescribed in section 2, is insured against such death under a con-
tract of national service life insurance or United States Government 
life insurance, but only with respect to a principal amount of indem-
nity equal to the difference between the amount of insurance in force 
at the time of death and $10,000. Any pei-son in active service, who is 
insured under a permanent plan of national service life insurance or 
United States Government life insurance, may elect to surrender such 
contract for its cash value. 
In any such case the person, upon applica-
tion in writing made within one hundred and twenty days after 
separation from active service, may be granted, without medical 
examination, permanent plan insurance on the same plan not in excess 
of the amount surrendered for cash, or may reinstate such surrendered 
insurance upon payment of the required reserve and the premium for 
the current month. 
Any person in the active service having United 
States Government life insurance or national service life insurance 
on the five-year level premium term plan, the term of which expires 
while such person is in active service after the date of this enactment, 
shall, upon application made within one hundred and twenty days 
after separation from service, payment of premiums and evidence of 
good health satisfactory to the Administrator, be granted an equiva-
lent amount of insurance on the five-year level premium term plan at 
the premium rate for his then attained age. Waiver of premiums 
under the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, as amended, 
shall not be denied in any case of issue or reinstatement of insurance 
on a permanent plan under this section in which it is shown to the 
satisfaction of the Administi ator that total disability of the applicant 
commenced prior to the date of his application. 
SEC. 6. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is authorized to 
promulgate such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the 
provisions of this part, as are necessary or appropriate to carry out 
its purposes. 
SEC. 7. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any 
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may 
be necessary to carry out the provisions of this part, to be known as 
the servicemen's indemnity appropriation, for the payment of liabili-
ties under this part. 
SEC. 8. Any person guilty of mutiny, treason, spying, or desertion, 
or who, because of conscientious objections refuses to perform services 
in the land or naval forces of the United States or refuses to wear the 
uniform of such force, shall forfeit all rights to an indemnity under 
this Act: Provided^ That restoration to active duty after commission 
of any such offense shall restore all rights to an indemnity under this 
Act. 
No indemnity shall be payable for death inflicted as a lawful 
punishment for crime or for military or naval offense, except when 
inflicted by an enemy of the United States. 
SEC. 9. The provisions of Public Law Numbered 262, Seventy-
fourth Congress, approved August 12, 1935 (49 Stat. 607), as 
amended, titles II and I I I of Public Law Numbered 844, Seventy-
fourth Congress, approved June 29,1936 (49 Stat. 2031), as amended, 
and section 15 of Public Law Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress, 
March 20,1933, insofar as they are applicable, shall apply to the pro-
visions of this part: Provided, That assignments of all or any part 
of the beneficiary's interest may be made by a beneficiary to any other 
person or persons within the permitted class of beneficiaries, as speci-
fied in section 3, if all other persons having contingent rights of equal 
or greater priority to those of the assignee join in the assignment: 
Provided further, That such assignment shall not affect any payments 
made prior to its receipt by the Veterans' Administration. 
Surrender of con-
tract, etc. 
54 Stat. 1008. 
38 U. S. C. § 818; 
Sup. IV, § 802 et seg. 
Rules and regula-
tions. 
Appropriation au^ 
thorized. 
Forfeiture of rights. 
48 Stat. 11. 
38 U. S. C. §§ 450, 
101-104. 619 note, 131-
134,715; Sup. IV, §101. 
Assignments of ben-
eficiary's interest. 
Ante, p. 34. 
36 
PUBLIC LAW 23—APR. 25, 1951 
[65 STAT. 
Insurance 
1951. 
Act 
o
f PART II—PROVISIONS RELATING TO UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LIFE 
INSURANCE AND NATIONAL SERVICE LIFE INSURANCE 
54 Stat. 1008. 
38 U. S. C. § 818; 
Sup. IV, § 802 et seg. 
Post, p. 38. 
Ante, p. 34. 
43 Stat. 607. 
38U. S. C.§421and 
note; Sup, IV, § 430 et 
seq. 
55 Stat. 759; 56 Stat. 
310, 649, 737; 60 Stat. 
1057. 
34 U. S. C. §§ 841a 
note, 850a note, 1020 
note; Sup. IV, §§ 61, 
405a, 850c-850k-2, 
1020a-1020m, 1039, 
1045a; 10 U. S. C. 
§§ 1151, 299a-299e, 
304b;Sup.IV, §§299b-
299<i, 304b. 
Applications, etc. 
Service-connected 
disability. 
SEC. 10. The National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, as 
amended, is hereby amended by adding the following new sections: 
"SEC. 619. On and after the date of enactment of the Insurance Act 
of 1951, except as otherwise provided in section 12 thereof, section 5 
of the Servicemen's Indemnity Act of 1951, and sections 620 and 621 
hereof, no National Service life insurance or United States Govern-
ment life insurance shall be granted to any person under the provi-
sions of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, as amended, 
or the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, nor shall any 
United States Government life insurance or National Service life 
insurance, on which the United States is authorized by law to pay 
the premium, be issued or granted to any person under any provision 
of law, nor shall the United States pay premiums on insurance issued 
prior to this enactment under the provisions of Public Law Numbered 
289, Seventy-seventh Congress, November 5, 1941, Public Law Num-
bered 571, Seventy-seventh Congress, June 5, 1942, Public Law Num-
bered 658, Seventy-seventh Congress, July 8, 1942, Public Law 
Numbered 698, Seventy-seventh Congress, August 4,1942, Public Law 
Numbered 729, Seventy-ninth Congress, August 13, 1946, or any other 
law for any period subsequent to the end of the second calendar month 
following the date of this enactment: Provided, That the foregoing 
shall not be construed to prohibit the granting or issuing of National 
Service life insurance or United States Government life insurance 
in cases in which acceptable applications accompanied by proper and 
valid remittances or authorizations for the payment of premiums 
have, on or before the date of approval of this amendatory Act, been 
received by the Veterans' Administration, or which have, on or before 
said date, been placed in the mails properly directed to the Veterans' 
Administration, or been delivered to an authorized representative of 
any of the uniformed services. 
"SEC. 620. Any person w^ho is released from active service under 
other than dishonorable conditions on or after the date of enactment 
of the Insurance Act of 1951, and is found by the Administrator to be 
suifering from a disability or disabilities for which compensation 
would be payable if 10' per centum or more in degree and except for 
which such person would be insurable according to the standards 
established by the Administrator for qualifying under the good health 
provisions of this Act, as amended, shall, upon application in writing 
made within one year from the date service connection of such dis-
ability is determined by the Veterans' Administration and payment 
of premiums as provided in this Act, as amended, be granted insurance 
by the United States against the death of such person occurring while 
such insurance is in force: Provided, That insurance granted under 
this section shall be issued upon the same terms and conditions as are 
contained in the standard policies of national service life insurance 
except (1) the premium rates for such insurance shall be based on the 
Commissioners 1941 Standard Ordinary Table of Mortality and in-
terest at the rate of 2^4 per centum per annum; (2) all cash, loan, 
paid-up, and extended values shall be based upon the Commissioners 
1941 Standard Ordinary Table of Mortality and interest at the rate 
of 2^4 per centum per annum; (3) all settlements on policies involv-
ing annuities shall be calculated on the basis of The Annuity Table 
for 1949, and interest at the rate of 21/4 per centum per annum; (4) 
insurance granted under the provisions of this section shall be on a 
nonparticipating basis and all premiums and other collections there-
for shall be credited directly to a revolving fund in the Treasury of 
the United States, and any payments on such insurance shall be made 
65 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 23—APR. 25, 1951 
37 
directly from such fund. 
Appropriations to such fund are hereby 
Appropriations au-
authorized. 
Except as herein provided, the provisions of this Act '^°"^*^-
other than those contained in section 621 shall be for application to 
such insurance: Provided^ That as to insurance issued under this 
section waiver of premiums pursuant to section 602 (n) shall not be ^u*s c"§802(n). 
denied on the ground that the service-connected disability became 
total prior to the effective date of such insurance. All persons granted 
indemnity protection under section 2 of the Servicemen's Indemnity 
Act of 1951 shall be deemed to be in the active service for the purpose ^n<«,p.33. 
of applying for insurance under this section: Provided^ That as to Time limitation, 
persons incurring disability under the conditions stated in the last 
proviso of section 2 of the Servicemen's Indemnity Act of 1951, appli-
cation for insurance must be filed within one year after the incurrence 
of such disability. 
"SEC. 621. (a) Any person entitled to indemnity protection under an^^*'^"^^**^ insur-
section 2 of the Servicemen's Indemnity Act of 1951 who is ordered 
Ake,v.^. 
into active service for a period exceeding thirty days, shall, upon 
application in writing made within one hundred and twenty days 
after separation from such active service and payment of premiums 
as hereinafter provided, and without medical examination, be granted 
insurance by the United States against the death of such person occur-
ring while such insurance is in force. Insurance granted under this 
section shall be issued upon the same terms and conditions as are 
contained in the standard policies of national service life insurance 
on the five-year level premium term plan except (1) all such insur-
ance may be rene'wed for successive five-year term periods at the 
attained ages, but may not be exchanged for or converted to insur-
ance on any other plan; (2) the premium rates for such insurance 
shall be based on the Commissioners 1941 Standard Ordinary Table 
of Mortality and interest at the rate of 2^4 per centum per annum; 
(3) all settlements on policies involving annuities shall be calculated 
on the basis of The Annuity Table for 1949, and interest at the rate of 
21/4 per centum per annum; (4) insurance issued hereunder shall be 
on a nonparticipating basis and all premiums and other collections 
i^evoivmgfund. 
therefor shall be credited to a revolving fund in the Treasury of the 
United States and the payments on such term insurance shall be made 
directly from such fund. 
Appropriations to such fund are hereby 
Appropriations au-
authorized. 
ViionmA. 
"(b) The Administrator is authorized to invest in, and the Secre- cou'nT^orrevoTvilig 
tary of the Treasury is authorized to sell and retire, special interest- fund, 
bearing obligations of the United States for the account of the revolv-
ing fund with a maturity date as may be agreed upon by the Adminis-
trator and Secretary: Provided^ That the rate of interest on such 
obligations shall be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury at a rate 
not exceeding the average interest rate on all marketable obligations 
of the United States Treasury outstanding as of the end of the month 
preceding the date of issue of this special obligation. 
"SEC. 622. After the date of enactment of this section, any person 
waiver o
f premi-
while in active service for a continuous period in excess of thirty days 
who is insured under national service life insurance or United States 
Government life insurance shall be entitled, upon written application, 
to a waiver of all j)remiums on five-year level premium term insur-
ance and that portion of any permanent insurance premiums rep-
resenting the cost of the pure insurance risk, as determined by the 
Administrator, becoming due after the first day of the second calendar 
month following the date of enactment of this section, or the first day 
of the second calendar month following entry into active service, 
whichever is the later date, and during the remainder of such con-
tinuous active service and 120 days thereafter: Provided^ That no 
38 
PUBLIC LAW 24—APR. 25, 1951 
[65 STAT. 
premium shall be waived under this section for any period prior to 
the date of application therefor: Provided^ That if the term of any 
five-year level premium term insurance on which premiums have 
been waived under this section expires while the insured is in active 
service, such term shall be automatically renewed for an additional 
five-year period and the premiums due at the then attained age shall 
be waived as provided above: Provided further^ That the election by 
an insured of the premium waiver benefits of this section shall thereby 
render his contract of insurance nonparticipating during the period 
mrat^oVbeneflK^^^" such premium waiver is in effect: Provided further^ That whenever 
benefits under such insurance become payable because of the maturity 
of such policy of insurance while the insured is in active service or 
within one hundred and twenty days thereafter, liability for payment 
of sucli benefits shall be borne by the United States in an amount 
which, when added to any reserve of the policy at the time of maturity, 
> ' 
will equal the then value of such benefits under such policy. 
Where 
life contingencies are involved in the calculation of the value of such 
benefits, the calculation of such liability or liabilities shall be based 
upon such mortality table or tables as the Administrator may pre-
scribe with interest at the rate of 214 per centum per annum as to 
Arue,^.z%. 
insurance issued under sections 620 and 621, at the rate of 3 per centum 
per annum as to other national service life insurance, and 3^/2 per 
centum per annum as to United States Government life insurance. 
Transfer o
f funds. 
fpi-^g Administrator is authorized and directed to transfer from time 
to time from the national service life insurance appropriation to the 
National Service Life Insurance Fund and from the military and 
naval insurance appropriation to the United States Government Life 
Insurance Fund such sums as may be necessary to carry out the pro-
visions of this section." 
38u.^s.c!\'802(m) 
SEC. 11. The first sentence of section 602 (m) (2) of the National 
(2)- 
Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, as amended, is hereby amended to 
read as follows: 
Nonforfeiture. 
"(2) In any case in which the insured provided for the payment of 
premiums on his insurance by authorizing in writing the deduction of 
premiums from his service pay, such insurance shall be deemed not to 
have lapsed or not to have been forfeited because of desertion under 
54 Stat. 1013. 
section 612, so long as he remained in active service prior to the date 
6
0 Stat• Si* ^^^' 
^^ enactment of the Insurance Act of 1946, notwithstanding the fact 
38U.s.c.i80inote; that deduction of premiums was discontinued because— 
Sup. IV, §802. 
u ^^^ |.jjg insured was discharged to accept a commission; or 
" ( B ) the insured was absent without leave, if restored to active 
duty: or 
"(C) the insured was sentenced by court martial, if he was 
restored to active duty, required to engage in combat, or killed in 
combat." 
rig^tT'^^*"*'""" °' 
SEC. 12. Nothing contained in part I or part I I of this Act shall be 
construed to cancel or restrict any rights under insurance contracts 
issued on or prior to the date of this enactment. 
Short title. 
SEC. 13. This part may be cited as the "Insurance Act of 1951". 
Approved April 25, 1951. 
Public Law 24 
CHAPTER 40 
AprU25,1951 
^^ 
ACT 
[H- R- 2612] 
IJIQ authorize the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia to establish 
daylight saving time in the District. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
time?D.*c.*****^'°'' United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Board of