An Act to provide for the procurement of medical and dental officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service, and for other purposes.
PL 84-497 (H.R.9428), enacted 04/30/1956

70 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 497-APR. 30, 1956 
119 
customers in the ordinary course of trade or business and only in the 
case of property described in the last sentence of subsection (b) (3))". 
SEO. 2. Section 1237 (b) (3) of the Internal Eevenue Code of 1954 
is amended as follows: 
(a) In subparagraph (A) strike out "water or sewer facilities" and 
insert: "water, sewer, or drainage facilities". 
(b) At the end of paragraph (3) insert "The requirements of sub-
paragraphs (B) and (C) shall not apply in the case of property ac-
quired through the foreclosure of a lien thereon which secured the 
payment of an indebtedness to the taxpayer or (in the case of a cor-
poration) to a creditor who has transferred the foreclosure bid to 
the taxpayer in exchange for all of its stock and other consideration 
and in the case of property adjacent to such property if 80 percent 
of the real property owned by the taxpayer is property described in 
the first part of this sentence.". 
SEC. 3. This Act shall apply to all taxable years beginning after 
December 31,1954. 
Approved April 27, 1956. 
Nonapplicability. 
Effective date. 
Public Law 496 
CHAPTER 215 
AN ACT 
To amend section 5146 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, relating to the 
qualifications of directors of national banking associations. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 5146 
of the Revised Statutes, as amended (U. S, C, 1952 edition, title 12, 
sec. 72), is amended by deleting therefrom the words "three-fourths", 
"fifty" and "fifty-mile", and substituting therefor the words "two-
thirds", "one hundred" and "one-hundred-mile", respectively. 
Approved April 27, 1956. 
April 27, 1956 
[S. 1736] 
41 Stat. 1199. 
April 30, 1956 
[H. R. 9428] 
Public Law 497 
CHAPTER 223 
AN ACT 
To provide for the procurement of medical and dental officers of the Army, 
Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service, and for other purposes. 
~'' 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled^ That sections 201 M^'ic'i^i^^cJ/^c"? 
and 202 of the Army-Navy-Public Health Service Medical Officer Procurement Act of 
Procurement Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 777) are amended to read as *%^'ysc"9'tl'^nd 
follows: 
"SEC. 201. (a) Subject to any limitation on the commissioned 
strength of the Army, Navy, and Air Force prescribed by law, the 
President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may 
make appointments in permanent grades of first lieutenant through 
colonel in the Medical and Dental Corps of the Regular Army, 
lieutenant (junior grade) through captain in the Medical and Dental 
Corps of the Regular Navy, and first lieutenant through colonel for 
officers appointed with a view to designation as medical officers or 
dental officers in the Regular Air Force, in such numbers as the needs 
of the services may require. 
Such appointments shall be made only 
from qualified doctors of medicine and doctors of dentistry who are 
citizens of the United States and who have such other qualifications 
as the Secretary concerned may prescribe for his service. 
note ,91b and note. 
Appointments in 
permanent grades.. 
120 
PUBLIC LAW 497-APR. 30, 1956 
[70 ST A T . 
Service 
c r e d i t 
for l i n e a l 
p o s i > 
tion, etc. 
Boards of review. 
Temporary o f f i -
cer. 
10 u s e 506d. 
Tetiporary p r o -
motion. 
Running 
Navy. 
mat e. 
"(b) The doctors of medicine and doctors of dentistry appointed 
under this Act shall be credited for purposes of determining lineal 
position, permanent grade, position on a promotion list, seniority in 
permanent grade, and eligibility for promotion with the amount of 
service prescribed by the Secretary concerned, but not less than the 
minimum prescribed below. A doctor of medicine or doctor of den-
tistry appointed under this Act upon graduation from medical or 
dental school may not be credited with less than four years' service. 
A doctor of medicine appointed under this Act who has completed 
a one-year internship, or the equivalent thereof, may not be credited 
with less than five years' service, 
"(c) The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force may con-
vene boards of officers to review the records and compute the service 
of each officer of the Medical Corps or the Dental Corps of the Army 
or the Navy, and each medical or dental officer of the Air Force, 
appointed under any provision of law before the effective date of 
this amendatory Act, including those Reserve or temporary officers 
who are on active duty on the effective date of this amendatory Act 
or who enter on active duty after that date, in order to adjust the 
service credited to each such officer to reflect the service authorized 
to be credited to officers appointed under this Act. When that adjust-
ment is made, such officers shall be given precedence for promotion 
purposes or advanced to a lineal position in accordance with their 
adjusted dates of rank, except that no officer of the Navy shall be given 
an adjusted date of rank in the grade of captain which is earlier than 
July 1, 1955. All officers of the Navy with the adjusted date of rank 
of July 1, 1955, in the grade of captain shall retain the precedence 
among themselves that they held on the effective date of this amenda-
tory Act and shall be junior to all other officers assigned that date 
of rank. If, as a result of readjustment of service credit under this 
section— 
"(1) an officer of the Army or the Air Force is made eligible 
for promotion, he shall be considered for promotion by the next 
selection board considering officers of his grade and category; and 
" (2) an officer of the Navy attains lineal position equivalent to 
an officer who is serving in the next higher grade, or who is on 
a promotion list to that grade, he may be promoted thereto on 
the recommendation of a board of officers convened under this 
subsection, and, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, 
may be assigned a lineal position in the higher grade appropriate 
to his adjusted service credit. 
"(d) Each officer of the Medical Corps or the Dental Corps of the 
Army and each officer in the Air Force appointed with a view to 
designation as a medical or dental officer, who is appointed as a 
temporary officer under the provisions of subsection 515 (e) of the 
Officer Personnel Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 907) after the effective date of 
this amendatory Act, shall upon entering on active duty be credited 
with the amount of service authorized by subsection (b) of this 
section to be credited to officers appointed under this Act." 
"(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including those 
relating to selection for promotion, a doctor of medicine or a doctor 
of dentistry who is appointed under this Act or any other provision 
of law may be temporarily promoted to the grade of captain in the 
Army or the Air Force, or lieutenant in the Navy, as the case may 
be, at any time after one year after completion of medical or dental 
school. 
"(f) An officer of the Medical Corps or Dental Corps of the Navy 
appointed in the grade of lieutenant (junior grade) shall be assigned 
70 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 497-APR. 30, 1956 
121 
as his running mate the junior line oiRcer in the grade of lieutenant 
(junior grade) with the same date of rank, or if there is none, the 
junior line officer of that grade with the next earlier date of rank. 
"SEC. 202. The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force may 
from time to time prescribe regulations necessary for the administra-
tion of this title within their respective departments.-' 
SEC. 2. Section 202 (a) of the Career Compensation Act of 1949 (63 
Stat. 807) is amended as follows: 
(1) By striking out the period at the end of clause (6) thereof and 
inserting "; and" in lieu thereof. 
(2) By adding the following new clause at the end thereof: 
"(7) For each officer of the Medical Corps or the Dental Corps of 
the Army or Navy, each officer of the Air Force designated as a 
medical or dental officer, and each officer of the Public Health Service 
commissioned as a medical or dental officer, four years; and for each 
such medical officer who has completed one year of medical internship 
or the equivalent thereof, one additional year; except that the service 
authorized to be credited to an officer under this clause shall be reduced 
by the amount of any service otherwise credited under this section 
which covers any part of the period of the officer's professional educa-
tion or internship; and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
the service credit authorized by this clause shall not— 
(A) be included in establishing eligibility for voluntary or 
involuntary retirement or separation from the service, unjier any 
provision of law; 
(B) increase the retired or retirement pay of a person who 
became entitled to such pay prior to May 1, 1956; or 
(C) increase the retired pay of a person Avho becomes entitled 
to such pay under title I I I of the Army and Air Force Vitaliza-
tion and Retirement Equalization Act of 1948 (62 Stat. 1087), on 
or after May 1, 1956, but who does not perform active duty after 
May 1, 1956." 
SEC. 3. Title I I of the Public Health Service Act (Act of July 1, 
1944, 58 Stat. 683), as amended, is further amended by adding at the 
end thereof the following new section: 
Regulations. 
37 u s e 233. 
Service creditfoir 
pay computation. 
10 u s e 
1036-
10361 and notes. 
42 u s e 
202 et 
aeq. 
PROMOTION CREDIT—ASSISTANT GRADE 
"SEC. 220. Any medical officer of the Regular Corps of the Public 
Health Service who— 
"(1) (A) was appointed to the assistant grade in the Regular 
Corps and whose service in such Corps has been continuous from 
the date of appointment or (B) may hereafter be appointed to 
the assistant grade in the Regular Corps, and 
"(2) had or will have completed a medical internship on the 
date of such appointment, 
shall be credited with one year for purposes of promotion and senior-
ity in grade, except that no such credit shall be authorized if the 
officer has received or will receive similar credit for his internship 
imder other provisions of law. 
In the case of an officer on active 
duty on the effective date of this section who is entitled to the credit 
authorized herein, the one year shall be added to the promotion and 
seniority-in-grade credits Avith which he is credited on such date." 
SEC. 4. The Officer Personnel Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 795) is amended 
as follows: 
(1) By inserting in the first sentence of paragraph (1) of section 
211 (e) and in the first sentence of paragrai:)h (3) of section 311 (d), 
after the words "a staff corps", the words "other than the Medical and 
34 u s e 3a note. 
34 u s e 
30 6f.. 
3 0 5g. 
122 
PUBLIC LAW 498-APR. 30, 1956 
[70 ST A T . 
61 Stat. 890. 
10 u s e 506c. 
Rate of 
special 
pay. 
63 Stat. 809. 
37 u s e 372. 
Effective date. 
Dental Corps", and deleting in those sentences the words "if of other 
than the Medical Corps, and in the preceding calendar year if of the 
Medical Corps,". 
(2) By striking out the folloAving words in the second sentence of 
section 506 (c) : "each person appointed and commissioned an officer of 
the Medical Corps of the Regular Army shall, at time of appointment, 
be credited with an amount of service equal to four years; each person 
appointed and commissioned an officer of the Dental Corps,". 
(3) By striking out in section 506 (e) the words "the Medical Corps, 
the Dental Corps, and". 
SEC. 5. (a) Section 203 (b) of the Career Compensation Act of 1949, 
as amended (37 U. S. C. 234 (b)), is further amended by striking out 
the words "$100 per month for each month of active service:" and 
inserting a dash and the following in lieu thereof: 
"(1) $100 per month for each month of active service for those 
medical and dental officers covered by subsection (a) who have 
not completed two years of active service in a category covered 
by that subsection; 
"(2) $100 per month for each month of active service for those 
veterinary officers covered by subsection (c); 
"(3) $150 per month for each month of active service for those 
medical and dental officers covered by subsection (a) who have 
completed at least two years of active service in a category cov-
ered by subsection (a) ; 
"(4) $200 per month for each month of active service for those 
medical and dental officers covered by subsection (a) who have 
completed at least six years of active service in a category covered 
by subsection (a); and 
"(5) $250 per month for each month of active service for those 
medical and dental officers covered by subsection (a) who have 
completed at least ten years of active service in a category covered 
by subsection (a) :" 
(b) Section 203 (b) of such Act is further amended by striking 
out the following words in the third proviso: "of $100 per month as 
is". 
SEC. 6. Any person who, on the day before the effective date of this 
Act, has not completed eighteen years of service creditable in the 
computation of active duty pay in the uniformed service of which 
he is a member and who, as a result of the enactment of this Act, is 
upon the effective date of this Act credited with more than seventeen 
years of such service shall, notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, be allowed twelve months from the effective date of this Act 
within which to make the election provided for in section 3 (a) of the 
Uniformed Services Contingency Option Act of 1953 (67 Stat. 502). 
SEC. 7. This Act shall become effective the first day of the month 
following tlie date of enactment. 
Approved April 30, 1956. 
Public Law 498 
April 30, 1956 
[S. J. Res. 160] 
Senate cotnmittee 
counsel. 
CHAPTER 224 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
To suspend the application of certain laws of the United States with respect 
to counsel employed by the special committee of the Senate established by 
Senate Resolution 210, Eighty-fourth Congress. 
Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That service or employ-
ment of the person first duly appointed as counsel for the special