119-hr4901

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4901 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4901

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 August 5, 2025

 Ms. Stefanik (for herself, Mr. Deluzio, and Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House 
 Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
 Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
 within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 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 United States Army nurses and 1,700 United 
 States 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 Act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 759; chapter 227), 
 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 World War II 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 front lines.

    (3) Nurses served under fire in field hospitals and 
 evacuation hospitals across 6 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 American and Filipino 
 Army Corps nurses and other medical personnel to the Bataan 
 Peninsula to prepare 2 emergency hospitals for United States 
 and Filipino forces. General Hospital #1 received casualties 
 directly from the front lines and occupied an old Army barracks 
 in Limay, Bataan prior to implementation of War Plan Orange 3 
 on December 24, 1941. The hospital received more than 1,200 
 battle casualties requiring major surgery within a month. 
 General Hospital #2, a makeshift open ward hospital, was set up 
 in Cabcaben, Bataan to receive discharged patients from 
 Hospital #1. 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. Due to constant bombing, Hospital #1 was transferred 
 to Little Baguio in Mariveles, Bataan on January 25, 1942. 
 Hospital #1 was bombed on March 29, 1942, and again on April 7, 
 killing or wounding more than 100 patients, but the nurses 
 carried on with their duties as well as they were able. Fifty-
 three American and 31 Filipina nurses were ordered to move from 
 Bataan to Corregidor Island on April 8. Ten of the American 
 nurses were transferred successfully to Australia prior to the 
 fall of Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Sixty-seven American nurses 
 were eventually moved to Santo Tomas University Internment Camp 
 where they were liberated in February 1945 while 31 Filipina 
 nurses were moved to Bilibid Prison where they were 
 conditionally released in July 1942.

    (5) On December 10, 1941, Sangley Point Navy Yard was 
 bombed by Japanese planes. American and Filipino Navy Corps 
 nurses, medical personnel and patients of Canacao Naval 
 Hospital were transferred to the Army Sternberg Hospital in 
 Manila. During the first week of January 1942, the Japanese 
 Army occupied Manila and the Navy nurses were transferred to 
 St. Scholastica's College with their patients and eventually to 
 Santo Tomas University Internment Camp on March 12, 1942. 
 Eleven American and Filipino Navy Corps nurses were transferred 
 to Los Banos Prison Camp on May 14, 1943, where they stayed 
 until their liberation in February 1945. Following the United 
 States 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.

    (6) Chinese, Chinese-American, and Japanese-American nurses 
 served in Army Hospitals in China, Hawaii, and in the mainland 
 United States under the Army and Navy Corps. Despite the 
 internment of many Japanese-American families during World War 
 II, Japanese-American women joined the Nurse Cadet Corps to 
 serve the United States. Chinese and Chinese-American nurses 
 were recruited by the Flying Tigers, serving both in dangerous 
 missions over the Himalayas as well as in U.S. Army hospitals.

    (7) 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.

    (8) 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.

    (9) Army and Navy nurses acclimated quickly to difficult 
 and dangerous conditions with a minimum of complaints, and were 
 essential members of the field armies.

    (10) The presence of nurses at the front improved morale 
 because soldiers realized that they would receive skilled care 
 in the event they were wounded.

    (11) 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.

    (12) After the war, broad public health missions required 
 that Army and Navy 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. Army and Navy nurses even provided prenatal, infant, and 
 mental health care in other former-enemy territories.

    (13) 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.

    (14) 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.

    (15) 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.

    (16) In 1948, all military branches were integrated and 
 female doctors were finally admitted to the Army Medical Corps.

    (17) 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.

    (18) As the Army Nurse Corps began expanding its recruiting 
 process, thousands of Black nurses who wanted to serve their 
 country filled out applications.

    (19) 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.

    (20) 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 prisoners of war. As the war progressed, the number of 
 Black nurses allowed to enlist remained low, although the quota 
 was officially lifted in July 1944.

    (21) The extraordinary efforts of these women are deserving 
 of belated official recognition.

    (22) 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) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives 
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate 
arrangements for the award, 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 award described in 
subsection

    (a) , the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act 
as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the 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 made 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 sections 5134 and 5136 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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