H.R. 4901

[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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