[111th Congress Public Law 40]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[[Page 1957]]
WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL
[[Page 123 STAT. 1958]]
Public Law 111-40
111th Congress
An Act
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots
(``WASP''). <<NOTE: July 1, 2009 - [S. 614]>>
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 31 USC 5111 note.>> FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII, known as the
``WASP'', were the first women in history to fly American
military aircraft;
(2) more than 60 years ago, they flew fighter, bomber,
transport, and training aircraft in defense of America's
freedom;
(3) they faced overwhelming cultural and gender bias against
women in nontraditional roles and overcame multiple injustices
and inequities in order to serve their country;
(4) through their actions, the WASP eventually were the
catalyst for revolutionary reform in the integration of women
pilots into the Armed Services;
(5) during the early months of World War II, there was a
severe shortage of combat pilots;
(6) Jacqueline Cochran, America's leading woman pilot of the
time, convinced General Hap Arnold, Chief of the Army Air
Forces, that women, if given the same training as men, would be
equally capable of flying military aircraft and could then take
over some of the stateside military flying jobs, thereby
releasing hundreds of male pilots for combat duty;
(7) the severe loss of male combat pilots made the necessity
of utilizing women pilots to help in the war effort clear to
General Arnold, and a women's pilot training program was soon
approved;
(8) it was not until August 1943, that the women aviators
would receive their official name;
(9) General Arnold ordered that all women pilots flying
military aircraft, including 28 civilian women ferry pilots,
would be named ``WASP'', Women Airforce Service Pilots;
(10) more than 25,000 American women applied for training,
but only 1,830 were accepted and took the oath;
(11) exactly 1,074 of those trainees successfully completed
the 21 to 27 weeks of Army Air Forces flight training,
graduated, and received their Army Air Forces orders to report
to their assigned air base;
(12) on November 16, 1942, the first class of 29 women
pilots reported to the Houston, Texas Municipal Airport and
[[Page 123 STAT. 1959]]
began the same military flight training as the male Army Air
Forces cadets were taking;
(13) due to a lack of adequate facilities at the airport, 3
months later the training program was moved to Avenger Field in
Sweetwater, Texas;
(14) WASP were eventually stationed at 120 Army air bases
all across America;
(15) they flew more than 60,000,000 miles for their country
in every type of aircraft and on every type of assignment flown
by the male Army Air Forces pilots, except combat;
(16) WASP assignments included test piloting, instructor
piloting, towing targets for air-to-air gunnery practice,
ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice, ferrying, transporting
personnel and cargo (including parts for the atomic bomb),
simulated strafing, smoke laying, night tracking, and flying
drones;
(17) in October 1943, male pilots were refusing to fly the
B-26 Martin Marauder (known as the ``Widowmaker'') because of
its fatality records, and General Arnold ordered WASP Director,
Jacqueline Cochran, to select 25 WASP to be trained to fly the
B-26 to prove to the male pilots that it was safe to fly;
(18) during the existence of the WASP--
(A) 38 women lost their lives while serving their
country;
(B) their bodies were sent home in poorly crafted
pine boxes;
(C) their burial was at the expense of their
families or classmates;
(D) there were no gold stars allowed in their
parents' windows; and
(E) because they were not considered military, no
American flags were allowed on their coffins;
(19) in 1944, General Arnold made a personal request to
Congress to militarize the WASP, and it was denied;
(20) on December 7, 1944, in a speech to the last graduating
class of WASP, General Arnold said, ``You and more than 900 of
your sisters have shown you can fly wingtip to wingtip with your
brothers. I salute you . . . We of the Army Air Force are proud
of you. We will never forget our debt to you.'';
(21) with victory in WWII almost certain, on December 20,
1944, the WASP were quietly and unceremoniously disbanded;
(22) there were no honors, no benefits, and very few ``thank
you's'';
(23) just as they had paid their own way to enter training,
they had to pay their own way back home after their honorable
service to the military;
(24) the WASP military records were immediately sealed,
stamped ``classified'' or ``secret'', and filed away in
Government archives, unavailable to the historians who wrote the
history of WWII or the scholars who compiled the history text
books used today, with many of the records not declassified
until the 1980s;
(25) consequently, the WASP story is a missing chapter in
the history of the Air Force, the history of aviation, and the
history of the United States of America;
[[Page 123 STAT. 1960]]
(26) in 1977, 33 years after the WASP were disbanded, the
Congress finally voted to give the WASP the veteran status they
had earned, but these heroic pilots were not invited to the
signing ceremony at the White House, and it was not until 7
years later that their medals were delivered in the mail in
plain brown envelopes;
(27) in the late 1970s, more than 30 years after the WASP
flew in World War II, women were finally permitted to attend
military pilot training in the United States Armed Forces;
(28) thousands of women aviators flying support aircraft
have benefitted from the service of the WASP and followed in
their footsteps;
(29) in 1993, the WASP were once again referenced during
congressional hearings regarding the contributions that women
could make to the military, which eventually led to women being
able to fly military fighter, bomber, and attack aircraft in
combat;
(30) hundreds of United States servicewomen combat pilots
have seized the opportunity to fly fighter aircraft in recent
conflicts, all thanks to the pioneering steps taken by the WASP;
(31) the WASP have maintained a tight-knit community, forged
by the common experiences of serving their country during war;
(32) as part of their desire to educate America on the WASP
history, WASP have assisted ``Wings Across America'', an
organization dedicated to educating the American public, with
much effort aimed at children, about the remarkable
accomplishments of these WWII veterans; and
(33) the WASP have been honored with exhibits at numerous
museums, to include--
(A) the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC;
(B) the Women in Military Service to America
Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington,
Virginia;
(C) the National Museum of the United States Air
Force, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio;
(D) the National WASP WWII Museum, Sweetwater,
Texas;
(E) the 8th Air Force Museum, Savannah, Georgia;
(F) the Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston, Texas;
(G) the American Airpower Museum, Farmingdale, New
York;
(H) the Pima Air Museum, Tucson, Arizona;
(I) the Seattle Museum of Flight, Seattle,
Washington;
(J) the March Air Museum, March Reserve Air Base,
California; and
(K) the Texas State History Museum, Austin, Texas.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Award Authorized.--The President pro tempore of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall make appropriate
arrangements for the award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold
medal of appropriate design in honor of the Women Airforce Service
Pilots (WASP) collectively, in recognition of their pioneering military
service and exemplary record, which forged revolutionary reform in the
Armed Forces of the United States of America.
[[Page 123 STAT. 1961]]
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 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 in
honor of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the gold medal shall
be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it will be
displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
(2) Sense of the congress.--It is the sense of the Congress
that the Smithsonian Institution shall make the gold medal
received under this Act available for display elsewhere,
particularly at other locations associated with the WASP.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary
may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under
this Act, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the medals,
including labor, materials, dyes, use of machinery, and overhead
expenses.
SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.
Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, an amount
not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of the medal authorized under
section 2.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
Approved July 1, 2009.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 614:
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 155 (2009):
May 20, considered and passed Senate.
June 16, considered and passed House.
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