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Support Our Valiant Sisters In Their Final Battle
Call For Them To Be Recognized With Official Veteran Status
The Cadet Nurses need our support to end their discriminatory treatment. Ask your Representative to support the
United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity (Act H.R. 3423), introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), to classify service
in the Cadet Nurse Corps as active military service and recognize the members as veterans. These women are mostly
in their 80s and 90s and have waited long enough; we need to help them achieve equal veteran status NOW!
ACT NOW
Action Needed:
During and just after World War II, more than 100,000 women served in the United States Cadet Nurse Corps, yet
their contributions remain virtually unknown. Other women who were in WWII military services, like the Women's Army
Corps (WACs), the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), and the Women Airforce Service Pilots
(WASPs), have rightfully been granted veteran status and benefits -- and remain legendary to this day. Because the
Cadet Nurses were under the Public Health Service rather than a military command, and performed their duties in
this country as well as abroad, their services during and shortly after the war have gone unrecognized. It's time
to include and salute them as veterans.
In a show of support for the integral role that the women of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps played during World War
II, Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) has introduced H.R. 3423, the United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act,
to classify service in the Cadet Nurse Corps as active military service and to recognize the members as veterans.
The act requires the Secretary of Defense to issue an honorable discharge to each person whose service qualifies
for one. This change in status would give Cadet Nurse Corps members access to services administered by both Federal
and State Veterans' Affairs departments.
Over the past decade, numerous Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Acts have been introduced and sent to committees where
they were left to languish. There has never been a hearing, no bill has ever reached the floor of the House for a
vote and there is no Senate counterpart. Cadet Nurses and their families have waited too long, too quietly, and too
patiently for Congress to do the right thing. 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the graduation of the last class
of Cadet Nurses, and the small, hearty band of surviving nurses deserves our support!
TAKE ACTION NOW - ask your Representative to sponsor this bill!
Background:
In 1943, the Federal government established the United States Cadet Nurse Corps to remedy a shortage of nurses
during World War II. The 180,000 enlisted women of the Cadet Nurse Corps comprised the largest, youngest group of
uniformed women to serve their country during World War II and the early postwar years (1943-1948). The recruits
included a diversity unknown at the time, including African American, Native American, and Japanese American
women.
Women qualified for the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps if they were between the ages of 17 and 35 and had a high-school
degree from an accredited school. After acceptance into the Cadet Nurse Corps, qualified applicants were given
scholarships that covered tuition, books, uniforms, partial room and board, and a small monthly stipend. In return,
Cadet Nurses pledged to actively serve in essential civilian, military or other Federal and governmental services
for the duration of the war. Cadet Nurses went on to serve in a wide variety of settings within the Federal
Service, working for the Army, Navy, Veterans' Administration, United States Public Health Service, and the Office
of Indian Affairs, and compromised 80% of the nursing staff for civilian hospitals during the war.
Cadet Nurses worked tirelessly to care for our sick and injured troops during World War II, and were exposed to
disease and death through 12-hour shifts, having as many as fifty patients under their care at a time.
The legacy of the Cadet Nurse Corps is manifold, felt by all Americans but known only by few. World War II
military veterans came home to an intact health care system, and the Cadet Nurses who had preserved the system and
cared for their families were there to care for them. The Cadet Nurse Corps helped to foster a more academic
approach to nursing which led to significant improvements in nursing education. The Cadet Nurse Corps also
established a prominent place for nursing within the Public Health Service. During the period 1944-1946, 46% of the
Public Health Service's budget was devoted to theCadet Nurse Corps, representing one of the few examples in
American history where the Federal government allocated large sums of taxpayer's money for nursing education. It
helped to pave the way for later Federal grants and support to educational institutions to increase and improve
nursing and all healthcare education and training.
Despite their historic and patriotic contributions, the women of the Cadet Nurse Corps have consistently been
passed over and forgotten. Under President Truman's Executive Order 9575 signed in June of 1945, the Commissioned
Corps of the Public Health Service was declared to be a military service. While the other members of the United
States Public Health Service received discharge papers and veteran status, the women of the Cadet Nurse Corps
received neither. During the 99th congressional session in 1986, H.R. 2663 passed extending civil service
retirement credit to members of the Cadet Nurse Corps, but ONLY if the Nurse Cadets were current federal employees,
which covered very few of the nurses. During the floor debate on this bill, then Rep. Jim Slattery (D-Kan.)
eloquently stated:
"The time and effort of these women has been simply ignored, and we need to think about the
gross inequity that has occurred. We should not forget that in a nation depleted of registered nurses during a time
of war, these women filled the gap and picked up the slack -- they cared for our country's sick and for our
many soldiers who returned home to heal. When our country was weakened by an ugly war this now small group
of women was there to help make it strong. When called by their country to serve in a time of need, these women did
not hesitate to answer that call with service, commitment, and compassion. These women came forward to help their
Nation through a difficult time. Now they call upon their country to correct an oversight, an injustice. For
whatever reason, these women were overlooked. We have an opportunity today to correct that
oversight."
The women of the Cadet Nurse Corps answered the call of duty for their country some 65 years ago. We need to
correct this serious injustice! Support H.R. 3423, the United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act, and help grant
veteran status to the women of the Cadet Nurse Corps today!
TAKE ACTION NOW!
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