A piece of legislation was reintroduced this week to grant former World War II Cadet Nurses with honorary veteran status.
The bill, which had been introduced in 2019 and again in 2023, would recognize the women who served in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps by providing them with honorary veterans status, honorable discharges, a service medal, a burial plaque or grave marker and other commendations.
The U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act was introduced by United States Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Angus King (I-Maine), along with U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
“The cadet nurses of World War II are unsung heroes whose bravery and selfless service helped the United States and our Allies win the war. As our nation struggled to meet medical staffing levels and take care of its soldiers, young women across the country stepped up to help make a difference and save lives,” said King. “It is a privilege to join my colleagues in introducing the bipartisan U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act, which will give long overdue recognition to these remarkable women of the Greatest Generation and further cement their important role in defending freedom and democracy.”
The Cadet Nurse Corps was established in 1943 to address the severe nursing shortage during WWII. Congress provided women with expedited nursing education in exchange for essential military or civilian nursing for the duration of the war. In 1944, the Federal Security Agency identified national recognition for rendering a vital war service as a privilege of service in the Corps.
In total, nearly 120,000 women completed the Corps' demanding training and served in military hospitals, VA hospitals, Marine hospitals, private hospitals, public health agencies and public hospitals until the program ended in 1948.
One of those women, Cadet Nurse Elizabeth "Betty" Beecher, trained to become a Cadet Nurse in Boston and then served as a nurse at a Staten Island, N.Y., marine hospital near the end of WWII.
Warren called Beecher to speak to her about her service and to ask her why this bill in the works was so significant to her.
"We prevented a total collapse of the health care system," she said. "Had we not stepped up and volunteered and enlisted in the Corps, I'm afraid the country would have been demoralized and our boys would have come home to a sick country."
She added that she feels she is representing the cadet nurses who have passed on.
“It’s about time we recognize these women for their service to our country during World War II,” said Warren. “They stepped up to prevent our nation’s health care system from collapsing and were crucial to our wartime efforts — that is the definition of patriotism.”
While the legislation would provide the appropriate military honors, it would not provide still-living Cadet Nurses with Veterans Affairs pensions, healthcare benefits or other privileges afforded to former active-duty service members, such as burial benefits in Arlington Cemetery.