Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – 12/1/25… Last week, Congressman Mike Lawler introduced U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act, a bill honoring women who served in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during WWII with honorary veteran status. The bill would recognize former Cadet Nurses' service to the country and provide them with honorary veterans status, honorable discharges, a service medal, a burial plaque or grave marker, and other commendations. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will be introducing companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) alongside Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Angus King (I-ME) joined Lawler and Warren in introducing this bicameral, bipartisan legislation. 

During WWII, a severe shortage of trained nurses threatened the United States’ ability to meet domestic and military medical needs. As a result, Congress established the Cadet Nurse Corps, an integrated, uniformed service of the Public Health Administration, in 1943 to provide 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' rigorous 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, Massachusetts, and then served as a nurse at a Staten Island, N.Y., marine hospital near the end of WWII. 

"We prevented a total collapse of the health care system," said Nurse Beecher. "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."

“The women of the Cadet Nurse Corps kept our hospitals going at a moment when our country desperately needed them. Without their service, the outcome of the war, and the world we live in today, would be very different,” said Congressman Lawler. 

“It’s about time we recognize these women for their service to our country during World War II,” said Senator 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.”

"The contributions of women in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II were critical to the Allies’ victory. Cadet Nurses served our nation bravely in uniform and are still underrecognized. I’m proud to co-lead this bipartisan effort to finally give them the honor and recognition they have long deserved,” said Congresswoman Norton. 

“Cadet nurses help the United States and our Allies win World War II,” said Congressman Deluzio. “They made enormous sacrifices and bravely put themselves in harm’s way in their efforts to save lives. I am proud to join with my colleagues to reintroduce the United States Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act of 2023 to grant these nurses honorary veteran status and other benefits that these cadet nurses earned through their service.”

The U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Service Recognition Act would:

• Provide Cadet Nurses with honorary veteran status, with an honorable discharge from service where merited and; 
• Permit the Secretary of Defense to provide honorably discharged Cadet Nurses with a service medal, a burial plaque or grave marker, and other commendations to honor their service.

The bill was included in the House version of the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act. 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.

The bill is endorsed by the Military Women’s Memorial, the American Nurses Association, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Full text of the bill can be found HERE.

Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

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