COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS

ROBERT R. REYNOLDS, North Carolina, Chairman

WESLEY E. McDONALD, Clerk
WALTER I. SMALLEY, Assistant Clerk

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEB 25 43

WOMEN'S ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1943

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a. m., in the committee room of the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Capitol, Senator Robert R. Reynolds (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Reynolds (chairman), Thomas of Utah, Johnson of Colorado, Hill, Downey, Chandler, Gurney, Holman, and Lodge. The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, we have before us S. 495, a bill to establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for service in the Army of the United States.

We have also a letter from the Secretary of War, together with a substitute bill, which we will make a part of the record at this point. (S. 495 and the letter and substitute bill are as follows:)

[S. 495, 78th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for service in the Army of the United States

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the Army of the United States a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.

SEC. 2. The enlisted personnel of such corps shall consist of women who may enlist, under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, for the duration of the present war plus six months, and during such time they shall be subject to and entitled to the benefits of such laws and regulations as may be applicable to other enlisted members of the Army of the United States, and such other regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe.

SEC. 3. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps may be officered by women who shall be appointed in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and commissioned as officers in the Army of the United States under the provisions of the Act of September 22, 1941 (Public Law 252, Seventy-seventh Congress), and the appointment of women in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps under the provisions of the said act is hereby authorized.

SEC. 4. Uniforms, insignia, accessories, and equipment furnished to commissioned personnel of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps under section 8 of the Act of May 14, 1942 (Public Law 554, Seventy-seventh Congress), as amended, may be retained by such personnel if appointed officers in the Army of the United States under the provisions of this act, and such personnel shall not be entitled to any uniform allowance provided for officers of the Army of the United States under existing law.

SEC. 5. The Act of May 14, 1942 (Public Law 554, Seventy-seventh Congress), as amended by the Act of October 26, 1942 (Public Law 761, Seventy-seventh Congress), is hereby repealed, effective on the sixtieth day after approval of this Act.

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Hon. ROBERT R. REYNOLDS,

Chairman, Committee on Military Affairs,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 1, 1943.

United States Senate.

DEAR SENATOR REYNOLDS: The War Department favors in principle the enactment of S. 495, a bill "to establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for service in the Army of the United States.

The proposed measure would establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in the Army of the United States, and authorize the appointment and enlistment of women in the Army of the United States for the duration of the present war plus 6 months. Such persons would become subject to, and entitled to the benefits of, all laws and regulations applicable to other persons serving in the Army of the United States. The bill would repeal the act of May 14, 1942 (Public Law 554, 77th Cong.), as amended.

The Corps, as at present constituted, is a body of uniformed civilians which performs its duty with the Army but is not a part of it. Although in the past, the War Department has not advocated the establishment of the Corps as a par of the Army, experience has proved that the present arrangement will not be satisfactory. It is believed that to make the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps a component of the Army of the United States will do away with difficulties and confusions in the present set-up, will rectify inequalities from which the members of the Corps now suffer, and will substantially contribute to the effec tive use of the Corps in furtherance of the war effort.

The War Department believes that the proposed measure might usefully be clarified in certain respects, and for this purpose it submits the inclosed draft of a proposed substitute bill.

It is not anticipated that the proposed measure will result in any substantial additional cost. The principal additional costs will be occasioned by the authorizing of members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps to receive flight pay, additional pay for overseas duty, and allowances for dependents. However, to the extent that such members of the Corps relieve a like number of officers or enlisted men assigned to other components of the Army, the additional cost which would ensue would not be great.

A similar report on an identical bill, H. R. 1188, was submitted to the Burean of the Budget which advised there would be no objection to the submission of that report.

Sincerely yours,

HENRY L. STIMSON,
Secretary of War.

SUBSTITUTE DRAFT OF BILL

A BILL To establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps for service in the Army of the United States

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the Army of the United States, for the period of the present war and for six months thereafter, or for such shorter period as the Congress by concurrent resolution or the President by proclamation shall prescribe, a component to be known as the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.

SEC. 2. The enlisted personnel of such corps shall consist of women enlisted in the Army of the United States under the provisions of the concluding paragraph of section 127a of the National Defense Act, as amended (54 Stat. 213). All laws and regulations now or hereafter applicable to enlisted men or former enlisted men of the Army of the United States and their dependents and beneficiaries shall, in like cases and except where otherwise expressly provided, be applicable respectively to enlisted personnel and former enlisted personnel of such corps and their dependents and beneficiaries.

SEC. 3. The commissioned officers of such corps shall consist of women appointed as officers in the Army of the United States under the provisions of the joint resolution of September 22, 1941 (55 Stat. 728), and ordered into the active military service of the United States. They and their dependents and beneficiaries shall have all of the rights, privileges, and benefits accorded in like cases to other persons under that Act.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of War is authorized to prescribe such additional regulations applicable to such corps and to the members thereof as he may deem

necessary. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and the Army Nurse Corps shall be the only women's organizations in the Army of the United States.

SEC. 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no woman appointed as an officer in the Army of the United States under the provisions hereof who has previously held an appointment as an officer of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps established pursuant to the provisions of the Act of May 14, 1942 (Public Law 554, 77th Cong.), shall be entitled to any uniform allowance payable to officers of the Army of the United States. Such officers who have not received a complete issue of uniforms, insignia, accessories, and equipment prescribed under the provisions of section 8 of such Act of May 14, 1942, may be issued the remainder of such prescribed articles, and all such officers who have heretofore received, or may hereafter receive, such complete issue, or any part thereof, may retain such articles as their personal property.

SEC. 6. Effective on the last day of the second calendar month following the date of the approval of this Act, the Act of May 14, 1942, as amended, except section 11 thereof, is hereby repealed. Section 11 of such Act of May 14, 1942, shall not be applicable to enlisted personnel or commissioned officers of the corps established by this Act except in cases in which its applicability is based upon the status of such enlisted personnel or commissioned officers as former members of the corps established by such Act of May 14, 1942. Enlistment or acceptance of appointment under the provisions of this Act shall terminate service under the Act of May 14, 1942, and personnel who were enrolled or appointed under the Act last mentioned who do not so enlist or accept appointment hereunder will be discharged. The Secretary of War is authorized to provide transportation and sleeping accommodations, or an allowance in lieu thereof at the rate of five cents Jer mile, for the travel from her last duty post to the place of her acceptance for appointment or enrollment to any member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps established pursuant to the provisions of such Act of May 14, 1942, who is Le appointed or enlisted in the Army of the United States pursuant to the proviSons of this Act.

STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. M. G. WHITE, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF
STAFF, G-1, UNITED STATES ARMY

The CHAIRMAN. General, would you make an explanation as to the difference between the original bill and the substitute, instead of my taking the time of the committee reading it here?

General WHITE. If I cannot, I have someone here who can.

Senator THOMAS. Before you start, S. 495 is identical with what was called the amendment last spring.

General WHITE. I am not familiar with that amendment last spring, Senator. This, I think, is identical with the bill introduced in the House by Mrs. Rogers. I believe the two are identical. Senator THOMAS. Mrs. Rogers' bill is the one that became the law. General WHITE. I mean she has a companion bill to this. Senator THOMAS. I think this is the same.

Senator JOHNSON. Do I understand that this language is the language that is recommended by the Secretary of War?

The CHAIRMAN. That is right.

Senator JOHNSON. He speaks of an amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. No; he recommends the substitute, by striking everything after the enacting clause and substituting it.

Senator JOHNSON. This is the substitute?

The CHAIRMAN. This is the substitute that we have before us here. Senator JOHNSON. If we have two bills we ought to know which one the witness is discussing.

The CHAIRMAN. You are going to discuss the substitute?

General WHITE. I would like to discuss the principles involved in either bill, Senator. The two bills, Senator Reynolds, S. 495 and the

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one we offered in lieu thereof, are essentially the same in effect. As I understand it, our judge advocate prefers the language of our substitute, to clarify certain passages principally.

The CHAIRMAN. To clarify certain passages in S. 495?

General WHITE. Yes, sir; to make clear the provisions of law to which this bill refers. I think most of you will recall, if I am correctly informed, that a proposal of this nature was introduced last spring when the original WAAC bill was under consideration. I believe it was introduced on the floor of the Senate. Is that not so, Senator Thomas?

Senator THOMAS. It was called the Thomas amendment.

General WHITE. As I recall the history of that, it did not pass the Senate and was referred back to the committee.

Senator THOMAS. That is right.

General WHITE. At that time the War Department took the view that rather than get into a controversy over the organization of this women's corps it preferred to go ahead with the auxiliary type of organization, because that could be probably more speedily enacted, and was enacted.

Subsequently, during the hearings on the revision of the pay of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps last fall the question came up again of simply curing the pay difficulties by putting it in the Army. At that time, the chief of staff was very much concerned that that pay situation be straightened out as early as possible. We asked his views on the proposal to substitute legislation of this nature in place of the pay bill. He said at that time that the corps was still in a formative period, we still had no units actually organized and functioning with the Army, and under the circumstances he preferred that we go ahead as we were until we had gone far enough along to know just how valuable this Corps was going to be to the Army, the extent of its usefulness, the difficulties we would encounter under the legislation the Congress had already provided, and again rather than delay the pay situation he personally requested that the question not be brought up

at that time.

Then, this legislation was introduced. We are now in the position of favoring that which we have heretofore in a sense opposed-not that we did not want it in the beginning. We would have preferred this type of legislation, but having gotten something else and got it started to working, we did not want to be too hasty about changing it.

The corps has reached the strength of something in excess of 30,000. I think the figures are about 31,500. We have more than 10,000 now actually organized into units and on duty in the field, at various post headquarters, service commands, certain Air Force activities, and even one company now overseas. Wherever we have put them they have not only proved highly valuable, they have released, somewhat to our surprise almost one man for one woman. They have released a soldier in almost every position for each woman. That is somewhat better than we expected. I have always estimated that perhaps two men could be released by three women on most jobs.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think it has increased with the increased personnel of the WAAC's?

General WHITE. On certain duties, Senator. It seems on certain types of duties, clerical, administrative duties, things of that kind at post headquarters they do a better job than soldier clerks do.