Click here for the House of Representatives letter.

Click here for the Senate letter.

The letters are viewable with Adobe Reader,
which is available for free download here.

If Ruth Sartori, EdM, RN, CSN and her colleagues have their way, a bill before Congress will become law and extend veterans’ benefits to thousands of women who served stateside in the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. More important, Sartori says, the law would honor those who served but who received no official recognition.

"We want to let the world know that we were contributing to our country in World War II," says Sartori, 78, a retired school nurse who helps coordinate the movement. "During the war, there was a critical shortage of nursing—even worse than now." She and her colleagues feel entitled to the same benefits enjoyed by other veterans and wartime nurses, such as the Women's Army Corps, since the Cadet Nurse Corps was part of the United States Public Health Service (USPHS).

The United States Cadet Nurse Corps was created by Congress during World War II as Public Law 74 in 1943 to fill the gap left by experienced nurses recruited for overseas service. It was a uniformed service created to provide essential service by supplying nurses for military, federal government, and essential civilian hospitals for the duration of the war. Nearly 124,000 young women signed up for the scholarship program and served for the remainder of the war in hospitals nationwide. "Many girls entered the corps and, without them, these hospitals would have shut down," Sartori says.

The nurses-to-be received free tuition, books, and uniforms, as well as a monthly stipend, at state-accredited schools that had accelerated their programs of study. In exchange, the students would serve as military or civilian nurses for the war's duration. Senior cadets completed residencies at school hospitals or at state, federal, military, or public hospitals or clinics. Nurses enrolled before the war's end in 1945 were allowed to finish their studies; the scholarship program ended in 1948.

The program offered thousands of young women a once-in-a-lifetime chance to earn college degrees. Students followed a strict regimen that involved wearing military-style uniforms, adhering to curfews in dorm-like settings (usually in sections of hospitals converted into living quarters), and submitting to bed checks by strict housemothers. Cadets were forbidden to marry until graduation.

Finding nurses who can become politically involved has not been easy. Sartori finally got 700 names from the Women's Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, which documents the contributions of women during wartime. She sent form letters to about 10 cadets who helped her get the word out to the hundreds of others. The grassroots campaign has steadily picked up steam in two years.

On January 29, 2003, the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act of 2003, HR 476, was introduced in the House. On July 8, 2003, the House Resolution HR 313 was introduced commemorating the 60^th Anniversary of the Cadet Nurse Corps. Senate Concurrent Resolution SCR 72 was introduced on October 3, 2003, commemorating the 60^th Anniversary of the Cadet Nurse Corps. On November 24, 2003, a companion bill, S 1948, was introduced in the Senate to grant "veteran status" to the World War II United States Cadet Nurse Corps members.

Click here for the House of Representatives letter.

Click here for the Senate letter.

The letters are viewable with Adobe Reader,
which is available for free download here.

If you need a replacement "Cadet Nurse Card" please contact::

Wait approximately 2 weeks for a response. 

The following information is required to process a request

• name used at time of graduation

• name of school

• year graduated

• address of hospital if known

To register at the Women’s Memorial as a "Cadet Nurse" telephone (800) 222-2294.

Created to ease the nursing shortage, the Cadet Nurse Corps had the unintended effect of upgrading nursing schools nationwide. And it can serve as a model now to those seeking resolution to a similar nursing crisis; the Nurse Reinvestment Act, signed into law on August 1, 2002, by President George W. Bush, offers incentives for nursing recruitment including loan reimbursements and increased career options.