Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/96

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

�This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 Butlc?v? lke l?ostwar Air Force act were framed to adapt the law to the special needs of female personnel. Provi- sion was also made for the appointment of female warrant officers, for the recruiting of Iemale enhsted personnet, and for the integration of female officers and enlmted personnel in the A?r Force Reserve. For the first two years following the date of this act the number of female personnel in the Air Force was not to exceed 300 commis- sioned officers, 40 warrant officers, and 4,000 enlisted women ?0? In lViay 1951 a greatly expanded WAF program, calling for a pro- posed ultimate strength of 48,000 was announced, TM Unification made apparent the need for a uniform code of military lustice applicable to personnel of all the armed services After discussion of the question with the respec- tive secretaries and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a com- mittee was appointed by the Secretary of Defense in 1945 to draw up such a code. ?ø? This committee, headed by Dr. Edmund Morgan, Jr, of the Harvard Law School, and supplemented by a work- hug group of 15 persons, made a 7-month study of the project. The end result of this combined effort was S. 85Y, a bfil to provide a Uniform Code of Military Justice. ? was a companion bill to H.R. 4080, as amended and passed in the House of Representatives. After extensive commxttee hearings, the House bill, H.R. 4080, was accepted by the Senate with certain amendments agreed on in conference committee. So enacted into law on 5 May 1950, Public Law 506, 81 Cong., 2 Sees. established a Uniform Code of i?l?tary Justice, for the government of the Armed Forces oœ the United States. xo? The purpose of the uniform code was to prowde a single, unified, consolidated, and codxfied system of criminal law and judxcial pro- ccdurc equally apphcable to all of the armed forces of the United Statesj 0? This measure canstituted an important contribution to the real unification of the armed services. In the five years after World War II Con- gross also enacted many other laws dealing w?th such military personnel matters as insurance, leave, disablhty compensation, dependents' allowances, etc. This legisla- t?on, of course, was as pertinent to Air Force personnel as xt was to those of the other armed services. In this five-year period Congress passed ?everal measures amending the ?lational Servxce Life Insurance Act of 1940, and in 1951 it radically changed the government hie insurance program by enactment of the Serwcemen's indemnity Act of 1951. Under the 1940 act service personnel could take out national setwee life insurance in amounts of not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000. There were seven different plans avafiable, samilar to those of com- mercml companies. The insured paid pre- miums with the exceptions already noted in the case of aviation cadets and stu- dents. ?os The National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940 was amended by the Insurance Act of i946 to hberalizc several of its provisions and to authorize a new benefit for National serwce life insurance policyholders m the iorm of a tote disability income provision which could be added at any time to any NSLI policy for a small premium. It pro- vided ior payments to the insured of $5.00 per month fo? each $1,000 of insurance in Iorce whenever he was totally disabled for six consecutive months or longer. ?ø? Public Law 5, 80 Cong., i Sees. (approved 21 Feb- rusty 1947) further amended the insurance act oi 1940 to make persons commissioned and ordered rate active service eligible for national service life insurance upon appli- catran made within 120 days after entrance rate such active service.?0 Another amending act, Public Law 838, 80 Ccng., 2 ?ess. (approved 29 June 1948), permitted the renewal of a N?L five-year level premium term policy, issued prior to 1 January 1948, for an additional five years without medical examination and at the premium rate for the attained age. Pro- wsion was also made that such insurance should be automatically renewed for totally dxsabled persons for a five-year period less they elected insurance on some other plan. TM The NatmnaI Service Life Insur- ance Act oi 1940 was further amended by Public Law 69, 81 Cong., i Sees. (approved 23 May 1949), to clarify the provision re- THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958