A coalition of retired military nurses and others is pushing to award the Congressional Gold Medal to World War II nurses.

That law made it illegal for Chinese laborers to immigrate to America and limited the Chinese population in the U.S. for more than 60 years. Chinese Americans served in all major branches of the military, including the so-called Flying Tigers, the 14th Air Service that flew missions in the China-Burma-India Theater. For their service to the nation during the war, Chinese-American veterans were honored at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony Wednesday. Francis B. Wai had been awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military award given by the United States. She and other Chinese Americans “answered the call to duty when our country faced threats to our freedom,″ Chin said in a videotaped presentation at Wednesday’s ceremony.