clause (2), one year's presence in the United States at the time of induction entitles him to them if at any time theretofore he had been lawfully admitted to the country. He relies on his lawful admittance and brief stay in the country at Honolulu in 1951 as providing this. The Government contends that the lawful admittance must have been the means whereby the alien commenced his year's presence in the country, and that accordingly the lawful Honolulu entry is irrelevant. We are in agreement with the Government's view of the statute.
While perhaps a verbal construction of the statute can be made as not implying any connection between the required lawful admittance and the required year's presence, we think the only fair and natural construction of the wordswith the law that existed during "the war" (presumably World War II)[7] with the exception that *106 it applied only to aliens who were "legally and lawfully in the United States." 99 Cong. Rec. 2639. This must be read in the context of the House Committee Report's statement that "lawful admission" was a prerequisite to the bill's benefits, and its explanation that it had rejected a proposal of the Justice Department that would have required the presence of the alien at the time of entrance into the armed services also be lawful. The Committee had felt that the alien should not be saddled with "the technicalities involved in connection with the continuance of such [lawful] status at the time of entering the Armed Forces." H. R. Rep. No.