[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2350 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2350
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Headquarters, Special
Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company, in recognition of their
unique and highly distinguished service as a ``Ghost Army'' that
conducted deception operations in Europe during World War II.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 22, 2019
Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire (for herself and Mr. King of New York)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Headquarters, Special
Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company, in recognition of their
unique and highly distinguished service as a ``Ghost Army'' that
conducted deception operations in Europe during World War II.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, comprised of the
23d Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops, the
603d Engineer Camouflage Battalion, the 406th Combat Engineer
Company, the 3132d Signal Service Company and the Signal
Company, Special, 23d Headquarters, Special Troops and the
3133d Signal Service Company were top-secret units of the
United States Army that served in Europe during World War II.
(2) The 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, was actively
engaged in battlefield operations from June of 1944 through
March of 1945. The 3133d Signal Service Company was engaged in
operations in Italy in 1945.
(3) The deceptive activities of these units were integral
to several Allied victories across Europe and reduced American
casualties.
(4) In evaluating the performance of these units after the
War, a U.S. Army analysis found that ``Rarely, if ever, has
there been a group of such a few men which had so great an
influence on the outcome of a major military campaign.''.
(5) Many Ghost Army soldiers were citizen-soldiers
recruited from art schools, advertising agencies,
communications companies, and other creative and technical
professions.
(6) The first four members of the 23d Headquarters, Special
Troops, landed on D-Day and two became casualties while
creating false beach landing sites.
(7) The 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, secret deception
operations commenced in France on June 14, 1944, when Task
Force Mason, a 17-man detachment of the 23d led by First
Lieutenant Bernard Mason, landed at Omaha Beach. Task Force
Mason conducted Operation ELEPHANT between 1 and 4 July, 1944,
to draw enemy fire and protect the 980th Field Artillery
Battalion (VIII Corps) as part of the Normandy Campaign.
(8) Operation ELEPHANT was a prelude to 21 full-scale
tactical deceptions completed by the 23d Headquarters, Special
Troops.
(9) Often operating on or near the front lines, the 23d
Headquarters, Special Troops, used inflatable tanks, artillery,
airplanes and other vehicles, advanced engineered soundtracks,
and skillfully crafted radio trickery to create the illusion of
sizable American forces where there were none and to draw the
enemy away from Allied troops.
(10) The 3132d and the 3133d Signal Service Companies,
activated in Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), New York, at the Army
Experimental Station in March 1944, were the only two active
duty ``sonic deception'' ground combat units in World War II.
(11) Soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops,
impersonated other, larger Army units by sewing counterfeit
patches onto their uniforms, painting false markings on their
vehicles, and creating phony headquarters staffed by fake
generals, all in an effort to feed false information to Axis
spies.
(12) During the Battle of the Bulge, the 23d Headquarters,
Special Troops, created counterfeit radio traffic to mask the
efforts of General George Patton's Third Army as it mobilized
to break through to the 101st Airborne and elements of 10th
Armored Division in the besieged Belgian town of Bastogne.
(13) In its final mission, Operation VIERSEN, in March
1945, the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, conducted a
tactical deception that drew German units down the Rhine River
and away from the Ninth Army, allowing the Ninth Army to cross
the Rhine into Germany. On this mission, the 1,100 men of the
Ghost Army, with the assistance of other units, impersonated
forty thousand men, or two complete divisions of American
forces, by using fabricated radio networks, soundtracks of
construction work and artillery fire, and more than 600
inflatable vehicles. According to a military intelligence
officer of the 79th Infantry, ``There is no doubt that
Operation VIERSEN materially assisted in deceiving the enemy
with regard to the real dispositions and intentions of this
Army.''.
(14) Three soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Special
Troops, gave their lives and dozens were injured in carrying
out their mission.
(15) In April 1945, the 3133d Signal Service Company
conducted Operation CRAFTSMAN in support of Operation SECOND
WIND, the successful allied effort to break through the German
defensive position to the north of Florence, Italy, known as
the Gothic Line. Along with an attached platoon of British
engineers, who were inflatable decoy specialists, the 3133d
Signal Service Company used sonic deception to misrepresent
troop locations along this defensive line.
(16) The activities of the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops
and the 3133d Signal Service Company remained highly classified
for more than forty years after the war and were never formally
recognized. The extraordinary accomplishments of this unit are
deserving of belated official recognition.
(17) The United States is eternally grateful to the
soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops and the 3133d
Signal Service Company for their proficient use of innovative
tactics throughout World War II, which saved lives and made
significant contributions to the defeat of the Axis powers.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate
arrangements for the award, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal
of appropriate design to the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, known as
the ``Ghost Army'', collectively, in recognition of its unique and
incredible service during World War II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (in this Act referred
to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the gold medal with suitable
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
(c) Smithsonian Institution.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal in
honor of the Ghost Army, the gold medal shall be given to the
Smithsonian Institution, where it will be available for display
as appropriate and available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of the Congress
that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal
awarded pursuant to this Act available for display elsewhere,
particularly at appropriate locations associated with the Ghost
Army, and that preference should be given to locations
affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs
of the medal, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDAL.
The gold medal struck pursuant to this Act is a national medal for
purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
<all>