[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 321 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 321
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the Women's Army
Corps who were assigned to the 6888th Central Postal Directory
Battalion, known as the ``Six Triple Eight''.
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 ```Six Triple Eight' Congressional
Gold Medal Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) On July 1, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
into law legislation that established the Women's Army Corps
(referred to in this section as the ``WAC'') as a component in
the Army. The WAC was converted from the Women's Army Auxiliary
Corps (referred to in this section as the ``WAAC''), which had
been created in 1942 without official military status. First
Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune, the founder of
the National Council of Negro Women, advocated for the
admittance of African-American women into the newly formed WAC
to serve as officers and enlisted personnel.
(2) Dubbed ``10 percenters'', the recruitment of African-
American women to the WAAC was limited to 10 percent of the
population of the WAAC to match the proportion of African-
Americans in the national population. Despite an Executive
order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 banning
racial discrimination in civilian defense industries, the Armed
Forces remained segregated. Enlisted women served in segregated
units, participated in segregated training, lived in separate
quarters, ate at separate tables in mess halls, and used
segregated recreational facilities. Officers received their
officer candidate training in integrated units but lived under
segregated conditions. Specialist and technical training
schools were integrated in 1943. During World War II, a total
of 6,520 African-American women served in the WAAC and the WAC.
(3) After several units of White women were sent to serve
in the European Theater of Operations (referred to in this
section as the ``ETO'') during World War II, African-American
organizations advocated for the War Department to extend the
opportunity to serve overseas to African-American WAC units.
(4) In November 1944, the War Department approved sending
African-American women to serve in Europe. A battalion of all
African-American women drawn from the WAC, the Army Service
Forces, and the Army Air Forces was created and designated as
the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (referred to in
this section as the ``6888th''), which was nicknamed the ``Six
Triple Eight''.
(5) Army officials reported a shortage of qualified postal
officers within the ETO, which resulted in a backlog of
undelivered mail. As Allied forces drove across Europe, the
ever-changing locations of servicemembers hampered the delivery
of mail to those servicemembers. Because 7,000,000 civilians
and military personnel from the United States served in the
ETO, many of those individuals had identical names. For
example, 7,500 such individuals were named Robert Smith. One
general predicted that the backlog in Birmingham, England,
would take 6 months to process and the lack of reliable mail
service was hurting morale.
(6) In February 1945, the 6888th arrived in Birmingham.
Upon their arrival, the 6888th found warehouses filled with
millions of pieces of mail intended for members of the Armed
Forces, United States Government personnel, and Red Cross
workers serving in the ETO.
(7) The 6888th created effective processes and filing
systems to track individual servicemembers, organize
``undeliverable'' mail, determine the intended recipient for
insufficiently addressed mail, and handle mail addressed to
servicemembers who had died. Adhering to their motto of ``No
mail, low morale'', the women processed an average of 65,000
pieces of mail per shift and cleared the 6-month backlog of
mail within 3 months.
(8) The 6888th traveled to Rouen, France, in May 1945 and
worked through a separate backlog of undelivered mail dating
back as far as 3 years.
(9) At the completion of their mission, the unit returned
to the United States. The 6888th was discontinued on March 9,
1946, at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.
(10) The accomplishments of the 6888th in Europe encouraged
the General Board, United States Forces, European Theater of
Operations to adopt the following premise in their study of the
WAC issued in December 1945: ``[T]he national security program
is the joint responsibility of all Americans irrespective of
color or sex'' and ``the continued use of colored, along with
white, female military personnel is required in such strength
as is proportionately appropriate to the relative population
distribution between colored and white races''.
(11) With the exception of smaller units of African-
American nurses who served in Africa, Australia, and England,
the 6888th was the only African-American Women's Army Corps
unit to serve overseas during World War II.
(12) The members of the ``Six Triple Eight'' received the
European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Women's
Army Corps Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal
for their service.
(13) In 2019, the Army awarded the 6888th the Meritorious
Unit Commendation.
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 Congress, of a single gold
medal of appropriate design in honor of the women of the 6888th Central
Postal Directory Battalion (commonly known as the ``Six Triple Eight'')
in recognition of--
(1) the pioneering military service of those women;
(2) the devotion to duty of those women; and
(3) the contributions made by those women to increase the
morale of all United States personnel stationed in the European
Theater of Operations during World War II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award described
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this
Act 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.--After the award of the gold medal under
subsection (a), the medal shall be given to the Smithsonian
Institution, where the medal shall be available for display, as
appropriate, and made available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received
under paragraph (1) available elsewhere, particularly at--
(A) appropriate locations associated with the
6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion;
(B) the Women in Military Service for America
Memorial;
(C) the United States Army Women's Museum;
(D) the National World War II Museum and Memorial;
(E) the National Museum of the United States Army;
and
(F) any other location determined appropriate by
the Smithsonian Institution.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, 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
medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--Medals struck under this Act are national
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31,
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck
under this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
Passed the Senate April 29, 2021.
Attest:
Secretary.
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 321
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the Women's Army
Corps who were assigned to the 6888th Central Postal Directory
Battalion, known as the ``Six Triple Eight''.