[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9336 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9336
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals
who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of
Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and the impacted Saskinax people
on Attu, whose lives, culture, and community were irrevocably changed
from December 8, 1941, to August 15, 1945.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 9, 2024
Ms. Leger Fernandez (for herself, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Norton, and Ms.
Brownley) 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, collectively, to the individuals
who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of
Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and the impacted Saskinax people
on Attu, whose lives, culture, and community were irrevocably changed
from December 8, 1941, to August 15, 1945.
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 ``Defenders of Bataan, Corregidor, and
Attu Congressional Gold Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Territory, on December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese forces
launched coordinated attacks throughout Asia, striking Malaya,
Thailand, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and
the United States territories of Guam, Midway Island, Wake
Island, and Howland Island.
(2) For the next 7 months, undermanned United States forces
in the Pacific fought with outdated weapons, expired
ammunition, and without reinforcement or resupply to their
besieged island posts.
(3) On the first day of United States participation in
World War II, December 8, 1941, the ``first to fire'' in the
Philippines at the Imperial Japanese were the New Mexico
National Guardsmen from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery
(AA) regiments, the successors to the famed ``Rough Riders'' of
the Spanish-American War, who had only recently arrived in the
Philippines where they were stationed at Fort Stotsenburg north
of Manila with the mission of defending Clark Field.
(4) Filipino soldiers and civilians valiantly fought
alongside and as part of the United States Armed Forces and
were integral to their war efforts.
(5) By the end of December 1941, all United States forces
on Luzon Island in the Philippines withdrew to the Bataan
Peninsula of the island, where, for the next 4 months, with
neither air nor sea defenses, an estimated 12,000 United States
and at least 63,000 Filipino troops and 20,000 Filipino
civilians endured siege conditions.
(6) On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King, Jr.
surrendered the United States and Filipino forces on the Bataan
Peninsula. The Imperial Japanese Army forced thousands of
troops and civilians to assemble at the port of Mariveles at
the tip of Bataan and other locations along the peninsula for a
65-mile forced march. This forced trek came to be known as the
``Bataan Death March''.
(7) During the Bataan Death March, approximately 700 people
of the United States and 6,000 to 10,000 Filipinos were killed.
Survivors were sent to Camp O'Donnell where 26,000 more
Filipino prisoners died.
(8) On May 6, 1942, Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright
surrendered the fortress islands of Corregidor (Fort Mills),
Fort Drum, Fort Frank, and Fort Hughes in Manila Bay. The
complete surrender of the remaining United States and Filipino
forces in the Philippines occurred on June 9, 1942.
(9) Included in the surrenders in the Philippines were
female nurses of the United States Army and Navy and the
Philippine Army and civilian volunteers who became the first
large group of United States women in combat and, counted with
the Army and Navy nurses surrendered on Guam in December 1941,
comprised the first group of United States military women taken
captive and imprisoned by an enemy.
(10) On June 7, 1942, the Imperial Japanese invaded Attu,
homeland of the impacted Saskinax people, who were all
subsequently taken prisoner by the Japanese troops on Attu for
3 months and held as imprisoned slaves for 3 years and 3 months
in Otaru, Japan. After the war, the impacted Saskinax people
were not allowed to return to Attu.
(11) On May 11, 1943, 12,500 United States Armed Forces
personnel entered Attu, which was occupied by about 2,500
Japanese military personnel. Between this date and May 29,
1943, those brave members of the United States Armed Forces
fought to reclaim Attu. This victory cost the United States
about 550 of its very finest, who laid down their lives in the
service of their nation.
(12) Between January 1942 and August 1945, thousands of
prisoners of war from the United States who had survived the
surrenders throughout the Pacific were shipped in unmarked
freighters and vessels.
(13) It is time to recognize the defenders of Bataan,
Corregidor, Attu and other places throughout the Pacific who
were ordinary men and women who found uncommon courage in
extraordinary circumstances.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Impacted saskinax people.--The term ``impacted Saskinax
people'' refers to the indigenous peoples of the Near Islands,
which includes Attu and the westernmost Alaskan islands, who
were on the islands during the period beginning on December 8,
1941, and ending on August 15, 1945.
(2) Individuals who fought for or with the united states.--
The term ``individuals who fought for or with the United
States''--
(A) includes any individual who--
(i) was in the Pacific theater at any time
during the period beginning on December 8,
1941, and ending on August 15, 1945; and
(ii)(I) served honorably as a member of the
United States Armed Forces or at the command of
the United States Armed Forces in the defensive
battles in the Pacific from December 8, 1941 to
June 9, 1942; or
(II) became a prisoner of war of Imperial
Japan during World War II until August 15,
1945, including civilians who the Imperial
Japanese Armed Forces considered military
prisoners of war and received veterans status
after the war; and
(B) does not include a member of the Pacific Fleet
or the Hawaiian Department.
(3) Pacific theater.--The term ``Pacific theater'' means
Shanghai, the Central Pacific Area, the Southwest Pacific Area,
and the Aleutian Islands.
(4) Resistance or battle.--The term ``resistance or
battle'' includes an action in and around Shanghai, Tientsin,
Guam, Wake Island, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, the
Philippines, Midway Island, or the Aleutian Islands.
(5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Treasury.
SEC. 4. 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 collective award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold
medal of appropriate design to the individuals who fought for or with
the United States to defend Bataan, Corregidor, Attu, and other places
in the Pacific theater, and to the impacted Saskinax people, in
recognition of their personal sacrifice and service during World War
II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award under
subsection (a), 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
under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian
Institution, where it shall be displayed as appropriate and
made available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian
Institution should make the gold medal received under paragraph
(1) available for display at other locations, particularly at
locations that are associated with--
(A) the defensive battles of World War II in the
Pacific theater from December 8, 1941, to August 15,
1945;
(B) the prisoners of war of Imperial Japan;
(C) the impacted Saskinax people; and
(D) the defense of the Philippines, Guam, Wake
Island, Midway Island, Java, and the Aleutian Islands.
SEC. 5. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck under section 4, at a price sufficient to cover the costs
of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 6. STATUS OF 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 sections 5134 and 5136 of
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 7. 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 5 shall be deposited into the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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