[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1944 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1944
                       One Hundred Third Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
  the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three


                                 An Act


 
  To provide for additional development at War in the Pacific National 
                Historical Park, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
        (1) June 15 through August 10, 1994, marks the 50th anniversary 
    of the Mariana campaign of World War II in which American forces 
    captured the islands of Saipan and Tinian in the Northern Marianas 
    and liberated the United States Territory of Guam from Japanese 
    occupation;
        (2) an attack during this campaign by the Japanese Imperial 
    fleet, aimed at countering the American forces that had landed on 
    Saipan, led to the battle of the Philippine Sea, which resulted in a 
    crushing defeat for the Japanese by United States naval forces and 
    the destruction of the effectiveness of the Japanese carrier-based 
    airpower;
        (3) the recapture of Guam liberated one of the few pieces of 
    United States territory that was occupied for two and one-half years 
    by the enemy during World War II and restored freedom to the 
    indigenous Chamorros on Guam who suffered as a result of the 
    Japanese occupation;
        (4) Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard units 
    distinguished themselves with their heroic bravery and sacrifice;
        (5) the Guam Insular Force Guard, the Guam militia, and the 
    people of Guam earned the highest respect for their defense of the 
    island during the Japanese invasion and their resistance during the 
    occupation; their assistance to the American forces as scouts for 
    the American invasion was invaluable; and their role, as members of 
    the Guam Combat Patrol, was instrumental in seeking out the 
    remaining Japanese forces and restoring peace to the island;
        (6) during the occupation, the people of Guam--
            (A) were forcibly removed from their homes;
            (B) were relocated to remote sections of the island;
            (C) were required to perform forced labor and faced other 
        harsh treatment, injustices, and death; and
            (D) were placed in concentration camps when the American 
        invasion became imminent and were brutalized by their occupiers 
        when the liberation of Guam became apparent to the Japanese;
        (7) the liberation of the Mariana Islands marked a pivotal point 
    in the Pacific war and led to the American victories at Iwo Jima, 
    Okinawa, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the south China coast, and 
    ultimately against the Japanese home islands;
        (8) the Mariana Islands of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian provided, 
    for the first time during the war, air bases which allowed land-
    based American bombers to reach strategic targets in Japan; and
        (9) the air offensive conducted from the Marianas against the 
    Japanese war-making capability helped shorten the war and ultimately 
    reduced the toll of lives to secure peace in the Pacific.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
        (1) an appropriate commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 
    Mariana campaign should be planned by the United States in 
    conjunction with the Government of Guam and the Government of the 
    Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands;
        (2) the Secretary of the Interior should take all necessary 
    steps to ensure that appropriate visitor facilities at War in the 
    Pacific National Historical Park on Guam are expeditiously developed 
    and constructed; and
        (3) the Secretary of the Interior should take all necessary 
    steps to ensure that the monument referenced in section 3(b) is 
    completed before July 21, 1994, for the 50th anniversary 
    commemoration, to provide adequate historical interpretation of the 
    events described in section 1.

SEC. 3. WAR IN THE PACIFIC NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subsection (k) of section 6 of 
the Act entitled ``An Act to authorize appropriations for certain 
insular areas of the United States, and for other purposes'', approved 
August 18, 1978 (92 Stat. 493; 16 U.S.C. 410dd) is amended by striking 
``$500,000'' and inserting ``$8,000,000''.
    (b) Development.--Section 6 is further amended by adding at the end 
the following subsections:
    ``(l) Within the boundaries of the park, the Secretary is authorized 
to construct a monument which shall commemorate the loyalty of the 
people of Guam and the herosim of the American forces that liberated 
Guam.
    ``(m) Within the boundaries of the park, the Secretary is authorized 
to implement programs to interpret experiences of the people of Guam 
during World War II, including, but not limited to, oral histories of 
those people of Guam who experienced the occupation.
    ``(n) Within six months after the date of enactment of this 
subsection, the Secretary, through the Director of the National Park 
Service, shall develop and transmit to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives a report containing updated cost 
estimates for the development of the park. Further, this report shall 
contain a general plan to implement subsections (l) and (m), including, 
at a minimum, cost estimates for the design and construction of the 
monument authorized in section (l).
    ``(o) The Secretary may take such steps as may be necessary to 
preserve and protect various World War II vintage weapons and 
fortifications which exist within the boundaries of the park.''.







                                Speaker of the House of Representatives.







                             Vice President of the United States and    
                                                President of the Senate.