[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1259 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 1259

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To award a congressional gold medal on behalf of the Tuskegee Airmen, 
  collectively, in recognition of their unique military record, which 
           inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt overruled his 
        top generals and ordered the creation of an all Black flight 
        training program. President Roosevelt took this action one day 
        after the NAACP filed suit on behalf of Howard University 
        student Yancy Williams and others in Federal court to force the 
        Department of War to accept Black pilot trainees. Yancy 
        Williams had a civilian pilot's license and had earned an 
        engineering degree. Years later, Major Yancy Williams 
        participated in an air surveillance project created by 
        President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
            (2) Due to the rigid system of racial segregation that 
        prevailed in the United States during World War II, Black 
        military pilots were trained at a separate airfield built near 
        Tuskegee, Alabama. They became known as the ``Tuskegee 
        Airmen''.
            (3) The Tuskegee Airmen inspired revolutionary reform in 
        the Armed Forces, paving the way for full racial integration in 
        the Armed Forces. They overcame the enormous challenges of 
        prejudice and discrimination, succeeding, despite obstacles 
        that threatened failure.
            (4) From all accounts, the training of the Tuskegee Airmen 
        was an experiment established to prove that so-called 
        ``coloreds'' were incapable of operating expensive and complex 
        combat aircraft. Studies commissioned by the Army War College 
        between 1924 and 1939 concluded that Blacks were unfit for 
        leadership roles and incapable of aviation. Instead, the 
        Tuskegee Airmen excelled.
            (5) Overall, some 992 Black pilots graduated from the pilot 
        training program of the Tuskegee Army Air Field, with the last 
        class finishing in June 1946, 450 of whom served in combat. The 
        first class of cadets began in July 1941 with 13 airmen, all of 
        whom had college degrees, some with Ph.D. degrees, and all of 
        whom had pilot's licenses. One of the graduates was Captain 
        Benjamin O. Davis Jr., a United States Military Academy 
        graduate. Four aviation cadets were commissioned as second 
        lieutenants, and 5 received Army Air Corps silver pilot wings.
            (6) That the experiment achieved success rather than the 
        expected failure is further evidenced by the eventual promotion 
        of 3 of these pioneers through the commissioned officer ranks 
        to flag rank, including the late General Benjamin O. Davis, 
        Jr., United States Air Force, the late General Daniel 
        ``Chappie'' James, United States Air Force, our Nation's first 
        Black 4-star general, and Major General Lucius Theus, United 
        States Air Force (retired).
            (7) 450 Black fighter pilots under the command of then 
        Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., fought in World War II aerial 
        battles over North Africa, Sicily, and Europe, flying, in 
        succession, P-40, P-39, P-47, and P-51 aircraft. These gallant 
        men flew 15,553 sorties and 1,578 missions with the 12th 
        Tactical Air Force and the 15th Strategic Air Force.
            (8) Colonel Davis later became the first Black flag officer 
        of the United States Air Force, retired as a 3-star general, 
        and was honored with a 4th star in retirement by President 
        William J. Clinton.
            (9) German pilots, who both feared and respected the 
        Tuskegee Airmen, called them the ``Schwartze Vogelmenschen'' 
        (or ``Black Birdmen''). White American bomber crews reverently 
        referred to them as the ``Black Redtail Angels'', because of 
        the bright red painted on the tail assemblies of their fighter 
        aircraft and because of their reputation for not losing bombers 
        to enemy fighters as they provided close escort for bombing 
        missions over strategic targets in Europe.
            (10) The 99th Fighter Squadron, after having distinguished 
        itself over North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, joined 3 other 
        Black squadrons, the 100th, the 301st, and the 302nd, 
        designated as the 332nd Fighter Group. They then comprised the 
        largest fighter unit in the 15th Air Force. From Italian bases, 
        they destroyed many enemy targets on the ground and at sea, 
        including a German destroyer in strafing attacks, and they 
        destroyed numerous enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground.
            (11) 66 of these pilots were killed in combat, while 
        another 32 were either forced down or shot down and captured to 
        become prisoners of war. These Black airmen came home with 150 
        Distinguished Flying Crosses, Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, and 
        Legions of Merit, one Presidential Unit Citation, and the Red 
        Star of Yugoslavia.
            (12) Other Black pilots, navigators, bombardiers and 
        crewman who were trained for medium bombardment duty as the 
        477th Bomber Group (Medium) were joined by veterans of the 
        332nd Fighter Group to form the 477th Composite Group, flying 
        the B-25 and P-47 aircraft. The demands of the members of the 
        477th Composite Group for parity in treatment and for 
        recognition as competent military professionals, combined with 
        the magnificent wartime records of the 99th Fighter Squadron 
        and the 332nd Fighter Group, led to a review of the racial 
        policies of the Department of War.
            (13) In September 1947, the United States Air Force, as a 
        separate service, reactivated the 332d Fighter Group under the 
        Tactical Air command. Members of the 332d Fighter Group were 
        ``Top Guns'' in the 1st annual Air Force Gunnery Meet in 1949.
            (14) For every Black pilot, there were 12 other civilian or 
        military Black men and women performing ground support duties. 
        Many of these men and women remained in the military service 
        during the post-World War II era and spearheaded the 
        integration of the Armed Forces of the United States.
            (15) Major achievements are attributed to many of those who 
        returned to civilian life and earned leadership positions and 
        respect as businessmen, corporate executives, religious 
        leaders, lawyers, doctors, educators, bankers, and political 
        leaders.
            (16) A period of nearly 30 years of anonymity for the 
        Tuskegee Airmen was ended in 1972 with the founding of Tuskegee 
        Airmen, Inc., in Detroit, Michigan. Organized as a non-military 
        and nonprofit entity, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., exists primarily 
        to motivate and inspire young Americans to become participants 
        in our Nation's society and its democratic process, and to 
        preserve the history of their legacy.
            (17) The Tuskegee Airmen have several memorials in place to 
        perpetuate the memory of who they were and what they 
        accomplished, including--
                    (A) the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., National Scholarship 
                Fund for high school seniors who excel in mathematics, 
                but need financial assistance to begin a college 
                program;
                    (B) a museum in historic Fort Wayne in Detroit, 
                Michigan;
                    (C) Memorial Park at the Air Force Museum at 
                Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio;
                    (D) a statue of a Tuskegee Airman in the Honor Park 
                at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado 
                Springs, Colorado; and
                    (E) a National Historic Site at Moton Field, where 
                primary flight training was performed under contract 
                with the Tuskegee Institute.

SEC. 2. 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 single gold 
medal of appropriate design in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, 
collectively, in recognition of their unique military record, which 
inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to 
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 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 Tuskegee Airmen under subsection (a), the gold 
        medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it 
        will be displayed as appropriate and made available for 
        research.
            (2) Sense of the congress.--It is the sense of the Congress 
        that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal 
        received under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at other appropriate locations associated with the 
        Tuskegee Airmen.

SEC. 3. 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 2, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the 
medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

    Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes 
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, an 
amount not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of the medals 
authorized under section 2.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

            Passed the House of Representatives February 28, 2006.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.
109th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 1259

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 To award a congressional gold medal on behalf of the Tuskegee Airmen, 
  collectively, in recognition of their unique military record, which 
           inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.