[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1259 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]


        H.R.1259

                       One Hundred Ninth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the third day of January, two thousand and six


                                 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.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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