1.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)On June 25, 1941, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 8802 establishing the Fair Employment
Practices Commission and opening the doors for the very first African-Americans
to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
(2)The first Black
Marine recruits were trained at Camp Montford Point, near the New River in
Jacksonville, North Carolina.
(3)On August 26,
1942, Howard P. Perry of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the first Black private
to set foot on Montford Point.
(4)During April 1943
the first African-American Marine Drill Instructors took over as the senior
Drill Instructors of the eight platoons then in training; the 16th Platoon
(Edgar R. Huff), 17th (Thomas Brokaw), 18th (Charles E. Allen), 19th (Gilbert
H. Johnson), 20th (Arnold R. Bostic), 21st (Mortimer A. Cox), 22nd (Edgar R.
Davis, Jr.), and 23rd (George A. Jackson).
(5)Black Marines of
the 8th Ammunition Company and the 36th Depot Company landed on the island of
Iwo Jima on D-day, February 19, 1945.
(6)The largest number
of Black Marines to serve in combat during World War II took part in the
seizure of Okinawa in the Ryuku Islands with some 2,000 Black Marines seeing
action during the campaign.
(7)On November 10, 1945, the first
African-American Marine, Frederick C. Branch, was commissioned as a second
lieutenant at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.
(8)Overall 19,168
Blacks served in the Marine Corps in World War II.
(9)An enterprising
group of men, including original Montford Pointer Master Sergeant Brooks E.
Gray, planned a reunion of the Men of Montford Point, and on September 15,
1965, approximately 400 Montford Point Marines gathered at the Adelphi Hotel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to lay the foundation for the Montford Point Marine
Association Inc., 16 years after the closure of Montford Point as a training
facility for Black recruits.
(10)Organized as a
non-military, nonprofit entity, the Montford Point Marine Association’s main
mission is to preserve the legacy of the first Black Marines.
(11)Today the Montford Point Marine Association
has 36 chapters throughout the United States.
(12)Many of these
first Black Marines stayed in the Marine Corps like Sergeant Major Edgar R.
Huff.
(13)Sergeant Major
Huff was one of the very first recruits aboard Montford Point.
(14)Sergeant Major
Huff was also the first African-American Sergeant Major and the first
African-American Marine to retire with 30 years of service which included
combat in three major wars, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam
War.
(15)During the Tet
Offensive, Sergeant Major Huff was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with combat
“V” for valor for saving the life of his radio operator.
(16)Another original
Montford Pointer who saw extensive combat action in both the Korean War and the
Vietnam War was Sergeant Major Louis Roundtree.
(17)Sergeant Major
Roundtree was awarded the Silver Star Medal, four Bronze Star Medals, three
Purple Hearts, and numerous other personal and unit awards for his service
during these conflicts.
(18)On April 19,
1974, Montford Point was renamed Camp Johnson after legendary Montford Pointer
Sergeant Major Gilbert “Hashmark” Johnson.
(19)The Montford
Point Marine Association has several memorials in place to perpetuate the
memory of the first African-American Marines and their accomplishments,
including—
(A)the Montford Point Marine Association Edgar
R. Huff Memorial Scholarship which is offered annually through the Marine Corps
Scholarship Foundation;
(B)the Montford Point
Museum located aboard Camp Johnson (Montford Point) in Jacksonville, North
Carolina;
(C)the Brooks Elbert
Gray, Jr. Consolidated Academic Instruction Facility named in honor of original
Montford Pointer and the Montford Point Marine Corps Association founder Master
Gunnery Sergeant Gray. This facility was dedicated on 15 April 2005 aboard Camp
Johnson, North Carolina; and
(D)during July of
1997 Branch Hall, a building within the Officers Candidate School in Quantico,
Virginia, was named in honor of Captain Frederick Branch.
2.
(a)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 Montford Point Marines,
collectively, in recognition of their personal sacrifice and service to their
country.
(b)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)
(1)Following the award
of the gold medal in honor of the Montford Point Marines 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)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 Montford Point Marines.
3.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.
4.Medals struck pursuant
to this Act are National medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United
States Code.
5.AUTHORIZATION OF
APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS OF SALE
(a)Authorization of
AppropriationsThere 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)Amounts received from
the sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.