[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4197 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4197

  To authorize the Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation to 
       establish a national monument in the District of Columbia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 3, 2009

    Mr. Adler of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Hall of New York, Ms. 
   Kilpatrick of Michigan, Mr. McGovern, Mr. McNerney, Mrs. McMorris 
    Rodgers, Mr. Burton of Indiana, and Ms. Kosmas) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation to 
       establish a national monument in the District of Columbia.

    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 ``Gold Star Mothers National Monument 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) During World War I, mothers of sons and daughters who 
        served in the Armed Forces displayed flags bearing a blue star 
        to represent their pride in their sons and daughters and their 
        hope that their sons and daughters would return home safely.
            (2) For more than 60,000 of these mothers, that hope was 
        shattered, and many of them, both during and after World War I, 
        began displaying flags bearing a gold star to represent the 
        sacrifice that their sons and daughters made for freedom and 
        this country.
            (3) Over the years, the gold star has come to represent a 
        child who was killed while serving in the Armed Forces, whether 
        that service was during wartime or not.
            (4) In 1929, Congress passed a law authorizing the Federal 
        Government to disburse funds for Gold Star Mothers, and widows 
        of those who were killed while serving in the Armed Forces 
        during World War I, to travel to the battlefields of Europe to 
        visit the burial sites of their loved ones.
            (5) On June 23, 1936, Congress passed Senate Joint 
        Resolution 115 (74th Congress), which established the last 
        Sunday in September as Gold Star Mother's Day.
            (6) Gold Star Mothers, a most deserving group, should be 
        honored to commemorate the sacrifices that they, and their sons 
        and daughters, made for this country.

SEC. 3. GOLD STAR MOTHERS NATIONAL MONUMENT.

    (a) Establishment.--The Gold Star Mothers National Monument 
Foundation (a nonprofit corporation established under the laws of the 
District of Columbia) is authorized to establish a monument on Federal 
land in the District of Columbia or its environs, as a unit of the 
National Park System. The monument shall be known as the ``Gold Star 
Mothers National Monument''.
    (b) Compliance With Standards for Commemorative Works.--The 
establishment of the monument shall be carried out in accordance with 
the Commemorative Works Act (40 U.S.C. 8901 et seq.).
    (c) Payment of Expenses.--The Gold Star Mothers National Monument 
Foundation shall be solely responsible for acceptance of contributions 
for, and payment of the expenses of, the establishment of the monument, 
and no Federal funds may be used to pay such expenses.
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