[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1695 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1695

 To authorize the award of a Congressional gold medal to the Montford 
                     Point Marines of World War II.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 23, 2009

  Mr. Burris introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the award of a Congressional gold medal to the Montford 
                     Point Marines of World War II.

    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) on June 25, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 
        issued Executive Order No. 8802, establishing the Fair 
        Employment Practices Commission and opening the doors for Black 
        individuals to enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the 
        first time;
            (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 Black Marine drill 
        instructors took over as the senior drill instructors of the 8 
        platoons then in training, including--
                    (A) Edgar R. Huff, 16th Platoon;
                    (B) Thomas Brokaw, 17th Platoon;
                    (C) Charles E. Allen, 18th Platoon;
                    (D) Gilbert H. Johnson, 19th Platoon;
                    (E) Arnold R. Bostic, 20th Platoon;
                    (F) Mortimer A. Cox, 21st Platoon;
                    (G) Edgar R. Davis, Jr., 22nd Platoon; and
                    (H) George A. Jackson, 23rd Platoon;
            (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, Frederick C. Branch, the was the 
        first Black Marine to be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, 
        at the Marine Base in Quantico, Virginia;
            (8) overall, 19,168 Black Americans served in the Marine 
        Corps in World War II;
            (9) 16 years after the closure of Montford Point as a 
        training facility for Black recruits, an enterprising group of 
        men, including original Montford Point 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, and laid the foundation for the Montford Point 
        Marine Association Inc.;
            (10) organized as a nonmilitary, nonprofit entity, the 
        Montford Point Marine Association has as its main mission to 
        preserve the legacy of the first Black Marines, and today the 
        Association has 36 chapters throughout the United States;
            (11) many of the first Black Marines stayed in the Marine 
        Corps for a career, including Sergeant Major Edgar R. Huff, 1 
        of the very first recruits at Montford Point;
            (12) Sergeant Major Huff was the first Black Sergeant Major 
        and the first Black Marine to retire with 30 years of service, 
        which included combat in 3 major conflicts, World War II, the 
        Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War;
            (13) Sergeant Major Huff was awarded the Bronze Star medal 
        with a combat ``V'' for valor for saving the life of his radio 
        operator during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam;
            (14) another original Montford Point Marine who saw 
        extensive combat action in both the Korean Conflict and the 
        Vietnam War was Sergeant Major Louis Roundtree, who was awarded 
        the Silver Star, 4 Bronze Stars, 3 Purple Hearts, and numerous 
        other personal and unit awards for his service during those 
        conflicts;
            (15) on April 19, 1974, Montford Point was renamed ``Camp 
        Johnson'', after legendary Montford Point Marine Sergeant Major 
        Gilbert ``Hashmark'' Johnson; and
            (16) the Montford Point Marine Association has several 
        memorials in place to perpetuate the memory of who they were 
        and what they accomplished, 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 at Camp 
                Johnson in Jacksonville, North Carolina;
                    (C) the Brooks Elbert Gray, Jr. Consolidated 
                Academic Instruction Facility, named in honor of 
                original Montford Point Marine and Montford Point 
                Marine Corps Association founder Master Gunnery 
                Sergeant Gray (dedicated on April 15, 2005, at Camp 
                Johnson, North Carolina); and
                    (D) Branch Hall, a building within the Officers 
                Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, which was named 
                in honor of Captain Frederick Branch during July of 
                1997.

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 to the Montford Point Marines, United 
States Marine Corps, collectively, in recognition of their dedicated 
service during World War II.
    (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 Montford Point Marines, United States Marine 
        Corps, 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 congress.--It is the sense of 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, United States Marine Corps.

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 medal 
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.
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