1.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
African-American individuals to enlist in the United States Marine Corps for
the first time;
(2)the first
African-American 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
African-American 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 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)African-American
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 African-American Marines to serve in combat during World War II took
part in the seizure of Okinawa in the Ryuku Islands, with some 2,000
African-American Marines seeing action during the campaign;
(7)on November 10,
1945, Frederick C. Branch was the first African-American Marine to be
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, at the Marine Base in Quantico,
Virginia;
(8)overall, 19,168
African-Americans served in the Marine Corps in World War II;
(9)16 years after
the closure of Montford Point as a training facility for African-American
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 African-American Marines, and
today the Association has 36 chapters throughout the United States;
(11)many of the
first African-American 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 African-American Sergeant Major and the first
African-American 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.
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
to the Montford Point Marines, United States Marine Corps, collectively, in
recognition of their dedicated service during World War II.
(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, 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)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.
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 medal 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.