[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 309 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.309

                     One Hundred Thirteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
           the third day of January, two thousand and fourteen


                                 An Act


 
 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the 
                            Civil Air Patrol.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
    Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) The unpaid volunteer members of the Civil Air Patrol 
    (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ``CAP'') during World War 
    II provided extraordinary humanitarian, combat, and national 
    services during a critical time of need for the Nation.
        (2) During the war, CAP members used their own aircraft to 
    perform a myriad of essential tasks for the military and the Nation 
    within the United States, including attacks on enemy submarines off 
    the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States.
        (3) This extraordinary national service set the stage for the 
    post-war CAP to become a valuable nonprofit, public service 
    organization chartered by Congress and designated the Auxiliary of 
    the United States Air Force that provides essential emergency, 
    operational, and public services to communities, States, the 
    Federal Government, and the military.
        (4) The CAP was established on December 1, 1941, initially as a 
    part of the Office of Civil Defense, by air-minded citizens one 
    week before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, out of the 
    desire of civil airmen of the country to be mobilized with their 
    equipment in the common defense of the Nation.
        (5) Within days of the start of the war, the German Navy 
    started a massive submarine offensive, known as Operation Drumbeat, 
    off the east coast of the United States against oil tankers and 
    other critical shipping that threatened the overall war effort.
        (6) Neither the Navy nor the Army had enough aircraft, ships, 
    or other resources to adequately patrol and protect the shipping 
    along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, 
    and many ships were torpedoed and sunk, often within sight of 
    civilians on shore, including 52 tankers sunk between January and 
    March 1942.
        (7) At that time General George Marshall remarked that ``[t]he 
    losses by submarines off our Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean 
    now threaten our entire war effort''.
        (8) From the beginning CAP leaders urged the military to use 
    its services to patrol coastal waters but met with great resistance 
    because of the nonmilitary status of CAP civilian pilots.
        (9) Finally, in response to the ever-increasing submarine 
    attacks, the Tanker Committee of the Petroleum Industry War Council 
    urged the Navy Department and the War Department to consider the 
    use of the CAP to help patrol the sea lanes off the coasts of the 
    United States.
        (10) While the Navy initially rejected this suggestion, the 
    Army decided it had merit, and the Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol 
    began in March 1942.
        (11) Oil companies and other organizations provided funds to 
    help pay for some CAP operations, including vitally needed shore 
    radios that were used to monitor patrol missions.
        (12) By late March 1942, the Navy also began to use the 
    services of the CAP.
        (13) Starting with 3 bases located in Delaware, Florida, and 
    New Jersey, CAP aircrews (ranging in age from 18 to over 80) 
    immediately started to spot enemy submarines as well as lifeboats, 
    bodies, and wreckage.
        (14) Within 15 minutes of starting his patrol on the first 
    Coastal Patrol flight, a pilot had sighted a torpedoed tanker and 
    was coordinating rescue operations.
        (15) Eventually 21 bases, ranging from Bar Harbor, Maine, to 
    Brownsville, Texas, were set up for the CAP to patrol the Atlantic 
    and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, with 40,000 
    volunteers eventually participating.
        (16) The CAP used a wide range of civilian-owned aircraft, 
    mainly light-weight, single-engine aircraft manufactured by Cessna, 
    Beech, Waco, Fairchild, Stinson, Piper, Taylorcraft, and Sikorsky, 
    among others, as well as some twin engine aircraft, such as the 
    Grumman Widgeon.
        (17) Most of these aircraft were painted in their civilian 
    prewar colors (red, yellow, or blue, for example) and carried 
    special markings (a blue circle with a white triangle) to identify 
    them as CAP aircraft.
        (18) Patrols were conducted up to 100 miles off shore, 
    generally with 2 aircraft flying together, in aircraft often 
    equipped with only a compass for navigation and a single radio for 
    communication.
        (19) Due to the critical nature of the situation, CAP 
    operations were conducted in bad weather as well as good, often 
    when the military was unable to fly, and in all seasons, including 
    the winter, when ditching an aircraft in cold water would likely 
    mean certain death to the aircrew.
        (20) Personal emergency equipment was often lacking, 
    particularly during early patrols where inner tubes and kapok duck 
    hunter vests were carried as flotation devices, since ocean worthy 
    wet suits, life vests, and life rafts were unavailable.
        (21) The initial purpose of the Coastal Patrol was to spot 
    submarines, report their position to the military, and force them 
    to dive below the surface, which limited their operating speed and 
    maneuverability and reduced their ability to detect and attack 
    shipping, because attacks against shipping were conducted while the 
    submarines were surfaced.
        (22) It immediately became apparent that there were 
    opportunities for CAP pilots to attack submarines, such as when a 
    Florida CAP aircrew came across a surfaced submarine that quickly 
    stranded itself on a sand bar. However, the aircrew could not get 
    any assistance from armed military aircraft before the submarine 
    freed itself.
        (23) Finally, after several instances when the military could 
    not respond in a timely manner, a decision was made by the military 
    to arm CAP aircraft with 50- and 100-pound bombs, and to arm some 
    larger twin-engine aircraft with 325-pound depth charges.
        (24) The arming of CAP aircraft dramatically changed the 
    mission for these civilian aircrews and resulted in more than 57 
    attacks on enemy submarines.
        (25) While CAP volunteers received $8 a day flight 
    reimbursement for costs incurred, their patrols were accomplished 
    at a great economic cost to many CAP members who--
            (A) used their own aircraft and other equipment in defense 
        of the Nation;
            (B) paid for much of their own aircraft maintenance and 
        hangar use; and
            (C) often lived in the beginning in primitive conditions 
        along the coast, including old barns and chicken coops 
        converted for sleeping.
        (26) More importantly, the CAP Coastal Patrol service came at 
    the high cost of 26 fatalities, 7 serious injuries, and 90 aircraft 
    lost.
        (27) At the conclusion of the 18-month Coastal Patrol, the 
    heroic CAP aircrews would be credited with--
            (A) 2 submarines possibly damaged or destroyed;
            (B) 57 submarines attacked;
            (C) 82 bombs dropped against submarines;
            (D) 173 radio reports of submarine positions (with a number 
        of credited assists for kills made by military units);
            (E) 17 floating mines reported;
            (F) 36 dead bodies reported;
            (G) 91 vessels in distress reported;
            (H) 363 survivors in distress reported;
            (I) 836 irregularities noted;
            (J) 1,036 special investigations at sea or along the coast;
            (K) 5,684 convoy missions as aerial escorts for Navy ships;
            (L) 86,685 total missions flown;
            (M) 244,600 total flight hours logged; and
            (N) more than 24,000,000 total miles flown.
        (28) It is believed that at least one high-level German Navy 
    Officer credited CAP as one reason that submarine attacks moved 
    away from the United States when he concluded that ``[i]t was 
    because of those damned little red and yellow planes!''.
        (29) The CAP was dismissed from coastal missions with little 
    thanks in August 1943 when the Navy took over the mission 
    completely and ordered CAP to stand down.
        (30) While the Coastal Patrol was ongoing, CAP was also 
    establishing itself as a vital wartime service to the military, 
    States, and communities nationwide by performing a wide range of 
    missions including, among others--
            (A) border patrol;
            (B) forest and fire patrols;
            (C) military courier flights for mail, repair and 
        replacement parts, and urgent military deliveries;
            (D) emergency transportation of military personnel;
            (E) target towing (with live ammunition being fired at the 
        targets and seven lives being lost) and searchlight tracking 
        training missions;
            (F) missing aircraft and personnel searches;
            (G) air and ground search and rescue for missing aircraft 
        and personnel;
            (H) radar and aircraft warning system training flights;
            (I) aerial inspections of camouflaged military and civilian 
        facilities;
            (J) aerial inspections of city and town blackout 
        conditions;
            (K) simulated bombing attacks on cities and facilities to 
        test air defenses and early warning;
            (L) aerial searches for scrap metal materials;
            (M) river and lake patrols, including aerial surveys for 
        ice in the Great Lakes;
            (N) support of war bond drives;
            (O) management and guard duties at hundreds of airports;
            (P) support for State and local emergencies such as natural 
        and manmade disasters;
            (Q) predator control;
            (R) rescue of livestock during floods and blizzards;
            (S) recruiting for the Army Air Force;
            (T) initial flight screening and orientation flights for 
        potential military recruits;
            (U) mercy missions, including the airlift of plasma to 
        central blood banks;
            (V) nationwide emergency communications services; and
            (W) a cadet youth program which provided aviation and 
        military training for tens of thousands.
        (31) The CAP flew more than 500,000 hours on these additional 
    missions, including--
            (A) 20,500 missions involving target towing (with live 
        ammunition) and gun/searchlight tracking which resulted in 7 
        deaths, 5 serious injuries, and the loss of 25 aircraft;
            (B) a courier service involving 3 major Air Force Commands 
        over a 2-year period carrying more than 3,500,000 pounds of 
        vital cargo and 543 passengers;
            (C) southern border patrol flying more than 30,000 hours 
        and reporting 7,000 unusual sightings including a vehicle (that 
        was apprehended) with 2 enemy agents attempting to enter the 
        country;
            (D) a week in February 1945 during which CAP units rescued 
        seven missing Army and Navy pilots; and
            (E) a State in which the CAP flew 790 hours on forest fire 
        patrol missions and reported 576 fires to authorities during a 
        single year.
        (32) On April 29, 1943, the CAP was transferred to the Army Air 
    Forces, thus beginning its long association with the United States 
    Air Force.
        (33) Hundreds of CAP-trained women pilots joined military 
    women's units including the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) 
    program.
        (34) Many members of the WASP program joined or rejoined the 
    CAP during the post-war period because it provided women 
    opportunities to fly and continue to serve the Nation that were 
    severely lacking elsewhere.
        (35) Due to the exceptional emphasis on safety, unit and pilot 
    training and discipline, and the organization of the CAP, by the 
    end of the war a total of only 64 CAP members had died in service 
    and only 150 aircraft had been lost (including its Coastal Patrol 
    losses from early in the war).
        (36) It is estimated that up to 100,000 civilians (including 
    youth in its cadet program) participated in the CAP in a wide range 
    of staff and operational positions, and that CAP aircrews flew a 
    total of approximately 750,000 hours during the war, most of which 
    were in their personal aircraft and often at risk to their lives.
        (37) After the war, at a CAP dinner for Congress, a quorum of 
    both Houses attended with the Speaker of the House of 
    Representatives and the President thanking CAP for its service.
        (38) While air medals were issued for some of those 
    participating in the Coastal Patrol, little other recognition was 
    forthcoming for the myriad of services CAP volunteers provided 
    during the war.
        (39) Despite some misguided efforts to end the CAP at the end 
    of the war, the organization had proved its capabilities to the 
    Nation and strengthened its ties with the Air Force and Congress.
        (40) In 1946, Congress chartered the CAP as a nonprofit, public 
    service organization and in 1948 made the CAP an Auxiliary of the 
    United States Air Force.
        (41) Today, the CAP conducts many of the same missions it 
    performed during World War II, including a vital role in homeland 
    security.
        (42) The CAP's wartime service was highly unusual and 
    extraordinary, due to the unpaid civilian status of its members, 
    the use of privately owned aircraft and personal funds by many of 
    its members, the myriad of humanitarian and national missions flown 
    for the Nation, and the fact that for 18 months, during a time of 
    great need for the United States, the CAP flew combat-related 
    missions in support of military operations off the Atlantic and 
    Gulf of Mexico coasts.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
    (a) Award.--
        (1) Authorized.--The President pro tempore of the Senate and 
    the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall make appropriate 
    arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold 
    medal of appropriate design in honor of the World War II members of 
    the Civil Air Patrol collectively, in recognition of the military 
    service and exemplary record of the Civil Air Patrol during World 
    War II.
        (2) Design and striking.--For the purposes of the award 
    referred to in paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
    strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 
    inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
        (3) Smithsonian institution.--
            (A) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        referred to in paragraph (1) in honor of all of its World War 
        II members of the Civil Air Patrol, the gold medal shall be 
        given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be 
        displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
            (B) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received 
        under this paragraph available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at other locations associated with the Civil Air 
        Patrol.
    (b) 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 this Act, at a price sufficient to cover 
the costs of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of 
machinery, and overhead expenses, and amounts received from the sale of 
such duplicates shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public 
Enterprise Fund.
    (c) National Medals.--Medals struck pursuant to this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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