[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4766 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4766

To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to American military 
   personnel who fought in defense of Bataan, Corregidor, Guam, Wake 
 Island, and the Philippine Archipelago between December 7, 1941, and 
May 10, 1942, and who died or were imprisoned by the Japanese military 
in the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Wake Island, and Guam from 
    April 9, 1942, until September 2, 1945, in recognition of their 
            personal sacrifice and service to their country.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 16, 2016

Mr. McKinley (for himself, Mr. Mooney of West Virginia, and Mr. Jenkins 
of West Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee 
on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to American military 
   personnel who fought in defense of Bataan, Corregidor, Guam, Wake 
 Island, and the Philippine Archipelago between December 7, 1941, and 
May 10, 1942, and who died or were imprisoned by the Japanese military 
in the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Wake Island, and Guam from 
    April 9, 1942, until September 2, 1945, in recognition of their 
            personal sacrifice and service to their country.

    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) Guam was captured by Japan on December 10, 1941, three 
        days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and remained in the hands 
        of the Japanese until June 1944. Those prisoners who remained 
        on Guam suffered atrocities at the hands of the Japanese or 
        were transported on ``Hell Ships'' to Japanese POW camps.
            (2) In January 1942 the Japanese took approximately 1,600 
        prisoners on Wake Island. Approximately 450 military and 1,150 
        civilians were then transported to POW camps in China and 
        Japan.
            (3) On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward King surrendered 
        the soldiers from the United States and the Philippines into 
        enemy hands.
            (4) Over the next week, the soldiers from the United States 
        and the Philippines were taken prisoner and forced to march 65 
        miles without any food, water, or medical care in what came to 
        be known as the Bataan Death March.
            (5) On May 6, 1942, Corregidor fell after a weeklong siege 
        and its defenders were surrendered.
            (6) On May 10, 1942, American forces under the command of 
        Major General William F. Sharp surrendered after fighting the 
        Japanese from April 29, 1942, to May 9, 1942, on the island of 
        Mindanao in the southernmost portion of the Philippine 
        Archipelago. It was on this date, May 10, 1942, that General 
        Wainwright, as Supreme Allied Commander, surrendered all Allied 
        Forces in the Philippine Archipelago.
            (7) During this forced march, thousands of soldiers died, 
        either from starvation, lack of medical care, sheer exhaustion, 
        or abuse by their captors.
            (8) Within the first 40 days at Camp O'Donnell, 1,600 more 
        prisoners from the United States died.
            (9) The conditions at the camp were substandard, leading to 
        increased disease and malnutrition among the prisoners.
            (10) In May 1942 the Japanese began transferring POWs by 
        sea. Prisoners were crammed into cargo holds with little air, 
        food or water for journeys that would last for weeks on what 
        were to be known as the ``Hell Ships''. Many died due to 
        asphyxia, starvation, or dysentery. Some prisoners became 
        delirious and unresponsive in an environment of heat, humidity 
        and lack of oxygen, food, and water. More than 3,300 prisoners 
        died at sea while being transported by these ships.
            (11) On June 6, 1942, the prisoners from the United States 
        were transferred to Cabanatuan, north of Camp O'Donnell.
            (12) The campus of the University of Santo Tomas was 
        converted to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp by the Japanese 
        during their occupation of the Philippines. Santo Tomas became 
        the initial internment camp for both the army and navy nurses, 
        with the army and navy nurses remaining there until their 
        liberation.
            (13) The prisoners who remained in the camps suffered from 
        continued mistreatment, malnutrition, lack of medical care, and 
        horrific conditions.
            (14) The prisoners who remained in these camps were 
        liberated in 1945.
            (15) Over the subsequent decades, these prisoners formed 
        support groups, were honored in local and State memorials, and 
        told their story to all people of the United States.
            (16) The people of the United States are forever indebted 
        to these men and women for--
                    (A) the courage they demonstrated during the first 
                4 months of World War II in fighting against enemy 
                soldiers; and
                    (B) the perseverance they demonstrated during years 
                of capture, imprisonment, and atrocious conditions, 
                while maintaining dignity, honor, patriotism, and 
                loyalty.

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 American military personnel who fought 
in defense of Bataan, Corregidor, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippine 
Archipelago between December 7, 1941, and May 10, 1942, and who died or 
were imprisoned by the Japanese military in the Philippines, Japan, 
Korea, Manchuria, Wake Island, and Guam from April 9, 1942, until 
September 2, 1945, in recognition of their personal sacrifice and 
service to their country.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award under 
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) Transfer and Display of Medals.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
        Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be displayed as 
        appropriate and made available for research.
            (2) Sense of the congress.--It is the sense of the Congress 
        that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal 
        received under paragraph (1) available for display at other 
        locations, particularly such locations as are associated with 
        the American military prisoners described under subsection (a).

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    (a) Striking of Duplicates.--Under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may strike duplicates in bronze 
of the gold medal struck under section 2.
    (b) Selling of Duplicates.--The Secretary may sell such duplicates 
under subsection (a) at a price sufficient to cover the costs of such 
duplicates, 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.
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