[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4107 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4107

 To award a Congressional gold medal, collectively, to the crew of the 
USS Indianapolis, in recognition of their perseverance, their bravery, 
                    and their service to the nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 24, 2017

Mr. Bishop of Michigan (for himself, Mr. Roe of Tennessee, Mr. Ryan of 
Ohio, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, and Mr. Gosar) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To award a Congressional gold medal, collectively, to the crew of the 
USS Indianapolis, in recognition of their perseverance, their bravery, 
                    and their service to the nation.

    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 ``USS Indianapolis Congressional Gold 
Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was a Portland-class heavy 
        cruiser that fought in the Aleutians, the Gilbert and Marshall 
        Islands, Saipan, the battle of the Philippine Sea, Tinian, 
        Guam, the Caroline Islands, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa for the 
        United States Navy.
            (2) The USS Indianapolis was manned by Captain Charles 
        Butler McVay III and 1,197 other crew members when it set sail 
        for the Island of Tinian on July 16, 1945, to deliver 
        components of the atomic bomb ``Little Boy''. The USS 
        Indianapolis then made its way to Guam and received further 
        orders to join the battleship USS Idaho in the Leyte Gulf in 
        the Philippines. During the length of the trip, the USS 
        Indianapolis went unescorted by a destroyer due to the immense 
        covertness of the operation.
            (3) On July 30, 1945, at 14 minutes pass midnight, the USS 
        Indianapolis was hit by two torpedoes fired by the I-58, a 
        Japanese submarine. The resulting explosion split the ship to 
        the keel, sinking the ship in about twelve minutes. Of 1,197 
        crew members, about 900 made it into the water. While a few 
        life rafts were deployed, most men were stranded in the water 
        with only a kapok life jacket.
            (4) Shortly after 11:00 A.M. on August 2, 1945, four days 
        after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, Lieutenant Wilbur 
        Gwinn was piloting a PV-1 Ventura Bomber and noticed the men of 
        USS Indianapolis in the water. He alerted a PBY, under the 
        command of Lieutenant Adrian Marks of the disaster. Marks then 
        alerted the destroyer USS Cecil Doyle (DD-368) before heading 
        to the scene himself to assist the survivors until the 
        destroyer could get there. The rescue mission continued well 
        into the morning of August 3, 1945.
            (5) Only 319 men survived the temperature extremes, 
        starvation, terrible thirst, and constant shark attacks while 
        in the water between July 30, 1945, and August 3, 1945.
            (6) During World War II, the USS Indianapolis and the crew 
        served as the Flagship for the Fifth Fleet commander Admiral 
        Raymond Spruance, survived a kamikaze attack, earned a total of 
        10 battle stars, and took on an incredibly risky mission that 
        was critical to ending the war. Their sacrifice, perseverance, 
        and bravery should never be forgotten.

SEC. 3. 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 crew of the USS Indianapolis, in 
recognition of their perseverance, their bravery, and their service to 
the Nation.
    (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) Indiana War Memorial Museum.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        referred to in subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to 
        the Indiana War Memorial Museum in Indianapolis, IN, where it 
        will be displayed as appropriate and made available for 
        research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Indiana War Memorial Museum should make the gold medal 
        received under this Act available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at other locations and events associated with the 
        USS Indianapolis.

SEC. 4. 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 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the 
medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF 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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