[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2101 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.2101

                     One Hundred Fifteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
           the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen


                                 An Act


 
 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the crew of the 
  USS Indianapolis, in recognition of their perseverance, bravery, and 
                      service to the United States.

    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.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) The Portland-class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis received 
    10 battle stars between February 1942 and April 1945 while 
    participating in major battles of World War II from the Aleutian 
    Islands to Okinawa.
        (2) The USS Indianapolis, commanded by Captain Charles Butler 
    McVay III, carried 1,195 personnel 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 set a speed record during 
    the portion of the trip from California to Pearl Harbor and 
    successfully delivered the cargo on July 26, 1945. The USS 
    Indianapolis then traveled to Guam and received further orders to 
    join Task Group 95.7 in the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines for 
    training. During the length of the trip, the USS Indianapolis went 
    unescorted.
        (3) On July 30, 1945, minutes after midnight, the USS 
    Indianapolis was hit by 2 torpedoes fired by the I-58, a Japanese 
    submarine. The resulting explosions severed the bow of the ship, 
    sinking the ship in about 12 minutes. Of 1,195 personnel, 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) At 10:25 a.m. on August 2, 1945, 4 days after the sinking 
    of the USS Indianapolis, Lieutenant Wilbur Gwinn was piloting a PV-
    1 Ventura bomber and accidentally noticed men in the water who were 
    later determined to be survivors of the sinking of the USS 
    Indianapolis. Lieutenant Gwinn alerted a PBY aircraft, under the 
    command of Lieutenant Adrian Marks, about the disaster. Lieutenant 
    Marks made a dangerous open-sea landing to begin rescuing the men 
    before any surface vessels arrived. The USS Cecil J. Doyle was the 
    first surface ship to arrive on the scene and took considerable 
    risk in using a searchlight as a beacon, which gave hope to 
    survivors in the water and encouraged them to make it through 
    another night. The rescue mission continued well into August 3, 
    1945, and was well-coordinated and responsive once launched. The 
    individuals who participated in the rescue mission conducted a 
    thorough search, saved lives, and undertook the difficult job of 
    identifying the remains of, and providing a proper burial for, 
    those individuals who had died.
        (5) Only 316 men survived the ordeal and the survivors had to 
    deal with severe burns, exposure to the elements, extreme 
    dehydration, and shark attacks.
        (6) During World War II, the USS Indianapolis frequently served 
    as the flagship for the commander of the Fifth Fleet, Admiral 
    Raymond Spruance, survived a bomb released during a kamikaze attack 
    (which badly damaged the ship and killed 9 members of the crew), 
    earned a total of 10 battle stars, and accomplished a top secret 
    mission that was critical to ending the war. The sacrifice, 
    perseverance, and bravery of the crew of the USS Indianapolis 
    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 Congress, of a single gold 
medal of appropriate design to the crew of the USS Indianapolis, in 
recognition of their perseverance, bravery, and service to the United 
States.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to 
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this 
Act 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, Indiana, 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.
    (a) National Medals.--Medals struck under this Act are national 
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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