[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2101 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2101
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 8, 2017
Mr. Donnelly (for himself and Mr. Young) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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 was commanded by Captain Charles
Butler McVay III and 1,196 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 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 explosion severed off the bow
of the ship, sinking the ship in about 12 minutes. Of 1,196
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 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 317 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.
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