[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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