[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1421 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1421

  To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Headquarters Special 
  Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company in recognition of their 
  unique and distinguished service as a ``Ghost Army'' that conducted 
          deception operations in Europe during World War II.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 2019

  Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Portman, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. King, Mr. 
Blumenthal, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Schumer, and 
  Ms. Warren) 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 to the 23d Headquarters Special 
  Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company in recognition of their 
  unique and distinguished service as a ``Ghost Army'' that conducted 
          deception operations in Europe during World War II.

    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 ``Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops (comprised of the 
        23d Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops, the 
        603d Engineer Camouflage Battalion, the 406th Combat Engineer 
        Company, the 3132d Signal Service Company, and the Signal 
        Company, Special, 23d Headquarters, Special Troops) and the 
        3133d Signal Service Company were top-secret units of the 
        United States Army that served in Europe during World War II;
            (2) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops was actively 
        engaged in battlefield operations from June of 1944 through 
        March of 1945;
            (3) the 3133d Signal Service Company was engaged in 
        operations in Italy in 1945;
            (4) the deceptive activities of these units were integral 
        to several Allied victories across Europe and reduced 
        casualties;
            (5) in evaluating the performance of these units after 
        World War II, an Army analysis found that ``Rarely, if ever, 
        has there been a group of such a few men which had so great an 
        influence on the outcome of a major military campaign.'';
            (6) many Ghost Army soldiers were citizen-soldiers 
        recruited from art schools, advertising agencies, 
        communications companies, and other creative and technical 
        professions;
            (7) the first 4 members of the 23d Headquarters Special 
        Troops landed on D-Day and two became casualties while creating 
        false beach landing sites;
            (8) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops secret deception 
        operations commenced in France on June 14, 1944, when Task 
        Force Mason (a 17-man detachment of the 23d led by First 
        Lieutenant Bernard Mason) landed at Omaha Beach;
            (9) Task Force Mason conducted Operation Elephant from July 
        1 to 4, 1944, to draw enemy fire and protect the 980th Field 
        Artillery Battalion (VIII Corps) as part of the Normandy 
        Campaign;
            (10) Operation Elephant was a prelude to the 21 full-scale 
        tactical deceptions completed by the 23d Headquarters Special 
        Troops;
            (11) often operating on or near the front lines, the 23d 
        Headquarters Special Troops used inflatable tanks, artillery, 
        airplanes and other vehicles, advanced engineered soundtracks, 
        and skillfully crafted radio trickery to create the illusion of 
        sizable American forces where there were none and to draw the 
        enemy away from Allied troops;
            (12) the 3132d and the 3133d Signal Service Companies, 
        activated in Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), New York, at the Army 
        Experimental Station in March 1944, were the only 2 active duty 
        ``sonic deception'' ground combat units in World War II;
            (13) soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops 
        impersonated other, larger Army units by sewing counterfeit 
        patches onto their uniforms, painting false markings on their 
        vehicles, and creating phony headquarters staffed by fake 
        generals, all in an effort to feed false information to Axis 
        spies;
            (14) during the Battle of the Bulge, the 23d Headquarters 
        Special Troops created counterfeit radio traffic in an effort 
        to deceive the enemy of the movement of elements of General 
        George S. Patton's Third Army as it shifted to break through to 
        the 101st Airborne Division and elements of 10th Armored 
        Division in the besieged Belgian town of Bastogne;
            (15) in its final mission, Operation Viersen, in March 
        1945, the 23d Headquarters Special Troops conducted a tactical 
        deception operation intended to draw German units down the 
        Rhine River and away from the Ninth Army, allowing the Ninth 
        Army to cross the Rhine into Germany;
            (16) during Operation Viersen, the 23d Headquarters Special 
        Troops with the assistance of other units, impersonated 40,000 
        men, or 2 complete divisions of American forces, by using 
        fabricated radio networks, soundtracks of construction work and 
        artillery fire, and more than 600 inflatable and real vehicles;
            (17) according to a military intelligence officer of the 
        79th Infantry, ``There is no doubt that Operation Viersen 
        materially assisted in deceiving the enemy with regard to the 
        real dispositions and intentions of this Army.'';
            (18) 3 soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops gave 
        their lives and dozens were injured in carrying out their 
        mission;
            (19) in April 1945, the 3133d Signal Service Company 
        conducted Operation Craftsman in support of Operation Second 
        Wind, the successful Allied effort to break through the German 
        defensive position to the north of Florence, Italy, known as 
        the Gothic Line;
            (20) along with an attached platoon of British engineers, 
        who were inflatable decoy specialists, the 3133d Signal Service 
        Company used sonic deception to misrepresent troop locations 
        along this defensive line;
            (21) the activities of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops 
        and the 3133d Signal Service Company remained highly classified 
        for more than 40 years after the war and were never formally 
        recognized;
            (22) the extraordinary accomplishments of this unit are 
        deserving of belated official recognition; and
            (23) the United States is eternally grateful to the 
        soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d 
        Signal Service Company for their proficient use of innovative 
        tactics during World War II, which saved lives and made 
        significant contributions to the defeat of the Axis powers.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award Authorized.--The President Pro Tempore of the Senate and 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall make appropriate 
arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of 
appropriate design to the 23d Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d 
Signal Services Company in recognition of unique and highly 
distinguished service during World War II.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to 
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (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) Smithsonian Institution.--
            (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 available for 
        display as appropriate and made available for research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received 
        under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at other locations associated with the 23d 
        Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Services 
        Company.
    (d) Duplicate Medals.--Under regulations that the Secretary may 
promulgate, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of 
the gold medal struck under this Act, at a price sufficient to cover 
the cost of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of 
machinery, and overhead expenses.

SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDAL.

    (a) National Medal.--The gold medal struck under this Act shall be 
a national medal for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, Unites 
States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purpose of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
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