[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8008 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8008

    To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to the Golden 
     Thirteen, in recognition of their contributions to the Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2024

  Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on 
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to the Golden 
     Thirteen, in recognition of their contributions 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 ``Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold 
Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In January 1944, there were no Black officers in the 
        United States Navy. That month, 16 Black enlisted men were 
        assembled at the Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, 
        Illinois, for officer training.
            (2) These men were expected to complete the training in 8 
        weeks, while the normal officer training course was 16 weeks.
            (3) These men supported each other, including by placing 
        blankets over their windows and studying as a group by 
        flashlight at night. Each man brought to the group his own 
        expertise to help the others.
            (4) When the course was over, all 16 men passed their 
        exams, leading some to claim that they had cheated. The men 
        were forced to retake certain exams and scored even higher.
            (5) The average grade for these men on the exams was a 3.89 
        out of a 4.00, the highest average of any class in Navy history 
        at that time.
            (6) Despite all 16 men having passed the course, on 
        February 24, 1944, the Navy commissioned only 12 of them, and a 
        13th was made a chief warrant officer. Because the Navy had 
        assumed a 25-percent attrition rate, only 12 officer 
        commissions were anticipated. As the class had a 100-percent 
        passage rate, the other three men were returned to the enlisted 
        corps, with no reason given.
            (7) During their careers, these men oversaw all-Black units 
        or the training of Black recruits. One would go on to make his 
        career in the Navy after World War II, and the rest would 
        return to civilian life.
            (8) In the 1970s, Captain Edward Secrest, a former 
        instructor, gave the group the name ``Golden Thirteen''.
            (9) In 1982, these men were formally recognized with a 
        first-ever reunion at sea aboard the USS KIDD-993.
            (10) The members of the Golden Thirteen were Jesse Walter 
        Arbor; Phillip G. Barnes; Samuel Edward Barnes; Dalton Louis 
        Baugh, Sr.; George Clinton Cooper; Reginald Ernest Goodwin; 
        James Edward Hair; Charles Byrd Lear; Graham Edward Martin; 
        Dennis Denmark Nelson; John Walter Reagan; Frank Ellis Sublett, 
        Jr.; and William Sylvester White. The three members who passed 
        their exams but not given a commission were Augustus Alves; 
        J.B. Pinkney; and Lewis ``Mummy'' Williams.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of 
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration to 
the Golden Thirteen, in recognition of their contributions to the 
Nation.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred 
to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a 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 appropriate locations associated with the 
        Golden Thirteen.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--Medals struck pursuant to 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.

SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--The amounts received from the sale of 
duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited 
into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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