[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 71 (Monday, May 20, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3629-S3631]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AWARDING A CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Banking
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 309 and the
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk
will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 309) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the
World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mrs. BOXER. I ask unanimous consent the Harkin amendment, which is at
the desk, be agreed to, the bill as amended be read three times and
passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no
intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 951) was agreed to, as follows:
(Purpose: To make technical corrections)
On page 15, line 5, strike ``dyes'' and insert ``dies''.
On page 15, line 6, insert before the period the following:
``, and amounts received from the sale of such duplicates
shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public
Enterprise Fund''.
On page 15, strike line 10 and all that follows through
line 20.
The bill (S. 309), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a
third reading, was read the third time and passed, as follows:
[[Page S3630]]
S. 309
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The unpaid volunteer members of the Civil Air Patrol
(hereafter in this Act referred to as the ``CAP'') during
World War II provided extraordinary humanitarian, combat, and
national services during a critical time of need for the
Nation.
(2) During the war, CAP members used their own aircraft to
perform a myriad of essential tasks for the military and the
Nation within the United States, including attacks on enemy
submarines off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the
United States.
(3) This extraordinary national service set the stage for
the post-war CAP to become a valuable nonprofit, public
service organization chartered by Congress and designated the
Auxiliary of the United States Air Force that provides
essential emergency, operational, and public services to
communities, States, the Federal Government, and the
military.
(4) The CAP was established on December 1, 1941, initially
as a part of the Office of Civil Defense, by air-minded
citizens one week before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, out of the desire of civil airmen of the country to
be mobilized with their equipment in the common defense of
the Nation.
(5) Within days of the start of the war, the German Navy
started a massive submarine offensive, known as Operation
Drumbeat, off the east coast of the United States against oil
tankers and other critical shipping that threatened the
overall war effort.
(6) Neither the Navy nor the Army had enough aircraft,
ships, or other resources to adequately patrol and protect
the shipping along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of
the United States, and many ships were torpedoed and sunk,
often within sight of civilians on shore, including 52
tankers sunk between January and March 1942.
(7) At that time General George Marshall remarked that
``[t]he losses by submarines off our Atlantic seaboard and in
the Caribbean now threaten our entire war effort''.
(8) From the beginning CAP leaders urged the military to
use its services to patrol coastal waters but met with great
resistance because of the nonmilitary status of CAP civilian
pilots.
(9) Finally, in response to the ever-increasing submarine
attacks, the Tanker Committee of the Petroleum Industry War
Council urged the Navy Department and the War Department to
consider the use of the CAP to help patrol the sea lanes off
the coasts of the United States.
(10) While the Navy initially rejected this suggestion, the
Army decided it had merit, and the Civil Air Patrol Coastal
Patrol began in March 1942.
(11) Oil companies and other organizations provided funds
to help pay for some CAP operations, including vitally needed
shore radios that were used to monitor patrol missions.
(12) By late March 1942, the Navy also began to use the
services of the CAP.
(13) Starting with 3 bases located in Delaware, Florida,
and New Jersey, CAP aircrews (ranging in age from 18 to over
80) immediately started to spot enemy submarines as well as
lifeboats, bodies, and wreckage.
(14) Within 15 minutes of starting his patrol on the first
Coastal Patrol flight, a pilot had sighted a torpedoed tanker
and was coordinating rescue operations.
(15) Eventually 21 bases, ranging from Bar Harbor, Maine,
to Brownsville, Texas, were set up for the CAP to patrol the
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, with
40,000 volunteers eventually participating.
(16) The CAP used a wide range of civilian-owned aircraft,
mainly light-weight, single-engine aircraft manufactured by
Cessna, Beech, Waco, Fairchild, Stinson, Piper, Taylorcraft,
and Sikorsky, among others, as well as some twin engine
aircraft, such as the Grumman Widgeon.
(17) Most of these aircraft were painted in their civilian
prewar colors (red, yellow, or blue, for example) and carried
special markings (a blue circle with a white triangle) to
identify them as CAP aircraft.
(18) Patrols were conducted up to 100 miles off shore,
generally with 2 aircraft flying together, in aircraft often
equipped with only a compass for navigation and a single
radio for communication.
(19) Due to the critical nature of the situation, CAP
operations were conducted in bad weather as well as good,
often when the military was unable to fly, and in all
seasons, including the winter, when ditching an aircraft in
cold water would likely mean certain death to the aircrew.
(20) Personal emergency equipment was often lacking,
particularly during early patrols where inner tubes and kapok
duck hunter vests were carried as flotation devices, since
ocean worthy wet suits, life vests, and life rafts were
unavailable.
(21) The initial purpose of the Coastal Patrol was to spot
submarines, report their position to the military, and force
them to dive below the surface, which limited their operating
speed and maneuverability and reduced their ability to detect
and attack shipping, because attacks against shipping were
conducted while the submarines were surfaced.
(22) It immediately became apparent that there were
opportunities for CAP pilots to attack submarines, such as
when a Florida CAP aircrew came across a surfaced submarine
that quickly stranded itself on a sand bar. However, the
aircrew could not get any assistance from armed military
aircraft before the submarine freed itself.
(23) Finally, after several instances when the military
could not respond in a timely manner, a decision was made by
the military to arm CAP aircraft with 50- and 100-pound
bombs, and to arm some larger twin-engine aircraft with 325-
pound depth charges.
(24) The arming of CAP aircraft dramatically changed the
mission for these civilian aircrews and resulted in more than
57 attacks on enemy submarines.
(25) While CAP volunteers received $8 a day flight
reimbursement for costs incurred, their patrols were
accomplished at a great economic cost to many CAP members
who--
(A) used their own aircraft and other equipment in defense
of the Nation;
(B) paid for much of their own aircraft maintenance and
hangar use; and
(C) often lived in the beginning in primitive conditions
along the coast, including old barns and chicken coops
converted for sleeping.
(26) More importantly, the CAP Coastal Patrol service came
at the high cost of 26 fatalities, 7 serious injuries, and 90
aircraft lost.
(27) At the conclusion of the 18-month Coastal Patrol, the
heroic CAP aircrews would be credited with--
(A) 2 submarines possibly damaged or destroyed;
(B) 57 submarines attacked;
(C) 82 bombs dropped against submarines;
(D) 173 radio reports of submarine positions (with a number
of credited assists for kills made by military units);
(E) 17 floating mines reported;
(F) 36 dead bodies reported;
(G) 91 vessels in distress reported;
(H) 363 survivors in distress reported;
(I) 836 irregularities noted;
(J) 1,036 special investigations at sea or along the coast;
(K) 5,684 convoy missions as aerial escorts for Navy ships;
(L) 86,685 total missions flown;
(M) 244,600 total flight hours logged; and
(N) more than 24,000,000 total miles flown.
(28) It is believed that at least one high-level German
Navy Officer credited CAP as one reason that submarine
attacks moved away from the United States when he concluded
that ``[i]t was because of those damned little red and yellow
planes!''.
(29) The CAP was dismissed from coastal missions with
little thanks in August 1943 when the Navy took over the
mission completely and ordered CAP to stand down.
(30) While the Coastal Patrol was ongoing, CAP was also
establishing itself as a vital wartime service to the
military, States, and communities nationwide by performing a
wide range of missions including, among others--
(A) border patrol;
(B) forest and fire patrols;
(C) military courier flights for mail, repair and
replacement parts, and urgent military deliveries;
(D) emergency transportation of military personnel;
(E) target towing (with live ammunition being fired at the
targets and seven lives being lost) and searchlight tracking
training missions;
(F) missing aircraft and personnel searches;
(G) air and ground search and rescue for missing aircraft
and personnel;
(H) radar and aircraft warning system training flights;
(I) aerial inspections of camouflaged military and civilian
facilities;
(J) aerial inspections of city and town blackout
conditions;
(K) simulated bombing attacks on cities and facilities to
test air defenses and early warning;
(L) aerial searches for scrap metal materials;
(M) river and lake patrols, including aerial surveys for
ice in the Great Lakes;
(N) support of war bond drives;
(O) management and guard duties at hundreds of airports;
(P) support for State and local emergencies such as natural
and manmade disasters;
(Q) predator control;
(R) rescue of livestock during floods and blizzards;
(S) recruiting for the Army Air Force;
(T) initial flight screening and orientation flights for
potential military recruits;
(U) mercy missions, including the airlift of plasma to
central blood banks;
(V) nationwide emergency communications services; and
(W) a cadet youth program which provided aviation and
military training for tens of thousands.
(31) The CAP flew more than 500,000 hours on these
additional missions, including--
(A) 20,500 missions involving target towing (with live
ammunition) and gun/searchlight tracking which resulted in 7
deaths, 5 serious injuries, and the loss of 25 aircraft;
(B) a courier service involving 3 major Air Force Commands
over a 2-year period carrying more than 3,500,000 pounds of
vital cargo and 543 passengers;
(C) southern border patrol flying more than 30,000 hours
and reporting 7,000 unusual sightings including a vehicle
(that was apprehended) with 2 enemy agents attempting to
enter the country;
[[Page S3631]]
(D) a week in February 1945 during which CAP units rescued
seven missing Army and Navy pilots; and
(E) a State in which the CAP flew 790 hours on forest fire
patrol missions and reported 576 fires to authorities during
a single year.
(32) On April 29, 1943, the CAP was transferred to the Army
Air Forces, thus beginning its long association with the
United States Air Force.
(33) Hundreds of CAP-trained women pilots joined military
women's units including the Women's Air Force Service Pilots
(WASP) program.
(34) Many members of the WASP program joined or rejoined
the CAP during the post-war period because it provided women
opportunities to fly and continue to serve the Nation that
were severely lacking elsewhere.
(35) Due to the exceptional emphasis on safety, unit and
pilot training and discipline, and the organization of the
CAP, by the end of the war a total of only 64 CAP members had
died in service and only 150 aircraft had been lost
(including its Coastal Patrol losses from early in the war).
(36) It is estimated that up to 100,000 civilians
(including youth in its cadet program) participated in the
CAP in a wide range of staff and operational positions, and
that CAP aircrews flew a total of approximately 750,000 hours
during the war, most of which were in their personal aircraft
and often at risk to their lives.
(37) After the war, at a CAP dinner for Congress, a quorum
of both Houses attended with the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President thanking CAP for its
service.
(38) While air medals were issued for some of those
participating in the Coastal Patrol, little other recognition
was forthcoming for the myriad of services CAP volunteers
provided during the war.
(39) Despite some misguided efforts to end the CAP at the
end of the war, the organization had proved its capabilities
to the Nation and strengthened its ties with the Air Force
and Congress.
(40) In 1946, Congress chartered the CAP as a nonprofit,
public service organization and in 1948 made the CAP an
Auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
(41) Today, the CAP conducts many of the same missions it
performed during World War II, including a vital role in
homeland security.
(42) The CAP's wartime service was highly unusual and
extraordinary, due to the unpaid civilian status of its
members, the use of privately owned aircraft and personal
funds by many of its members, the myriad of humanitarian and
national missions flown for the Nation, and the fact that for
18 months, during a time of great need for the United States,
the CAP flew combat-related missions in support of military
operations off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Award.--
(1) 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 single gold medal of appropriate design in
honor of the World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol
collectively, in recognition of the military service and
exemplary record of the Civil Air Patrol during World War II.
(2) Design and striking.--For the purposes of the award
referred to in paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Treasury
shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices,
and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
(3) Smithsonian institution.--
(A) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal
referred to in paragraph (1) in honor of all of its World War
II members of the Civil Air Patrol, the gold medal shall be
given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be
displayed as appropriate and made available for research.
(B) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal
received under this paragraph available for display
elsewhere, particularly at other locations associated with
the Civil Air Patrol.
(b) 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 this Act,
at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the medals,
including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses, and amounts received from the sale of such
duplicates shall be deposited in the United States Mint
Public Enterprise Fund.
(c) National Medals.--Medals struck pursuant to this Act
are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31,
United States Code.
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