[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 27 (Monday, February 22, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S914-S915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES CONGRESSIONAL GOLD METAL ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 2234 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 senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2234) to award the Congressional Gold Medal, 
     collectively, to the members of the Office of Strategic 
     Services (OSS) in recognition of their superior service and 
     major contributions during World War II.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill 
be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 2234) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2234

       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 ``Office of Strategic Services 
     Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was America's 
     first effort to implement a system of strategic intelligence 
     during World War II and provided the basis for the modern-day 
     American intelligence and special operations communities. The 
     U.S. Special Operations Command and the National Clandestine 
     Service chose the OSS spearhead as their insignias.
       (2) OSS founder General William J. Donovan is the only 
     person in American history to receive our Nation's four 
     highest decorations, including the Medal of Honor. Upon 
     learning of his death in 1959, President Eisenhower called 
     General Donovan the ``last hero''. In addition to founding 
     and leading the OSS, General Donovan was also selected by 
     President Roosevelt, who called him his ``secret legs'', as 
     an emissary to Great Britain and continental Europe before 
     the United States entered World War II.
       (3) All the military branches during World War II 
     contributed personnel to the OSS. The present-day Special 
     Operations Forces trace their lineage to the OSS. Its 
     Maritime

[[Page S915]]

     Unit was a precursor to the U.S. Navy SEALs. The OSS 
     Operational Groups and Jedburghs were forerunners to U.S. 
     Army Special Forces. The 801st/492nd Bombardment Group 
     (``Carpetbaggers'') were progenitors to the Air Force Special 
     Operations Command. The Marines who served in the OSS, 
     including the actor Sterling Hayden (a Silver Star 
     recipient), Col. William Eddy (a Distinguished Service Cross 
     recipient who was described as the ``nearest thing the United 
     States has had to a Lawrence of Arabia''), and Col. Peter 
     Ortiz (a two-time Navy Cross recipient), were predecessors to 
     the Marine Special Operations Command. U.S. Coast Guard 
     personnel were recruited for the Maritime Unit and its 
     Operational Swimmer Group.
       (4) The OSS organized, trained, supplied, and fought with 
     resistance organizations throughout Europe and Asia that 
     played an important role in America's victory during World 
     War II. General Eisenhower credited the OSS's covert 
     contribution in France to the equivalent to having an extra 
     military division. General Eisenhower told General Donovan 
     that if it did nothing else, the photographic reconnaissance 
     conducted by the OSS prior to the D-Day Invasion justified 
     its creation.
       (5) Four future directors of central intelligence served as 
     OSS officers: William Casey, William Colby, Allen Dulles, and 
     Richard Helms.
       (6) Women comprised more than one-third of OSS personnel 
     and played a critical role in the organization. They included 
     Virginia Hall, the only civilian female to receive a 
     Distinguished Service Cross in World War II, and Julia Child.
       (7) OSS recruited Fritz Kolbe, a German diplomat who became 
     America's most important spy against the Nazis in World War 
     II.
       (8) America's leading scientists and scholars served in the 
     OSS Research and Analysis Branch, including Ralph Bunche, the 
     first African-American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize; 
     Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; 
     Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg; Sherman Kent; John 
     King Fairbank; and Walt Rostow. Its ranks included seven 
     future presidents of the American Historical Association, 
     five of the American Economic Association, and two Nobel 
     laureates.
       (9) The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence 
     and Research traces its creation to the OSS Research and 
     Analysis Branch.
       (10) James Donovan, who was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 
     Steven Spielberg movie ``Bridge of Spies'' and negotiated the 
     release of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, served as General 
     Counsel of the OSS.
       (11) The OSS invented and employed new technology through 
     its Research and Development Branch, inventing new weapons 
     and revolutionary communications equipment. Dr. Christian 
     Lambertsen invented the first underwater rebreathing 
     apparatus that was first utilized by the OSS and is known 
     today as SCUBA.
       (12) OSS Detachment 101 operated in Burma and pioneered the 
     art of unconventional warfare. It was the first United States 
     unit to deploy a large guerrilla army deep in enemy 
     territory. It has been credited with the highest kill/loss 
     ratio for any infantry-type unit in American military history 
     and was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation.
       (13) Its X-2 branch pioneered counterintelligence with the 
     British and established the modern counterintelligence 
     community. The network of contacts built by the OSS with 
     foreign intelligence services led to enduring Cold War 
     alliances.
       (14) Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North 
     Africa in November 1942, was aided by the networks 
     established and information acquired by the OSS to guide 
     Allied landings.
       (15) OSS Operation Halyard rescued more than 500 downed 
     airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia, one of the 
     most daring and successful rescue operations of World War II.
       (16) OSS ``Mercy Missions'' at the end of World War II 
     saved the lives of thousands of Allied prisoners of war whom 
     it was feared would be murdered by the Japanese.
       (17) The handful of surviving men and women of the OSS whom 
     General Donovan said performed ``some of the bravest acts of 
     the war'' are members of the ``Greatest Generation''. They 
     have never been collectively recognized for their heroic and 
     pioneering service in World War II.

     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 presentation, on 
     behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design 
     in commemoration to the members of the Office of Strategic 
     Services (OSS), in recognition of their superior service and 
     major contributions during World War II.
       (b) Design and Striking.--For 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 in 
     commemoration to the members of the Office of Strategic 
     Services under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given 
     to the Smithsonian Institution, where it will be displayed 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 Office of Strategic Services.

     SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

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

     SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

       (a) National Medals.--The 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 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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