[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 64 (Monday, April 15, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE GOLDEN THIRTEEN CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 15, 2024

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the Golden Thirteen 
Congressional Gold Medal Act. This bill would award a posthumous 
Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 African Americans who became the 
first African American commissioned and warrant officers in the United 
States Navy.
  In 1944, the Navy began officer training courses for 16 African 
American men. At the time, there were no African American officers in 
the Navy. These 16 men were expected to complete their training in 
eight weeks, while normal officer training was 16 weeks.
  These 16 men supported each other, including by placing blankets over 
their windows and studying as a group by flashlight at night. Each 
brought to the group his own expertise to help the others.
  When the course was completed, all 16 passed their exams. With some 
claiming that the group must have cheated, the group was forced to 
retake certain exams and scored even higher. The average grade for the 
group was 3.89 out of 4.00, the highest average of any class in Navy 
history at that time.
  Even though all 16 men passed the course, the Navy commissioned only 
12 of the men, and a 13th was made a chief warrant officer. Three 
returned to the enlisted corps, with no reason given by the Navy.
  During the men's careers, they 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, with the rest returning to civilian life. In 
the 1970s, Captain Edward Secrest, a former instructor, gave the group 
the name the ``Golden Thirteen.''
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill to honor the first African 
American officers in the Navy, 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 were not given a commission were Augustus Alves; J.B. 
Pinkney; and Lewis ``Mummy'' Williams.

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