    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 128, 113th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Public Law 113-108
    113th Congress

    An Act

    To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the
    Civil Air Patrol. <>

    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

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    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

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    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;

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    (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;
    (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.

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    (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.

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    (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.

    Approved May 30, 2014.

    LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 309:
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    CONGRESSIONAL RECORD:
    Vol. 159 (2013):
    May 20, considered and passed
    Senate.
    Vol. 160 (2014):
    May 19, considered and passed House.