[117th Congress Public Law 85]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[[Page 136 STAT. 11]]
Public Law 117-85
117th Congress
An Act
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Headquarters Special
Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company, popularly known as the
``Ghost Army'', in recognition of their unique and highly distinguished
service in conducting deception operations in Europe during World War
II. <<NOTE: Feb. 1, 2022 - [S. 1404]>>
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Ghost Army
Congressional Gold Medal Act. 31 USC 5111 note.>>
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops (comprised of the
23d Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops, the
603d Engineer Camouflage Battalion, the 406th Combat Engineer
Company, the 3132d Signal Service Company, and the Signal
Company, Special, 23d Headquarters, Special Troops) and the
3133d Signal Service Company were units of the United States
Army that served in Europe during World War II;
(2) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops was actively engaged
in battlefield operations from June of 1944 through March of
1945;
(3) the 3133d Signal Service Company was engaged in
operations in Italy in 1945;
(4) the deceptive activities of these units were integral to
several Allied victories across Europe and reduced casualties;
(5) in evaluating the performance of these units after World
War II, an Army analysis found that ``Rarely, if ever, has there
been a group of such a few men which had so great an influence
on the outcome of a major military campaign.'';
(6) many Ghost Army soldiers were citizen-soldiers recruited
from art schools, advertising agencies, communications
companies, and other creative and technical professions;
(7) the first 4 members of the 23d Headquarters Special
Troops landed on D-Day and 2 became casualties while creating
false beach landing sites;
(8) <<NOTE: Fred Fox.>> a detachment of Army radio
operators under the command of Lieutenant Fred Fox joined the
invasion fleet for a planned deception, Operation Troutfly,
which was cancelled;
(9) Lieutenant Fox's men and their radios were instead
attached to the 82d Airborne, which had lost 95 percent of
[[Page 136 STAT. 12]]
its radio equipment, providing critical communications as the
82d Airborne fought its way inland;
(10) <<NOTE: Bernard Mason.>> the secret deception
operations of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops commenced in
France on June 14, 1944, when Task Force Mason, a 16-man
detachment of the 23d led by First Lieutenant Bernard Mason,
arrived in Normandy;
(11) Lieutenant Mason and his men set up dummy artillery to
draw enemy fire and protect the 980th Field Artillery Battalion
(VIII Corps) as part of the Normandy Campaign;
(12) the rest of the soldiers of the 23d Headquarters
Special Troops arrived in France in July and August of 1944;
(13) full-scale deception efforts began with Operation
Elephant from July 1 to 4, 1944, in which the 23d Headquarters
Special Troops covered the movement of the 2d Armored Division
when it left a reserve position to go into the line between the
First United States and Second British Armies;
(14) Operation Elephant was the first of the 21 full-scale
tactical deceptions completed by the 23d Headquarters Special
Troops;
(15) often operating on or near the front lines, the 23d
Headquarters Special Troops used inflatable tanks, artillery,
airplanes and other vehicles, advanced engineered soundtracks,
and skillfully crafted radio trickery to create the illusion of
sizable American forces where there were none and to draw the
enemy away from Allied troops;
(16) the 3132d and the 3133d Signal Service Companies,
activated in Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), New York, at the Army
Experimental Station in March and June of 1944, respectively,
were the only ``sonic deception'' ground combat units of the
United States in World War II;
(17) soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops
impersonated other, larger Army units by sewing counterfeit
patches onto their uniforms, painting false markings on their
vehicles, and creating phony headquarters staffed by fake
generals, all in an effort to feed false information to Axis
spies;
(18) during the Battle of the Bulge, the 23d Headquarters
Special Troops created counterfeit radio traffic in an effort to
deceive the enemy of the movement of elements of General George
S. Patton's Third Army as it shifted to break through to the
101st Airborne Division and elements of 10th Armored Division in
the besieged Belgian town of Bastogne;
(19) in its final mission, Operation Viersen, in March 1945,
the 23d Headquarters Special Troops conducted a tactical
deception operation intended to draw German units down the Rhine
River and away from the Ninth Army, allowing the Ninth Army to
cross the Rhine into Germany;
(20) during Operation Viersen, the 23d Headquarters Special
Troops, with the assistance of other units, impersonated 2
complete divisions of American forces by using fabricated radio
networks, soundtracks of construction work and artillery fire,
and hundreds of inflatable and real vehicles;
(21) according to a military intelligence officer of the
79th Infantry, ``There is no doubt that Operation Viersen
materially assisted in deceiving the enemy with regard to the
real dispositions and intentions of this Army.'';
[[Page 136 STAT. 13]]
(22) 3 soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops gave
their lives and dozens were injured in carrying out their
mission;
(23) in April 1945, the 3133d Signal Service Company
conducted Operation Craftsman in support of Operation Second
Wind, the successful Allied effort to break through the German
defensive position to the north of Florence, Italy, known as the
Gothic Line;
(24) along with an attached platoon of British engineers,
who were inflatable decoy specialists, the 3133d Signal Service
Company used sonic deception to misrepresent troop locations
along this defensive line;
(25) the activities of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops
and the 3133d Signal Service Company remained highly classified
for more than 40 years after the war and received minimal
recognition;
(26) the extraordinary accomplishments of this unit are
deserving of belated official recognition; and
(27) the United States is eternally grateful to the soldiers
of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d Signal
Service Company for their proficient use of innovative tactics
during World War II, which saved lives and made significant
contributions to the defeat of the Axis powers.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Award 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 gold medal of
appropriate design to the 23d Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d
Signal Services Company, known collectively as the ``Ghost Army'', in
recognition of unique and highly distinguished service during World War
II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (in this Act referred
to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the 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 locations associated with the 23d
Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Services
Company.
(d) Duplicate Medals.--The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates
in bronze of the gold medal struck under this Act, at a price sufficient
to cover the cost of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use
of machinery, and overhead expenses.
SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDAL.
(a) National Medal.--The medals struck under this Act are national
medals for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, Unites States Code.
[[Page 136 STAT. 14]]
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purpose of section 5134 of title 31,
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered
to be numismatic items.
SEC. 5. 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
under this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals authorized under section 3(d) shall be deposited into the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purposes of complying
with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional
Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
Approved February 1, 2022.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 1404 (H.R. 707):
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD:
Vol. 167 (2021):
Dec. 15, considered and passed
Senate.
Vol. 168 (2022):
Jan. 19, considered and passed
House.
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