Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Congressional Gold Medal Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2192 To grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the troops from the United States and the Philippines who defended Bataan and Corregidor, in recognition of their personal sacrifice and service during World War II. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 9, 2019 Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico (for herself, Mr. LUJA´N, and Ms. HAALAND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak- er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju- risdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the troops from the United States and the Philippines who defended Ba- taan and Corregidor, in recognition of their personal sacrifice and service during World War II. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defenders of Bataan 4 and Corregidor Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2192 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, 3 Hawaii, Imperial Japanese forces launched an at- 4 tack on the Philippines, cutting off vital lines of 5 communication to members of the Armed Forces of 6 the United States (referred to in this Act as the 7 ‘‘Armed Forces’’) and Filipino troops in the Far 8 East under the command of General Douglas Mac- 9 Arthur. 10 (2) On December 8, 1941, the 200th and 515th 11 Coast Artillery Regiments, successors to the New 12 Mexico National Guardsmen who made up part of 13 the famed ‘‘Rough Riders’’ of the Spanish-American 14 War, were the ‘‘first to fire’’. 15 (3) Despite being cut off from supply lines and 16 reinforcements, members of the Armed Forces and 17 Philippine troops quickly executed a plan to delay 18 the Japanese invasion and defend the Philippines 19 against that invasion. 20 (4) Combined U.S.-Filipino ground forces fight 21 a prolonged six-month resistance to Imperial Ja- 22 pan’s invasion of the Philippines. With the U.S. un- 23 able to deliver reinforcements, the U.S.-Filipino 24 forces slowly deteriorate in combat effectiveness 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2192 IH through lack of food, supplies, ammunition, and dis- 1 ease as well as from no air and naval support. 2 (5) By December 10, 1941, the U.S. Army Air 3 Corps airfields at Del Carmen, Clark, Nichols, and 4 Nielson on Luzon in the Philippines, as well as the 5 nearby U.S. Naval facilities at Cavite and Olongapo 6 had been destroyed. The surviving sailors, Marines, 7 and airmen were organized into provisional infantry 8 units and sent to fight on the Bataan Peninsula. 9 (6) By April 1942, troops from the United 10 States and the Philippines had bravely and staunch- 11 ly fought off enemy attacks in Bataan for more than 12 4 months under strenuous conditions that resulted 13 in widespread starvation and disease. 14 (7) Securing the withdrawal of United States 15 forces on Luzon to the Bataan Peninsula were— 16 (A) 1,809 New Mexico National Guards- 17 men from 200th and 515th Coast Artillery 18 (Antiaircraft) regiments. First stationed at 19 Fort Stotsenberg north of Manila, they are 20 credited as being the ‘‘First to Fire’’ in the de- 21 fense of the Philippines on December 8, 1941; 22 (B) 1,006 National Guardsmen of the 23 192nd GHQ Light Tank Battalion (596) com- 24 posed of Company A from Janesville, Wis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2192 IH consin; Company B from Maywood, Illinois; 1 Company C from Port Clinton, Ohio; and Com- 2 pany D from Harrodsburg, Kentucky; and the 3 194th Light Tank Battalion (410) composed of 4 Company A from Brainerd, Minnesota; Com- 5 pany B from Saint Joseph, Missouri; and Com- 6 pany C from Salinas, California. The 192nd 7 and 194th Tank Battalions had arrived in the 8 Philippines on or before Thanksgiving Day 9 1941; and 10 (C) barely half of the men from these Na- 11 tional Guard units returned home at the end of 12 the war, with the majority dying as POWs of 13 the Imperial Japanese Army. 14 (8) By maintaining their position and engaging 15 the enemy for as long as they did, the troops at Ba- 16 taan were able to change the momentum of the war, 17 delaying the Japanese timetable to take control of 18 the Southeast Pacific for needed war materials. Be- 19 cause of the heroic actions of the defenders of Ba- 20 taan, members of the Armed Forces and other Allied 21 forces throughout the Pacific had time to regroup 22 and prepare for the successful liberation of the Pa- 23 cific and the Philippines. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2192 IH (9) On April 9, 1942, approximately 12,000 1 United States military personnel and 66,000 Fili- 2 pino soldiers became POWs with the surrender of 3 the American-Filipino forces on the Bataan Penin- 4 sula in the Philippines by Major General Edward P. 5 King. 6 (10) Beginning on April 9 and lasting for al- 7 most two weeks, troops from the Armed Forces and 8 the Philippines were taken prisoner and forced to 9 march 65 miles without any food, water, or medical 10 care in what came to be known as the ‘‘Bataan 11 Death March’’. They marched from Marviveles north 12 to the San Fernando train station. At San Fer- 13 nando, the men were packed standing in 14 unventilated boxcars for 24-mile journey by rail to 15 Capas. Survivors then marched an additional three 16 miles to the make-shift POW camp at Camp 17 O’Donnell, an unfinished Philippine Army training 18 facility. 19 (11) During this forced march, an estimated 20 700 American and possibly 10,000 thousand Filipino 21 soldiers died from starvation, lack of medical care, 22 sheer exhaustion, or abuse by their captors. Hun- 23 dreds of men on the Death March remain unac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2192 IH counted for from the march and its immediate after- 1 math. 2 (12) Conditions at the prisoner of war camps 3 were appalling, leading to increased disease and mal- 4 nutrition, which precipitated extraordinary death 5 rates of as high as 300 per day. 6 (13) Thousands of troops fought under siege 7 conditions on Corregidor (Fort Mills), a fortress is- 8 land in Manila Bay, the headquarters of the wartime 9 U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, and the nearby 10 fortified islands of Fort Hughes, Fort Drum, and 11 Fort Frank until May 6, 1942. 12 (14) On May 6, 1942, Corregidor, which had 13 become the military command center for all the Phil- 14 ippines, United States Forces in the Philippines 15 (USFIP), was surrendered by Lt. General Jonathan 16 M. Wainwright. Nearly 10,000 American soldiers, 17 sailors, airmen, and Marines as well as over 3,000 18 Filipino soldiers and nurses become POWs of Impe- 19 rial Japan. 20 (15) On June 6, 1942, the prisoners at Camp 21 O’Donnell were transferred to Camp Cabanatuan, 22 north of Camp O’Donnell. 23 (16) Nearly 26,000 of the 50,000 Filipino pris- 24 oners of war died at Camp O’Donnell and survivors 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2192 IH were gradually paroled from September through De- 1 cember 1942. 2 (17) Between September of 1942 and December 3 of 1944, prisoners of war from the Armed Forces 4 who had survived the horrific death march were 5 shipped north for forced labor aboard ‘‘hell ships’’ 6 and succumbed in great numbers because of the 7 abysmal conditions. Many of those ships were mis- 8 takenly targeted by Allied naval forces because the 9 Japanese military convoys were not properly labeled 10 as carrying prisoners of war. The sinking of the 11 Arisan Maru alone claimed nearly 1,800 lives of 12 members of the Armed Forces. 13 (18) The prisoners who remained in the camps 14 suffered from continued mistreatment, malnutrition, 15 lack of medical care, and horrific conditions until 16 they were liberated in 1945. 17 (19) The veterans of Bataan and Corregidor 18 represented the best of the United States and the 19 Philippines, hailed from various locales across both 20 countries, and represented true diversity. 21 (20) Over the subsequent decades, the veterans 22 of Bataan and Corregidor formed support groups, 23 were honored in local and State memorials, and told 24 their stories to all people of the United States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 2192 IH (21) The United States Navy has continued to 1 honor the history and stories of the veterans of Ba- 2 taan by naming 2 ships after the battle, including 1 3 ship that is still in service, the USS Bataan (LHD– 4 5), in memory of their valor and honorable resist- 5 ance against Imperial Japanese forces. 6 (22) Many of the survivors of Bataan and Cor- 7 regidor have died and those who remain continue to 8 tell their stories. 9 (23) The people of the United States and the 10 Philippines are forever indebted to these men for— 11 (A) the courage and tenacity they dem- 12 onstrated during the first 4 months of World 13 War II fighting against enemy soldiers; and 14 (B) the perseverance they demonstrated 15 during 3 years of capture, imprisonment, and 16 atrocious conditions, while maintaining dignity, 17 honor, patriotism, and loyalty. 18 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 19 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 20 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 21 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 22 collective award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal 23 of appropriate design to the troops from the United States 24 and the Philippines who defended Bataan and Corregidor, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 2192 IH in recognition of their personal sacrifice and service during 1 World War II. 2 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 3 award under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 4 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike 5 the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and in- 6 scriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 7 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 9 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 10 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 11 it shall be displayed as appropriate and made avail- 12 able for research. 13 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 14 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 15 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 16 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 17 appropriate locations that are associated with the 18 troops from the United States and the Philippines 19 who defended Bataan and Corregidor. 20 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 21 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 22 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 23 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 24 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 2192 IH materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 1 and the cost of the gold medal. 2 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 3 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu- 4 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 5 51 of title 31, United States Code. 6 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 7 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 8 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2192.IH H2192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS