Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1421 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company in recognition of their unique and distinguished service as a ‘‘Ghost Army’’ that conducted deception operations in Europe during World War II. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 13, 2019 Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. KING, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SCHUMER, and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Head- quarters Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Company in recognition of their unique and distinguished service as a ‘‘Ghost Army’’ that conducted deception operations in Europe 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 ‘‘Ghost Army Congres- 4 sional Gold Medal Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1421 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds that— 2 (1) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops (com- 3 prised of the 23d Headquarters and Headquarters 4 Company, Special Troops, the 603d Engineer Cam- 5 ouflage Battalion, the 406th Combat Engineer Com- 6 pany, the 3132d Signal Service Company, and the 7 Signal Company, Special, 23d Headquarters, Special 8 Troops) and the 3133d Signal Service Company 9 were top-secret units of the United States Army that 10 served in Europe during World War II; 11 (2) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops was 12 actively engaged in battlefield operations from June 13 of 1944 through March of 1945; 14 (3) the 3133d Signal Service Company was en- 15 gaged in operations in Italy in 1945; 16 (4) the deceptive activities of these units were 17 integral to several Allied victories across Europe and 18 reduced casualties; 19 (5) in evaluating the performance of these units 20 after World War II, an Army analysis found that 21 ‘‘Rarely, if ever, has there been a group of such a 22 few men which had so great an influence on the out- 23 come of a major military campaign.’’; 24 (6) many Ghost Army soldiers were citizen-sol- 25 diers recruited from art schools, advertising agen- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1421 IS cies, communications companies, and other creative 1 and technical professions; 2 (7) the first 4 members of the 23d Head- 3 quarters Special Troops landed on D–Day and two 4 became casualties while creating false beach landing 5 sites; 6 (8) the 23d Headquarters Special Troops secret 7 deception operations commenced in France on June 8 14, 1944, when Task Force Mason (a 17-man de- 9 tachment of the 23d led by First Lieutenant Ber- 10 nard Mason) landed at Omaha Beach; 11 (9) Task Force Mason conducted Operation 12 Elephant from July 1 to 4, 1944, to draw enemy 13 fire and protect the 980th Field Artillery Battalion 14 (VIII Corps) as part of the Normandy Campaign; 15 (10) Operation Elephant was a prelude to the 16 21 full-scale tactical deceptions completed by the 17 23d Headquarters Special Troops; 18 (11) often operating on or near the front lines, 19 the 23d Headquarters Special Troops used inflatable 20 tanks, artillery, airplanes and other vehicles, ad- 21 vanced engineered soundtracks, and skillfully crafted 22 radio trickery to create the illusion of sizable Amer- 23 ican forces where there were none and to draw the 24 enemy away from Allied troops; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1421 IS (12) the 3132d and the 3133d Signal Service 1 Companies, activated in Pine Camp (now Fort 2 Drum), New York, at the Army Experimental Sta- 3 tion in March 1944, were the only 2 active duty 4 ‘‘sonic deception’’ ground combat units in World 5 War II; 6 (13) soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special 7 Troops impersonated other, larger Army units by 8 sewing counterfeit patches onto their uniforms, 9 painting false markings on their vehicles, and cre- 10 ating phony headquarters staffed by fake generals, 11 all in an effort to feed false information to Axis 12 spies; 13 (14) during the Battle of the Bulge, the 23d 14 Headquarters Special Troops created counterfeit 15 radio traffic in an effort to deceive the enemy of the 16 movement of elements of General George S. Patton’s 17 Third Army as it shifted to break through to the 18 101st Airborne Division and elements of 10th Ar- 19 mored Division in the besieged Belgian town of Bas- 20 togne; 21 (15) in its final mission, Operation Viersen, in 22 March 1945, the 23d Headquarters Special Troops 23 conducted a tactical deception operation intended to 24 draw German units down the Rhine River and away 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1421 IS from the Ninth Army, allowing the Ninth Army to 1 cross the Rhine into Germany; 2 (16) during Operation Viersen, the 23d Head- 3 quarters Special Troops with the assistance of other 4 units, impersonated 40,000 men, or 2 complete divi- 5 sions of American forces, by using fabricated radio 6 networks, soundtracks of construction work and ar- 7 tillery fire, and more than 600 inflatable and real 8 vehicles; 9 (17) according to a military intelligence officer 10 of the 79th Infantry, ‘‘There is no doubt that Oper- 11 ation Viersen materially assisted in deceiving the 12 enemy with regard to the real dispositions and inten- 13 tions of this Army.’’; 14 (18) 3 soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special 15 Troops gave their lives and dozens were injured in 16 carrying out their mission; 17 (19) in April 1945, the 3133d Signal Service 18 Company conducted Operation Craftsman in support 19 of Operation Second Wind, the successful Allied ef- 20 fort to break through the German defensive position 21 to the north of Florence, Italy, known as the Gothic 22 Line; 23 (20) along with an attached platoon of British 24 engineers, who were inflatable decoy specialists, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1421 IS 3133d Signal Service Company used sonic deception 1 to misrepresent troop locations along this defensive 2 line; 3 (21) the activities of the 23d Headquarters 4 Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Com- 5 pany remained highly classified for more than 40 6 years after the war and were never formally recog- 7 nized; 8 (22) the extraordinary accomplishments of this 9 unit are deserving of belated official recognition; and 10 (23) the United States is eternally grateful to 11 the soldiers of the 23d Headquarters Special Troops 12 and the 3133d Signal Service Company for their 13 proficient use of innovative tactics during World 14 War II, which saved lives and made significant con- 15 tributions to the defeat of the Axis powers. 16 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 17 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The President Pro Tem- 18 pore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep- 19 resentatives shall make appropriate arrangements for the 20 award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of appro- 21 priate design to the 23d Headquarters Special Troops and 22 the 3133d Signal Services Company in recognition of 23 unique and highly distinguished service during World War 24 II. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1421 IS (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 1 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 2 Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 3 strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 4 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 5 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 7 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 8 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 9 it shall be available for display as appropriate and 10 made available for research. 11 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 12 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 13 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 14 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 15 locations associated with the 23d Headquarters Spe- 16 cial Troops and the 3133d Signal Services Company. 17 (d) DUPLICATE MEDALS.—Under regulations that 18 the Secretary may promulgate, the Secretary may strike 19 and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck 20 under this Act, at a price sufficient to cover the cost of 21 the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machin- 22 ery, and overhead expenses. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1421 IS SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDAL. 1 (a) NATIONAL MEDAL.—The gold medal struck 2 under this Act shall be a national medal for the purposes 3 of chapter 51 of title 31, Unites States Code. 4 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purpose of section 5 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 6 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:05 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1421.IS S1421 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS