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116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5044 

To grant a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the men and women 

of the United States Armed Forces and Merchant Marine, as well as 

citizen and non-citizen civilians who served honorably with the U.S. 

military, who were surrendered, captured, or abandoned to become prisoners of war (POWs) of Imperial Japan throughout the Japanese Empire 

in the Pacific Theater of World War II from December 7, 1941, to 

September 2, 1945. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 

Mr. BOST (for himself, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. BRINDISI, Mr. BANKS, Mr. 

CISNEROS, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. COX of California, and Mr. 

RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the 

Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To grant a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 

men and women of the United States Armed Forces 

and Merchant Marine, as well as citizen and non-citizen 

civilians who served honorably with the U.S. military, 

who were surrendered, captured, or abandoned to become 

prisoners of war (POWs) of Imperial Japan throughout 

the Japanese Empire in the Pacific Theater of World 

War II from December 7, 1941, to September 2, 1945. 


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HR 5044 IH1S 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘World War II Pacific 

5 War Heroes Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States POWs held by Imperial 

9 Japan in the Pacific Theater during World War II, 

10 with most held in captivity for more than three 

11 years, are Pacific War heroes who represent the 

12 American spirit of courage, tenacity, and faith. 

13 (2) Imperial Japan did not abide by the Geneva 

14 and Hague Conventions for the humane treatment 

15 of POWs. 

16 (3) The United States POWs held by Imperial 

17 Japan during World War II numbered more than 

18 27,000 with more than 11,000 or 40 percent per19 ishing before the end of War. 

20 (4) On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan at21 tacked not only Pearl Harbor in the United States 

22 Territory of Hawaii, but also the other United 

23 States possessions and military installations in the 

24 Pacific of the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, 

25 Howland Island, and Midway as preludes to fullVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5044.IH H5044

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HR 5044 IH1S 

1 scale invasions and military occupation throughout 

2 the Asia-Pacific region. 

3 (5) By the end of day, December 8, 1941, more 

4 than 300 United States Marines, sailors, diplomats, 

5 and Mariners in China became the first United 

6 States prisoners of war of Imperial Japan with most 

7 held for the full duration of the war; 

8 (6) Ninety-eight percent of the United States 

9 POWs of Imperial Japan fought in the heroic battles 

10 of Guam, Wake Island, Sunda Strait, Halsey-Doo11 little Raid, Bataan, and Corregidor, all within the 

12 first six months of World War II. 

13 (7) Most of the United States airmen, infantry14 men, sailors, and Marines surrendered in defense of 

15 the Netherlands East Indies in March 1942 were 

16 sent to be slave laborers on the Thai-Burma Death 

17 Railway or at construction projects in Changi, 

18 Singapore. 

19 (8) On April 9, 1942, approximately 12,000 

20 United States military personnel and 66,000 Fili21 pino soldiers became POWs with the surrender of 

22 the American-Filipino forces on the Bataan Penin23 sula in the Philippines. 

24 (9) April 9, 1942, marked the beginning of the 

25 infamous Bataan Death March where the Imperial 


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1 Japanese Army forced all American and Filipino 

2 forces from Marviveles or Bagac up the Bataan Pe3 ninsula on a three-part, three-province, nearly 100- 

4 mile trek north to the makeshift POW facility Camp 

5 O’Donnell at Capas, Tarlac. An estimated 650 

6 American and 5,000–10,000 Filipino soldiers died 

7 on the Bataan Death March, while hundreds of men 

8 remain unaccounted for. 

9 (10) On May 6, 1942, Corregidor Island, then 

10 operating as the military command center for all the 

11 Philippines, United States Forces in the Philippines 

12 (USFIP), was surrendered. Nearly 10,000 American 

13 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines as well as 

14 more than 3,000 Filipino soldiers and nurses became 

15 POWs of Imperial Japan. 

16 (11) The May 6, 1942, fall of Corregidor Island 

17 and subsequent surrender of all the Philippines Is18 lands marked the end of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet; the 

19 U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), and 

20 the U.S. Far East Air Force (USFEAF). 

21 (12) Included in the surrenders the Philippines 

22 were female nurses of United States Army, Navy, 

23 Philippine Army, and civilian volunteers who became 

24 the first large group of American women in combat 

25 and, counted with the Army and Navy nurses surVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5044.IH H5044

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1 rendered on Guam in December 1941, comprised the 

2 first group of American military women taken cap3 tive and imprisoned by an enemy. 

4 (13) More than 14,000 Americans POWs were 

5 transported aboard ‘‘hellships’’—in the holds of un6 marked merchant ships—from Pacific battle sites to 

7 be used as slave laborers; one-third of all POW 

8 deaths resulted from attacks on the ‘‘hellships’’ by 

9 ‘‘friendly fire’’ from American submarines or air10 craft. 

11 (14) More than 600 members of the United 

12 States Merchant Marine including one female Mar13 iner, became prisoners of Imperial Japan, many of 

14 whom were turned over to Japanese control after 

15 being first captured by Nazi Germany’s naval forces. 

16 Fifteen percent were killed by either Imperial Japan 

17 Navy officers during capture or died in Japanese 

18 POW camps. 

19 (15) Throughout World War II, the Imperial 

20 Japanese military maintained approximately 775 

21 POW camps throughout the Empire: 185 POW 

22 camps on the Home Islands of Japan and 590 in 

23 other areas of the Pacific Theater, which includes an 

24 unknown number of temporary camps. 


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1 (16) A priority of International Military Tri2 bunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the 

3 Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal and the ad hoc Amer4 ican and Allied military tribunals throughout the 

5 Asia Pacific from 1945 to 1951 was to obtain justice 

6 for the maltreatment of POWs. Approximately sev7 enty-five percent of the more than 5,600 defendants 

8 were charged with offenses against POWs. This re9 flects the July 26, 1945, Potsdam Declaration’s 

10 warning that, ‘‘stern justice shall be meted out to all 

11 war criminals, including those who have visited cru12 elties upon our prisoners’’. 

13 (17) President Ronald Reagan first proclaimed 

14 National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day 

15 in 1988, which was established to coincide with April 

16 9, the anniversary of the start of the Bataan Death 

17 March. 

18 (18) In 2009, the Government of Japan issued 

19 an official, Cabinet of Japan approved apology say20 ing ‘‘We extend a heartfelt apology for our country 

21 having caused tremendous damage and suffering to 

22 many people, including prisoners of wars, those who 

23 have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan Pe24 ninsula, Corregidor Island, in the Philippines, and 

25 other places’’. 


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1 (19) In 2010, the Government of Japan initi2 ated an annual visitation program for former United 

3 States POWs of Japan and family members to visit 

4 Japan for remembrance, reconciliation, and healing. 

5 (20) It is time to recognize the ordinary men 

6 and women who found uncommon courage in ex7 traordinary circumstances to fight the impossible 

8 and endure the unimaginable for freedom from tyr9 anny and oppression. 

10 (21) The Congressional Gold Medal is an ap11 propriate way to honor the service of the United 

12 States POWs held by Imperial Japan in World War 

13 II and to highlight the unique imprisonment of these 

14 Pacific War heroes and their poignant history of 

15 sacrifice, perseverance, patriotism, and faith. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act— 

18 (a) the term ‘‘prisoners of war of Imperial Japan’’ 

19 includes any individual who— 

20 (1) was taken prisoner— 

21 (A) by Japan while serving honorably in 

22 the service of the United States at any time 

23 during the period beginning on December 8, 

24 1941, and ending on September 2, 1945; 


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1 (B) was taken prisoner by the Japanese 

2 while serving in an active-duty status under the 

3 command of the United States Army Forces in 

4 the Far East (USAFFE), United States Forces 

5 in the Philippines (USFIP), American-British6 Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, South7 west Pacific Area (SWPA), Pacific Ocean Area 

8 (POA), China-Burma-India (CBI), Southeast 

9 Asia Command (SEAC), 1st Defense Battalion, 

10 Wake Island (Marines), Guam Battalion (Ma11 rines), 4th Marines, Marine Raiders, U.S. Asi12 atic Fleet, Twentieth Air Force, Far East Air 

13 Force, United States Army Air Forces, and the 

14 War Shipping Administration; or 

15 (C) was taken prisoner on Attu Island in 

16 the Aleutians part of Alaska on June 7, 1942; 

17 (2) was not granted ‘‘parole’’ (release) by Impe18 rial Japanese forces during World War II; and 

19 (3) holds ‘‘veterans’ status’’ or a ‘‘certificate of 

20 honorable service’’ for their service in the Pacific 

21 Theater of World War II when taken prisoner by 

22 Japan; 

23 (b) the term ‘‘Pacific Theater’’ means China, the 

24 Central Pacific, Southeast Asia, and the Southwest Pacific 

25 of World War II; and 


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1 (c) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the 

2 Treasury. 

3 SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

4 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

5 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem6 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

7 for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold 

8 medal of appropriate design to the United States to the 

9 men and women of the United States military and mer10 chant marine as well as citizen and non-citizen civilians 

11 who fought with the U.S. military and were surrendered, 

12 captured, or abandoned to become prisoners of war of Im13 perial Japan during World War II, in recognition of their 

14 dedicated and vital service during World War II. 

15 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 

16 award described in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

17 Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

18 strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 

19 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

20 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

22 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 

23 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution’s Na24 tional Museum of American History, where it shall 


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1 be displayed as appropriate and made available for 

2 research. 

3 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

4 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution’s Na5 tional Museum of American History should make 

6 the gold medal received under paragraph (1) avail7 able for display at other locations, particularly at lo8 cations that are associated with the prisoners of war 

9 of Imperial Japan during World War II, such as 

10 The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, The 

11 MacArthur Memorial, National Prisoner of War Mu12 seum; National Museum of the Pacific War, and 

13 New Mexico Military Museum. 

14 SEC. 5. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

15 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre16 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

17 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 4, at a price 

18 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

19 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

20 SEC. 6. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

21 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck under this 

22 Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 

23 31, United States Code. 

24 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

25 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 


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1 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

2 items. 

Æ 


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