II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 890 

To grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the troops who defended Bataan 

during World War II. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7, 2017 

Mr. UDALL (for himself and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the troops who 

defended Bataan during World War II. 

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, 

6 Hawaii, Imperial Japanese forces launched an at7 tack on the Philippines, cutting off vital lines of 

8 communication to members of the Armed Forces of 

9 the United States (referred to in this Act as the 

10 ‘‘Armed Forces’’) and Filipino troops in the Far 


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1 East under the command of General Douglas Mac2 Arthur. 

3 (2) On December 8, 1941, the 200th Coast Ar4 tillery Regiment, successors to the New Mexico Na5 tional Guardsmen who made up part of the famed 

6 ‘‘Rough Riders’’ of the Spanish-American War, were 

7 the ‘‘first to fire’’. 

8 (3) Despite being cut off from supply lines and 

9 reinforcements, members of the Armed Forces and 

10 Philippine troops quickly executed a plan to delay 

11 the Japanese invasion and defend the Philippines 

12 against that invasion. 

13 (4) By April 1942, troops from the United 

14 States and the Philippines had bravely and staunch15 ly fought off enemy attacks in Bataan for more than 

16 4 months under strenuous conditions that resulted 

17 in widespread starvation and disease. 

18 (5) By maintaining their position and engaging 

19 the enemy for as long as they did, the troops at Ba20 taan were able to change the momentum of the war, 

21 delaying the Japanese timetable to take control of 

22 the Southeast Pacific for needed war materials. Be23 cause of the heroic actions of the defenders of Ba24 taan, members of the Armed Forces and other Allied 

25 forces throughout the Pacific had time to regroup 


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1 and prepare for the successful liberation of the Pa2 cific and the Philippines. 

3 (6) On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward 

4 King, whose troops suffered from starvation and a 

5 lack of supplies, surrendered the soldiers from the 

6 United States and the Philippines into enemy hands. 

7 (7) Over the next week, troops from the Armed 

8 Forces and the Philippines were taken prisoner and 

9 forced to march 65 miles without any food, water, 

10 or medical care in what came to be known as the 

11 ‘‘Bataan Death March’’. 

12 (8) During this forced march, thousands of sol13 diers died, either from starvation, lack of medical 

14 care, sheer exhaustion, or abuse by their captors. 

15 (9) Conditions at the prisoner of war camps 

16 were appalling, leading to increased disease and mal17 nutrition among the prisoners. 

18 (10) The prisoners at Camp O’Donnell died at 

19 a rate of nearly 400 per day because of the poor 

20 conditions of the camp. 

21 (11) On June 6, 1942, the prisoners at Camp 

22 O’Donnell were transferred to Camp Cabanatuan, 

23 north of Camp O’Donnell. 

24 (12) Nearly 26,000 of the 50,000 Filipino pris25 oners of war died at Camp O’Donnell and survivors 


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1 were gradually paroled from September through De2 cember 1942. 

3 (13) Between September of 1942 and December 

4 of 1944, prisoners of war from the Armed Forces 

5 who had survived the horrific death march were 

6 shipped north for forced labor aboard ‘‘hell ships’’ 

7 and succumbed in great numbers because of the 

8 abysmal conditions. Many of those ships were mis9 takenly targeted by Allied naval forces because the 

10 Japanese military convoys were not properly labeled 

11 as carrying prisoners of war. The sinking of the 

12 Arisan Maru alone claimed nearly 1,800 lives of 

13 members of the Armed Forces. 

14 (14) The prisoners who remained in the camps 

15 suffered from continued mistreatment, malnutrition, 

16 lack of medical care, and horrific conditions until 

17 they were liberated in 1945. 

18 (15) The veterans of Bataan represented the 

19 best of the United States and the Philippines, hailed 

20 from various locales across both countries, and rep21 resented true diversity. 

22 (16) Over the subsequent decades, the veterans 

23 of Bataan formed support groups, were honored in 

24 local and State memorials, and told their stories to 

25 all people of the United States. 


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1 (17) The United States Navy has continued to 

2 honor the history and stories of the veterans of Ba3 taan by naming 2 ships after the battle, including 1 

4 ship that is still in service, the USS Bataan (LHD– 

5 5), in memory of their valor and honorable resist6 ance against Imperial Japanese forces. 

7 (18) Many of the survivors of Bataan have died 

8 and those who remain continue to tell their stories. 

9 (19) The people of the United States and the 

10 Philippines are forever indebted to these men for— 

11 (A) the courage and tenacity they dem12 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. 2. 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 were subseVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Apr 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S890.IS S890

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1 quently prisoners of war, in recognition of their personal 

2 sacrifice and service during World War II. 

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

4 award under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 

5 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike 

6 the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and in7 scriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

8 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

10 gold medal under subsection (a) in honor of the pris11 oners of war at Bataan and the troops from the 

12 United States and the Philippines who defended Ba13 taan, the gold medal shall be given to the Smithso14 nian Institution, where it shall be displayed as ap15 propriate and made available for research. 

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

17 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

18 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

19 available for display at other locations, particularly 

20 at locations that are associated with the prisoners of 

21 war at Bataan and the troops from the United 

22 States and the Philippines who defended Bataan. 

23 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

24 (a) STRIKING OF DUPLICATES.—Under such regula25 tions as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may 


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1 strike duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under 

2 section 2. 

3 (b) SELLING OF DUPLICATES.—The Secretary may 

4 sell such duplicates under subsection (a) at a price suffi5 cient to cover the costs of such duplicates, including labor, 

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

7 (c) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

8 sale of duplicate bronze medals under subsection (b) shall 

9 be deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

10 Fund. 

11 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

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

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

14 31, United States Code. 

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

16 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

17 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

18 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There is authorized to be charged against the United 

20 States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, an amount not to 

21 exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of the medal authorized 

22 under section 2. 

Æ 


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