PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 

CIVIL AIR PATROL 

CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL 


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128 STAT. 1164 PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 

Public Law 113–108 

113th Congress 

An Act 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the Civil 

Air Patrol. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

Congress makes the following findings: 

(1) The unpaid volunteer members of the Civil Air Patrol 

(hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘CAP’’) during World 

War II provided extraordinary humanitarian, combat, and 

national services during a critical time of need for the Nation. 

(2) During the war, CAP members used their own aircraft 

to perform a myriad of essential tasks for the military and 

the Nation within the United States, including attacks on 

enemy submarines off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts 

of the United States. 

(3) This extraordinary national service set the stage for 

the post-war CAP to become a valuable nonprofit, public service 

organization chartered by Congress and designated the Auxiliary of the United States Air Force that provides essential 

emergency, operational, and public services to communities, 

States, the Federal Government, and the military. 

(4) The CAP was established on December 1, 1941, initially 

as a part of the Office of Civil Defense, by air-minded citizens 

one week before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 

out of the desire of civil airmen of the country to be mobilized 

with their equipment in the common defense of the Nation. 

(5) Within days of the start of the war, the German Navy 

started a massive submarine offensive, known as Operation 

Drumbeat, off the east coast of the United States against oil 

tankers and other critical shipping that threatened the overall 

war effort. 

(6) Neither the Navy nor the Army had enough aircraft, 

ships, or other resources to adequately patrol and protect the 

shipping along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the 

United States, and many ships were torpedoed and sunk, often 

within sight of civilians on shore, including 52 tankers sunk 

between January and March 1942. 

(7) At that time General George Marshall remarked that 

‘‘[t]he losses by submarines off our Atlantic seaboard and in 

the Caribbean now threaten our entire war effort’’. 

(8) From the beginning CAP leaders urged the military 

to use its services to patrol coastal waters but met with great 

31 USC 5111 

note. 

May 30, 2014 

[S. 309] 


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PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 128 STAT. 1165 

resistance because of the nonmilitary status of CAP civilian 

pilots. 

(9) Finally, in response to the ever-increasing submarine 

attacks, the Tanker Committee of the Petroleum Industry War 

Council urged the Navy Department and the War Department 

to consider the use of the CAP to help patrol the sea lanes 

off the coasts of the United States. 

(10) While the Navy initially rejected this suggestion, the 

Army decided it had merit, and the Civil Air Patrol Coastal 

Patrol began in March 1942. 

(11) Oil companies and other organizations provided funds 

to help pay for some CAP operations, including vitally needed 

shore radios that were used to monitor patrol missions. 

(12) By late March 1942, the Navy also began to use 

the services of the CAP. 

(13) Starting with 3 bases located in Delaware, Florida, 

and New Jersey, CAP aircrews (ranging in age from 18 to 

over 80) immediately started to spot enemy submarines as 

well as lifeboats, bodies, and wreckage. 

(14) Within 15 minutes of starting his patrol on the first 

Coastal Patrol flight, a pilot had sighted a torpedoed tanker 

and was coordinating rescue operations. 

(15) Eventually 21 bases, ranging from Bar Harbor, Maine, 

to Brownsville, Texas, were set up for the CAP to patrol the 

Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, with 

40,000 volunteers eventually participating. 

(16) The CAP used a wide range of civilian-owned aircraft, 

mainly light-weight, single-engine aircraft manufactured by 

Cessna, Beech, Waco, Fairchild, Stinson, Piper, Taylorcraft, 

and Sikorsky, among others, as well as some twin engine aircraft, such as the Grumman Widgeon. 

(17) Most of these aircraft were painted in their civilian 

prewar colors (red, yellow, or blue, for example) and carried 

special markings (a blue circle with a white triangle) to identify 

them as CAP aircraft. 

(18) Patrols were conducted up to 100 miles off shore, 

generally with 2 aircraft flying together, in aircraft often 

equipped with only a compass for navigation and a single 

radio for communication. 

(19) Due to the critical nature of the situation, CAP operations were conducted in bad weather as well as good, often 

when the military was unable to fly, and in all seasons, 

including the winter, when ditching an aircraft in cold water 

would likely mean certain death to the aircrew. 

(20) Personal emergency equipment was often lacking, 

particularly during early patrols where inner tubes and kapok 

duck hunter vests were carried as flotation devices, since ocean 

worthy wet suits, life vests, and life rafts were unavailable. 

(21) The initial purpose of the Coastal Patrol was to spot 

submarines, report their position to the military, and force 

them to dive below the surface, which limited their operating 

speed and maneuverability and reduced their ability to detect 

and attack shipping, because attacks against shipping were 

conducted while the submarines were surfaced. 

(22) It immediately became apparent that there were 

opportunities for CAP pilots to attack submarines, such as 

when a Florida CAP aircrew came across a surfaced submarine 


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128 STAT. 1166 PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 

that quickly stranded itself on a sand bar. However, the aircrew 

could not get any assistance from armed military aircraft before 

the submarine freed itself. 

(23) Finally, after several instances when the military could 

not respond in a timely manner, a decision was made by the 

military to arm CAP aircraft with 50- and 100-pound bombs, 

and to arm some larger twin-engine aircraft with 325-pound 

depth charges. 

(24) The arming of CAP aircraft dramatically changed the 

mission for these civilian aircrews and resulted in more than 

57 attacks on enemy submarines. 

(25) While CAP volunteers received $8 a day flight 

reimbursement for costs incurred, their patrols were accomplished at a great economic cost to many CAP members who— 

(A) used their own aircraft and other equipment in 

defense of the Nation; 

(B) paid for much of their own aircraft maintenance 

and hangar use; and 

(C) often lived in the beginning in primitive conditions 

along the coast, including old barns and chicken coops 

converted for sleeping. 

(26) More importantly, the CAP Coastal Patrol service came 

at the high cost of 26 fatalities, 7 serious injuries, and 90 

aircraft lost. 

(27) At the conclusion of the 18-month Coastal Patrol, 

the heroic CAP aircrews would be credited with— 

(A) 2 submarines possibly damaged or destroyed; 

(B) 57 submarines attacked; 

(C) 82 bombs dropped against submarines; 

(D) 173 radio reports of submarine positions (with a 

number of credited assists for kills made by military units); 

(E) 17 floating mines reported; 

(F) 36 dead bodies reported; 

(G) 91 vessels in distress reported; 

(H) 363 survivors in distress reported; 

(I) 836 irregularities noted; 

(J) 1,036 special investigations at sea or along the 

coast; 

(K) 5,684 convoy missions as aerial escorts for Navy 

ships; 

(L) 86,685 total missions flown; 

(M) 244,600 total flight hours logged; and 

(N) more than 24,000,000 total miles flown. 

(28) It is believed that at least one high-level German 

Navy Officer credited CAP as one reason that submarine 

attacks moved away from the United States when he concluded 

that ‘‘[i]t was because of those damned little red and yellow 

planes!’’. 

(29) The CAP was dismissed from coastal missions with 

little thanks in August 1943 when the Navy took over the 

mission completely and ordered CAP to stand down. 

(30) While the Coastal Patrol was ongoing, CAP was also 

establishing itself as a vital wartime service to the military, 

States, and communities nationwide by performing a wide 

range of missions including, among others— 

(A) border patrol; 

(B) forest and fire patrols; 


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PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 128 STAT. 1167 

(C) military courier flights for mail, repair and replacement parts, and urgent military deliveries; 

(D) emergency transportation of military personnel; 

(E) target towing (with live ammunition being fired 

at the targets and seven lives being lost) and searchlight 

tracking training missions; 

(F) missing aircraft and personnel searches; 

(G) air and ground search and rescue for missing aircraft and personnel; 

(H) radar and aircraft warning system training flights; 

(I) aerial inspections of camouflaged military and 

civilian facilities; 

(J) aerial inspections of city and town blackout conditions; 

(K) simulated bombing attacks on cities and facilities 

to test air defenses and early warning; 

(L) aerial searches for scrap metal materials; 

(M) river and lake patrols, including aerial surveys 

for ice in the Great Lakes; 

(N) support of war bond drives; 

(O) management and guard duties at hundreds of airports; 

(P) support for State and local emergencies such as 

natural and manmade disasters; 

(Q) predator control; 

(R) rescue of livestock during floods and blizzards; 

(S) recruiting for the Army Air Force; 

(T) initial flight screening and orientation flights for 

potential military recruits; 

(U) mercy missions, including the airlift of plasma 

to central blood banks; 

(V) nationwide emergency communications services; 

and 

(W) a cadet youth program which provided aviation 

and military training for tens of thousands. 

(31) The CAP flew more than 500,000 hours on these 

additional missions, including— 

(A) 20,500 missions involving target towing (with live 

ammunition) and gun/searchlight tracking which resulted 

in 7 deaths, 5 serious injuries, and the loss of 25 aircraft; 

(B) a courier service involving 3 major Air Force Commands over a 2-year period carrying more than 3,500,000 

pounds of vital cargo and 543 passengers; 

(C) southern border patrol flying more than 30,000 

hours and reporting 7,000 unusual sightings including a 

vehicle (that was apprehended) with 2 enemy agents 

attempting to enter the country; 

(D) a week in February 1945 during which CAP units 

rescued seven missing Army and Navy pilots; and 

(E) a State in which the CAP flew 790 hours on forest 

fire patrol missions and reported 576 fires to authorities 

during a single year. 

(32) On April 29, 1943, the CAP was transferred to the 

Army Air Forces, thus beginning its long association with the 

United States Air Force. 


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128 STAT. 1168 PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 

(33) Hundreds of CAP-trained women pilots joined military 

women’s units including the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots 

(WASP) program. 

(34) Many members of the WASP program joined or 

rejoined the CAP during the post-war period because it provided 

women opportunities to fly and continue to serve the Nation 

that were severely lacking elsewhere. 

(35) Due to the exceptional emphasis on safety, unit and 

pilot training and discipline, and the organization of the CAP, 

by the end of the war a total of only 64 CAP members had 

died in service and only 150 aircraft had been lost (including 

its Coastal Patrol losses from early in the war). 

(36) It is estimated that up to 100,000 civilians (including 

youth in its cadet program) participated in the CAP in a wide 

range of staff and operational positions, and that CAP aircrews 

flew a total of approximately 750,000 hours during the war, 

most of which were in their personal aircraft and often at 

risk to their lives. 

(37) After the war, at a CAP dinner for Congress, a quorum 

of both Houses attended with the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives and the President thanking CAP for its service. 

(38) While air medals were issued for some of those participating in the Coastal Patrol, little other recognition was forthcoming for the myriad of services CAP volunteers provided 

during the war. 

(39) Despite some misguided efforts to end the CAP at 

the end of the war, the organization had proved its capabilities 

to the Nation and strengthened its ties with the Air Force 

and Congress. 

(40) In 1946, Congress chartered the CAP as a nonprofit, 

public service organization and in 1948 made the CAP an 

Auxiliary of the United States Air Force. 

(41) Today, the CAP conducts many of the same missions 

it performed during World War II, including a vital role in 

homeland security. 

(42) The CAP’s wartime service was highly unusual and 

extraordinary, due to the unpaid civilian status of its members, 

the use of privately owned aircraft and personal funds by 

many of its members, the myriad of humanitarian and national 

missions flown for the Nation, and the fact that for 18 months, 

during a time of great need for the United States, the CAP 

flew combat-related missions in support of military operations 

off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. 

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

(a) AWARD.— 

(1) 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 single gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the 

World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol collectively, 

in recognition of the military service and exemplary record 

of the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. 

(2) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the award 

referred to in paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Treasury 

shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 

and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 


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PUBLIC LAW 113–108—MAY 30, 2014 128 STAT. 1169 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 309: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 

Vol. 159 (2013): May 20, considered and passed Senate. 

Vol. 160 (2014): May 19, considered and passed House. 

Æ 

(3) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— (A) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the gold 

medal referred to in paragraph (1) in honor of all of its 

World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol, the gold 

medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 

it shall be displayed as appropriate and made available 

for research. 

(B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold 

medal received under this paragraph available for display 

elsewhere, particularly at other locations associated with 

the Civil Air Patrol. 

(b) DUPLICATE MEDALS.—Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates 

in bronze of the gold medal struck under this Act, at a price 

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

dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and amounts 

received from the sale of such duplicates shall be deposited in 

the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund. 

(c) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to this Act 

are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

States Code. 

Approved May 30, 2014. 


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