II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1256 

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 25, 2017 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. KING, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. RISCH, Ms. WARREN, 

and Mr. KENNEDY) 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 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. 

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 ‘‘Ghost Army Congres5 sional Gold Medal Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops 

4 (comprised of the 23d Headquarters and Head5 quarters Company, Special Troops, the 603d Engi6 neer Camouflage Battalion, the 406th Combat Engi7 neer Company, the 3132d Signal Service Company 

8 and the Signal Company, Special, 23d Head9 quarters, Special Troops), and the 3133d Signal 

10 Service Company were top-secret units of the United 

11 States Army that served in Europe during World 

12 War II; 

13 (2) the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, was 

14 actively engaged in battlefield operations from June 

15 of 1944 through March of 1945; 

16 (3) the 3133d Signal Service Company was en17 gaged in operations in Italy in 1945; 

18 (4) the deceptive activities of these units were 

19 integral to several Allied victories across Europe and 

20 reduced casualties; 

21 (5) in evaluating the performance of these units 

22 after World War II, an Army analysis found that 

23 ‘‘Rarely, if ever, has there been a group of such a 

24 few men which had so great an influence on the out25 come of a major military campaign.’’; 


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1 (6) many Ghost Army soldiers were citizen-sol2 diers recruited from art schools, advertising agen3 cies, communications companies, and other creative 

4 and technical professions; 

5 (7) the first 4 members of the 23d Head6 quarters, Special Troops, landed on D-Day and 2 

7 became casualties while creating false beach landing 

8 sites; 

9 (8) the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, se10 cret deception operations commenced in France on 

11 June 14, 1944, when Task Force Mason (a 17-man 

12 detachment of the 23d led by First Lieutenant Ber13 nard Mason) landed at Omaha Beach; 

14 (9) Task Force Mason conducted Operation 

15 Elephant from July 1 to 4, 1944, to draw enemy 

16 fire and protect the 980th Field Artillery Battalion 

17 (VIII Corps) as part of the Normandy Campaign; 

18 (10) Operation Elephant was a prelude to the 

19 21 full-scale tactical deceptions completed by the 

20 23d Headquarters, Special Troops; 

21 (11) often operating on or near the front lines, 

22 the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, used inflat23 able tanks, artillery, airplanes and other vehicles, ad24 vanced engineered soundtracks, and skillfully crafted 

25 radio trickery to create the illusion of a sizable 


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1 American forces where there were none and to draw 

2 the enemy away from Allied troops; 

3 (12) the 3132d and the 3133d Signal Service 

4 Companies, activated in Pine Camp (now Fort 

5 Drum), New York, at the Army Experimental Sta6 tion in March 1944, were the only 2 active duty 

7 ‘‘sonic deception’’ ground combat units in World 

8 War II; 

9 (13) soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Special 

10 Troops, impersonated other, larger Army units by 

11 sewing counterfeit patches onto their uniforms, 

12 painting false markings on their vehicles, and cre13 ating phony headquarters staffed by fake generals, 

14 all in an effort to feed false information to Axis 

15 spies; 

16 (14) during the Battle of the Bulge, the 23d 

17 Headquarters, Special Troops, created counterfeit 

18 radio traffic in an effort to deceive the enemy of the 

19 movement of elements of General George S. Patton’s 

20 Third Army as it shifted to break through to the 

21 101st Airborne Division and elements of 10th Ar22 mored Division in the besieged Belgian town of Bas23 togne; 

24 (15) in its final mission, Operation Viersen, in 

25 March 1945, the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, 


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1 conducted a tactical deception operation intended to 

2 draw German units down the Rhine River and away 

3 from the Ninth Army, allowing the Ninth Army to 

4 cross the Rhine into Germany; 

5 (16) during Operation Viersen, the 23d Head6 quarters, Special Troops, with the assistance of 

7 other units, impersonated 40,000 men, or 2 com8 plete divisions of American forces, by using fab9 ricated radio networks, soundtracks of construction 

10 work and artillery fire, and more than 600 inflatable 

11 and real vehicles; 

12 (17) according to a military intelligence officer 

13 of the 79th Infantry, ‘‘There is no doubt that Oper14 ation Viersen materially assisted in deceiving the 

15 enemy with regard to the real dispositions and inten16 tions of this Army.’’; 

17 (18) 3 soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Spe18 cial Troops, gave their lives and dozens were injured 

19 in carrying out their mission; 

20 (19) in April 1945, the 3133d Signal Service 

21 Company conducted Operation Craftsman in support 

22 of Operation Second Wind, the successful allied ef23 fort to break through the German defensive position 

24 to the north of Florence, Italy, known as the Gothic 

25 Line; 


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1 (20) along with an attached platoon of British 

2 engineers, who were inflatable decoy specialists, the 

3 3133d Signal Service Company used sonic deception 

4 to misrepresent troop locations along this defensive 

5 line; 

6 (21) the activities of the 23d Headquarters, 

7 Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Service Com8 pany remained highly classified for more than 40 

9 years after the war and were never formally recog10 nized; 

11 (22) the extraordinary accomplishments of this 

12 unit are deserving of belated official recognition; and 

13 (23) the United States is eternally grateful to 

14 the soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops 

15 and the 3133d Signal Service Company for their 

16 proficient use of innovative tactics during World 

17 War II, which saved lives and made significant con18 tributions to the defeat of the Axis powers. 

19 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

20 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The President Pro Tem21 pore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep22 resentatives shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

23 award, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of ap24 propriate design to the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops 

25 and the 3133d Signal Services Company in recognition of 


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1 unique and highly distinguished service during World War 

2 II. 

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

4 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

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

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

7 inscriptions, 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), the gold medal 

11 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 

12 it shall be available for display as appropriate and 

13 made available for research. 

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

15 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

16 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

17 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

18 locations associated with the 23d Headquarters, 

19 Special Troops and the 3133d Signal Services Com20 pany. 

21 (d) DUPLICATE MEDALS.—Under regulations that 

22 the Secretary may promulgate, the Secretary may strike 

23 and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck 

24 under this Act, at a price sufficient to cover the cost of 


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1 the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machin2 ery, and overhead expenses. 

3 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDAL. 

4 (a) NATIONAL MEDAL.—The gold medal struck 

5 under this Act shall be a national medal for the purposes 

6 of chapter 51 of title 31, Unites States Code. 

7 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purpose of section 

8 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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

Æ 


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