I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3544 

To award the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the members of 

the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in recognition of their superior 

service and major contributions during World War II. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2013 

Mr. LATTA (for himself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. WOLF, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, and Mr. CONAWAY) 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 award the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 

members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 

recognition of their superior service and major contributions 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 ‘‘Office of Strategic 

5 Services Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was 

4 America’s first effort to implement a system of stra5 tegic intelligence during World War II and provided 

6 the basis for the modern-day American intelligence 

7 and special operations communities. 

8 (2) OSS founder General William J. Donovan is 

9 the only person in American history to receive our 

10 Nation’s four highest military decorations, including 

11 the Medal of Honor. Upon learning of his death in 

12 1959, President Eisenhower called General Donovan 

13 the ‘‘last hero’’. In addition to founding and leading 

14 the OSS, General Donovan was also selected by 

15 President Roosevelt, who called him his ‘‘secret 

16 legs’’, as an emissary to Great Britain and conti17 nental Europe before the United States entered 

18 World War II. 

19 (3) All the military branches during World War 

20 II contributed personnel to the OSS. The present21 day Special Operations Forces trace their lineage to 

22 the OSS. Its Maritime Unit was a precursor to the 

23 U.S. Navy SEALs. The OSS Operational Groups 

24 and Jedburghs were forerunners to U.S. Army Spe25 cial Forces. The 801st/492nd Bombardment Group 

26 (‘‘Carpetbaggers’’) were progenitors to the Air Force 


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1 Special Operations Command. The Marines who 

2 served in the OSS, including the actor Sterling Hay3 den and Col. William Eddy, whom General Donovan 

4 described as the ‘‘American Lawrence of Arabia’’, 

5 were predecessors to the Marines Special Operations 

6 Command. U.S. Coast Guard personnel were re7 cruited for the Maritime Unit and the Operational 

8 Swimmer Group. 

9 (4) The OSS organized, trained, supplied, and 

10 fought with resistance organizations throughout Eu11 rope and Asia that played an important role in 

12 America’s victory during World War II. President 

13 Eisenhower credited the work of the OSS with the 

14 French Resistance during the liberation of France 

15 as the equivalent of having an extra division. 

16 (5) Four future directors of central intelligence 

17 served as OSS officers: William Casey, William 

18 Colby, Allen Dulles, and Richard Helms. 

19 (6) Women comprised more than one-third of 

20 OSS personnel and played a critical role in the orga21 nization. They included Virginia Hall, the only civil22 ian female to receive a Distinguished Service Cross 

23 in World War II, and Julia Child. 


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1 (7) OSS recruited Fritz Kolbe, a German dip2 lomat who became America’s most important spy 

3 against the Nazis in World War II. 

4 (8) America’s leading scientists and scholars 

5 served in the OSS Research and Analysis Branch, 

6 including Ralph Bunche, the first African-American 

7 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Pulitzer Prize-win8 ning historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Supreme 

9 Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Sherman Kent, 

10 John King Fairbank, and Walt Rostow. It ranks in11 cluded seven future presidents of the American His12 torical Association, five of the American Economic 

13 Association, and two Nobel laureates. The U.S. De14 partment of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Re15 search traces its creation to the OSS Research and 

16 Analysis Branch. 

17 (9) The OSS invented and employed new tech18 nology through its Research and Development 

19 Branch, inventing new weapons and revolutionary 

20 communications equipment. Dr. Christian 

21 Lambertsen invented the first underwater re22 breathing apparatus that was first utilized by the 

23 OSS and is known today as SCUBA. 

24 (10) OSS Detachment 101 operated in Burma 

25 and pioneered the art of unconventional warfare. It 


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1 was the first United States unit to deploy a large 

2 guerrilla army deep in enemy territory. It has been 

3 credited with the highest kill/loss ratio for any infan4 try-type unit in American military history and was 

5 awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. 

6 (11) Its X–2 branch pioneered counterintel7 ligence with the British and established the modern 

8 counterintelligence community. The network of con9 tacts built by the OSS with foreign intelligence serv10 ices lead to enduring Cold War alliances. 

11 (12) Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of 

12 French North Africa in November 1942, was aided 

13 by the networks established and information ac14 quired by the OSS to guide Allied landings. 

15 (13) OSS Operation Halyard rescued more 

16 than 500 downed airmen trapped behind enemy lines 

17 in Yugoslavia, one of the most daring and successful 

18 rescue operations of World War II. 

19 (14) OSS ‘‘Mercy Missions’’ at the end of 

20 World War II saved the lives of thousands of Allied 

21 prisoners of war whom it was feared would be mur22 dered by the Japanese. 

23 (15) The handful of surviving men and women 

24 of the OSS, whom General Donovan called his ‘‘glo25 rious amateurs’’, are among the greatest generation. 


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1 They have never been collectively recognized for 

2 their heroic and pioneering service in World War II. 

3 SEC. 3. 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 presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 

8 medal of appropriate design in commemoration to the 

9 members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), in rec10 ognition of their superior service and major contributions 

11 during World War II. 

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

13 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

14 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec15 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

16 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec17 retary. 

18 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

20 gold medal in commemoration to the members of the 

21 Office of Strategic Services under subsection (a), the 

22 gold medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Insti23 tution, where it will be displayed as appropriate and 

24 made available for research. 


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

2 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

3 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

4 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

5 appropriate locations associated with the Office of 

6 Strategic Services. 

7 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

8 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

9 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

10 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

11 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

12 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

13 and the cost of the gold medal. 

14 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

15 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu16 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

17 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

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

19 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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

Æ 


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