I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2737 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Filipino veterans 

of World War II, in recognition of the dedicated service of the veterans 

during World War II. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2015 

Ms. GABBARD (for herself, Mr. HECK of Nevada, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. TAKAI, and Ms. SPEIER) 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 a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 

Filipino veterans of World War II, in recognition of 

the dedicated service of the veterans 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 ‘‘Filipino Veterans of 

5 World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The First Philippine Republic was founded 

4 as a result of the Spanish-American War in which 

5 Filipino revolutionaries and the United States 

6 Armed Forces fought to overthrow Spanish colonial 

7 rule. On June 12, 1898, Filipinos declared the Phil8 ippines to be an independent and sovereign nation. 

9 The Treaty of Paris negotiated between the United 

10 States and Spain ignored this declaration of inde11 pendence, and the United States paid Spain 

12 $20,000,000 to cede control of the Philippines to the 

13 United States. Filipino nationalists who sought inde14 pendence rather than a change in colonial rulers 

15 clashed with forces of the United States in the Is16 lands. The Philippine-American War, which officially 

17 lasted for 3 years from 1899 to 1902, led to the es18 tablishment of the United States civil government in 

19 the Philippines. 

20 (2) In 1901, units of Filipino soldiers who 

21 fought for the United States against the nationalist 

22 insurrection were formally incorporated into the 

23 United States Army as the Philippine Scouts. 

24 (3) In 1934, the Philippine Independence Act 

25 (Public Law 73–127; 48 Stat. 456) established a 

26 timetable for ending colonial rule of the United 


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1 States. Between 1934 and Philippine independence 

2 in 1946, the United States retained sovereignty over 

3 Philippine foreign policy and reserved the right to 

4 call Filipinos into the service of the United States 

5 Armed Forces. 

6 (4) On December 21 1935, President of the 

7 Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel Quezon, signed 

8 the National Defense Act, passed by the Philippine 

9 Assembly. General Douglas MacArthur set upon the 

10 task of creating an independent army in the Phil11 ippines, consisting of a small regular force, the Phil12 ippine Constabulary, a police force created during 

13 the colonial period of the United States, and reserv14 ists. By July 1941, the Philippine army had 130,000 

15 reservists and 6,000 officers. 

16 (5) On July 26, 1941, as tensions with Japan 

17 rose in the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 

18 used his authority vested in the Constitution of the 

19 United States and the Philippine Independence Act 

20 to ‘‘call into service of the United States . . . all of 

21 the organized military forces of the Government of 

22 the Philippines.’’ On July 27th, 1941, in accordance 

23 with a War Department directive received a day ear24 lier, the United States Forces in the Far East 

25 (USAFFE) was established, and Manila was desVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737

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1 ignated as the command headquarters. Commander 

2 of the USAFFE, General Douglas MacArthur, 

3 planned to absorb the entire Philippine army into 

4 the USAFFE in phases. The first phase, which 

5 began on September 1, 1941, included 25,000 men 

6 and 4,000 officers. 

7 (6) Filipinos who served in the USAFFE in8 cluded— 

9 (A) the Philippine Scouts, who comprised 

10 half of the 22,532 soldiers in the Philippine De11 partment, or United States Army garrison sta12 tioned in the Islands at the start of the war; 

13 (B) the Philippine Commonwealth Army; 

14 (C) the new Philippine Scouts, or Filipinos 

15 who volunteered to serve with the United States 

16 Army when the United States Armed Forces re17 turned to the island; 

18 (D) Filipino civilians who volunteered to 

19 serve in the United States Armed Forces in 

20 1945 and 1946, and who became ‘‘attached’’ to 

21 various units of the United States Army; and 

22 (E) the ‘‘Guerrilla Services’’ who had 

23 fought behind enemy lines throughout the war. 

24 (7) Even after hostilities ceased, wartime serv25 ice of the new Philippine Scouts continued as a matVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737

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1 ter of law until the end of 1946, and the force 

2 gradually disbanded until it was disestablished in 

3 1950. 

4 (8) On December 8th, 1941, not even 24 hours 

5 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Impe6 rial forces attacked bases of the United States Army 

7 in the Philippines. 

8 (9) In the spring of 1942, the Japanese 14th 

9 Army overran the Bataan Peninsula, and, after a 

10 heroic but futile defense, more than 78,000 members 

11 of the United States Armed Forces were captured, 

12 specifically 66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 service 

13 members from the United States. The Japanese 

14 transferred the captured soldiers from Bataan to 

15 Camp O’Donnell, in what is now known as the infa16 mous Bataan Death March. Forced to march the 

17 70-mile distance in 1 week, without adequate food, 

18 water, or medicine, nearly 700 members of the 

19 United States Armed Forces and an estimated 6,000 

20 to 10,000 Filipinos perished during the journey. 

21 (10) After the fall of the Bataan Peninsula, the 

22 Japanese Army turned its sights on Corregidor. The 

23 estimated forces in defense of Corregidor totaled 

24 13,000, and were comprised of members of the 

25 United States Armed Forces and Filipino troops. Of 


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1 this number, 800 were killed, 1,000 were wounded, 

2 and 11,000 were captured and forced to march 

3 through the city of Manila, after which the captured 

4 troops were distributed to various POW camps. The 

5 rest of the captured troops escaped to organize or 

6 join an underground guerrilla army. 

7 (11) Even before the fall of Corregidor, Phil8 ippine resistance, in the form of guerrilla armies, 

9 began to wage warfare on the Japanese invaders. 

10 Guerrilla armies, from Northern Luzon to 

11 Mindanao— 

12 (A) raided Japanese camps, stealing weap13 ons and supplies; 

14 (B) sabotaged and ambushed Japanese 

15 troops on the move; and 

16 (C) with little weaponry, and severely out17 matched in numbers, began to extract victories. 

18 (12) Japanese intelligence reports reveal that 

19 from the time the Japanese invaded until the return 

20 of the United States Armed Forces in the summer 

21 of 1944, an estimated 300,000 Filipinos continued 

22 to fight against Japanese forces. Filipino resistance 

23 against the Japanese was so strong that, in 1942, 

24 the Imperial Army formed the Morista Butai, a unit 

25 designated to suppress guerrillas. 


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1 (13) Because Philippine guerrillas worked to re2 store communication with United States forces in 

3 the Pacific, General MacArthur was able to use the 

4 guerrillas in advance of a conventional operation and 

5 provided the headquarters of General MacArthur 

6 with valuable information. Guerrillas captured and 

7 transmitted to the headquarters of General Mac8 Arthur Japanese naval plans for the Central Pacific, 

9 including defense plans for the Mariana Islands. In10 telligence derived from guerrillas relating to aircraft, 

11 ship, and troop movements allowed for Allied forces 

12 to attack Japanese supply lines and guerrillas and 

13 even directed United States submarines where to 

14 land agents and cargo on the Philippine coast. 

15 (14) On December 20, 1941, President Roo16 sevelt signed the Selective Training and Service 

17 Amendments Act (Public Law 77–360; 55 Stat. 

18 844) which, among other things, allowed Filipinos in 

19 the United States to enlist in the United States 

20 Armed Forces. In February 1942, President Roo21 sevelt issued the Second War Powers Act (Public 

22 Law 77–507; 56 Stat. 176), promising a simplified 

23 naturalization process for Filipinos who served in 

24 the United States Armed Forces. Subsequently, 


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1 16,000 Filipinos in California alone decided to en2 list. 

3 (15) The mobilization of forces included the ac4 tivation and assumption of command of the First 

5 Filipino Infantry Battalion on April 1, 1942, at 

6 Camp San Luis Obispo, California. Orders were 

7 issued to activate the First Filipino Infantry Regi8 ment and Band at Salinas, California, effective July 

9 13, 1942. The activation of the Second Filipino In10 fantry Regiment occurred at Fort Ord, California, 

11 on November 21, 1942. Nearly 9,000 Filipinos and 

12 Filipino Americans fought in the United States 

13 Army 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments. 

14 (16) Soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regi15 ments participated in the bloody combat and mop16 up operations at New Guinea, Leyte, Samar, Luzon, 

17 and the Southern Philippines. In 1943, 800 men 

18 were selected from the 1st and 2nd Regiments and 

19 shipped to Australia to receive training in intel20 ligence gathering, sabotage, and demolition. Reorga21 nized as part of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 

22 this group was sent to the Philippines to coordinate 

23 with major guerrilla armies in the Islands. Members 

24 of the 1st Regiment were also attached to the 

25 United States 6th Army ‘‘Alamo Scouts’’, a reconVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737

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1 naissance group that traveled 30 miles behind enemy 

2 lines to free Allied prisoners from the Cabanatuan 

3 death camp on January 30, 1945. In addition, in 

4 1945, according to the 441st Counter Intelligence 

5 Unit of the United States Armed Forces, Philippine 

6 guerrillas provided ‘‘very important information and 

7 sketches of enemy positions and installations’’ for 

8 the liberation of the Santo Tomas prisoner of war 

9 camp, an event that made front page news across 

10 the United States. 

11 (17) In March 1944, members of the 2nd Fili12 pino Infantry Regiment were selected for special as13 signments, including intelligence missions, and reor14 ganized as the 2nd Filipino Infantry Battalion (Sep15 arate). The 2nd Filipino Infantry Battalion contrib16 uted to mop-up operations as a civil affairs unit. 

17 (18) Filipinos participated in the war out of na18 tional pride, as well as out of a commitment to the 

19 Allied forces struggle against fascism. 57,000 Fili20 pinos in uniform died in the war effort. Estimates 

21 of civilian deaths range from 700,000 to upwards of 

22 1,000,000, or between 4.38 to 6.25 percent of the 

23 prewar population of 16,000,000. 

24 (19) Because Filipinos who served in the Com25 monwealth Army of the Philippines were originally 


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1 considered a part of the Allied struggle, the military 

2 order issued by President Roosevelt on July 26, 

3 1941, stated that Filipinos who served in the Com4 monwealth Army of the Philippines were entitled to 

5 full veterans benefits. The guarantee to pay back the 

6 service of Filipinos through veterans benefits was re7 versed by the Rescission Acts of 1946 (Public Laws 

8 79–301 and 79–391; 60 Stat. 6 and 60 Stat. 221), 

9 which deemed that the wartime service of the Com10 monwealth Army of the Philippines and the new 

11 Philippine Scouts was not considered active and, 

12 therefore, did not qualify for benefits. 

13 (20) The loyal and valiant Filipino Veterans of 

14 World War II fought, suffered, and, in many in15 stances, died in the same manner and under the 

16 same commander as other members of the United 

17 States Armed Forces during World War II. 

18 (21) The Filipino Veterans of World War II 

19 who have fought alongside, and as an integral part 

20 of, the United States Armed Forces. The Philippines 

21 remained a territory of the United States for the du22 ration of the war and, accordingly, the United States 

23 maintained sovereignty over Philippine foreign rela24 tions, including Philippine laws enacted by the Phil25 ippine Government. Filipinos who fought in the PhilVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737

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1 ippines were not only defending or fighting for the 

2 Philippines, but also defending and ultimately liber3 ating sovereign territory held by the United States 

4 Government. 

5 (22) The United States remains forever in6 debted to the bravery, valor, and dedication that the 

7 Filipino Veterans of World War II displayed. Their 

8 commitment and sacrifice demonstrates a highly un9 common and commendable sense of patriotism and 

10 honor. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act— 

13 (a) the term ‘‘Filipino Veterans of World War II’’ 

14 includes any individual who served— 

15 (1) honorably at any time during the period be16 ginning on July 26, 1941, and ending on December 

17 31, 1946; 

18 (2) in an active-duty status under the command 

19 of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East; 

20 and 

21 (3)(A) within the Philippine Commonwealth 

22 Army, the Philippine Scouts, the Philippine Con23 stabulary, Recognized Guerrilla units, the New Phil24 ippine Scouts, the First Filipino Infantry Regiment, 


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1 the Second Filipino Infantry Battalion (Separate), 

2 or the First Reconnaissance Battalion; or 

3 (B) commanding or serving in a unit described 

4 in paragraph (3)(A) as a United States military offi5 cer or enlisted soldier; and 

6 (b) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the 

7 Treasury. 

8 SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

9 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The President pro tem10 pore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep11 resentatives shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

12 award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of 

13 appropriate design to the Filipino Veterans of World War 

14 II in recognition of the dedicated service of the veterans 

15 during World War II. 

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

17 award referred to in subsection (a), 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 in honor of the Filipino Veterans of 

23 World War II, the gold medal shall be given to the 

24 Smithsonian Institution, where it will be available 


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1 for display as appropriate and made available for re2 search. 

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

4 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

5 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

6 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

7 appropriate locations associated with the Filipino 

8 Veterans of World War II. 

9 (d) DUPLICATE MEDALS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under regulations that the 

11 Secretary may promulgate, the Secretary may strike 

12 and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal 

13 struck under this Act, at a price sufficient to cover 

14 the costs of the medals, including labor, materials, 

15 dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

16 (2) SALE OF DUPLICATE MEDALS.—The 

17 amounts received from the sale of duplicate medals 

18 under paragraph (1) shall be deposited in the United 

19 States Mint Public Enterprise Fund. 

20 SEC. 5. 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. 


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

2 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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

Æ 


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