II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1555 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2015 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. HELLER, Mr. REID, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. 

SCHATZ) 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, 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The First Philippine Republic was founded 

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

3 Filipino revolutionaries and the United States 

4 Armed Forces fought to overthrow Spanish colonial 

5 rule. On June 12, 1898, Filipinos declared the Phil6 ippines to be an independent and sovereign nation. 

7 The Treaty of Paris negotiated between the United 

8 States and Spain ignored this declaration of inde9 pendence, and the United States paid Spain 

10 $20,000,000 to cede control of the Philippines to the 

11 United States. Filipino nationalists who sought inde12 pendence rather than a change in colonial rulers 

13 clashed with forces of the United States in the Is14 lands. The Philippine-American War, which officially 

15 lasted for 3 years from 1899 to 1902, led to the es16 tablishment of the United States civil government in 

17 the Philippines. 

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

19 fought for the United States against the nationalist 

20 insurrection were formally incorporated into the 

21 United States Army as the Philippine Scouts. 

22 (3) In 1934, the Philippine Independence Act 

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

24 timetable for ending colonial rule of the United 

25 States. Between 1934 and Philippine independence 


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1 in 1946, the United States retained sovereignty over 

2 Philippine foreign policy and reserved the right to 

3 call Filipinos into the service of the United States 

4 Armed Forces. 

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

6 Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel Quezon, signed 

7 the National Defense Act, passed by the Philippine 

8 Assembly. General Douglas MacArthur set upon the 

9 task of creating an independent army in the Phil10 ippines, consisting of a small regular force, the Phil11 ippine Constabulary, a police force created during 

12 the colonial period of the United States, and reserv13 ists. By July 1941, the Philippine army had 130,000 

14 reservists and 6,000 officers. 

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

16 rose in the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 

17 used his authority vested in the Constitution of the 

18 United States and the Philippine Independence Act 

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

20 the organized military forces of the Government of 

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

22 with a War Department directive received a day ear23 lier, the United States Forces in the Far East 

24 (USAFFE) was established, and Manila was des25 ignated as the command headquarters. Commander 


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1 of the USAFFE, General Douglas MacArthur, 

2 planned to absorb the entire Philippine army into 

3 the USAFFE in phases. The first phase, which 

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

5 and 4,000 officers. 

6 (6) Filipinos who served in the USAFFE in7 cluded— 

8 (A) the Philippine Scouts, who comprised 

9 half of the 22,532 soldiers in the Philippine De10 partment, or United States Army garrison sta11 tioned in the Islands at the start of the war; 

12 (B) the Philippine Commonwealth Army; 

13 (C) the new Philippine Scouts, or Filipinos 

14 who volunteered to serve with the United States 

15 Army when the United States Armed Forces re16 turned to the island; 

17 (D) Filipino civilians who volunteered to 

18 serve in the United States Armed Forces in 

19 1945 and 1946, and who became ‘‘attached’’ to 

20 various units of the United States Army; and 

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

22 fought behind enemy lines throughout the war. 

23 (7) Even after hostilities ceased, wartime serv24 ice of the new Philippine Scouts continued as a mat25 ter of law until the end of 1946, and the force 


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1 gradually disbanded until it was disestablished in 

2 1950. 

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

4 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Impe5 rial forces attacked bases of the United States Army 

6 in the Philippines. 

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

8 Army overran the Bataan Peninsula, and, after a 

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

10 of the United States Armed Forces were captured, 

11 specifically 66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 service 

12 members from the United States. The Japanese 

13 transferred the captured soldiers from Bataan to 

14 Camp O’Donnell, in what is now known as the infa15 mous Bataan Death March. Forced to march the 

16 70-mile distance in 1 week, without adequate food, 

17 water, or medicine, nearly 700 members of the 

18 United States Armed Forces and an estimated 6,000 

19 to 10,000 Filipinos perished during the journey. 

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

21 Japanese Army turned its sights on Corregidor. The 

22 estimated forces in defense of Corregidor totaled 

23 13,000, and were comprised of members of the 

24 United States Armed Forces and Filipino troops. Of 

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


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1 and 11,000 were captured and forced to march 

2 through the city of Manila, after which the captured 

3 troops were distributed to various POW camps. The 

4 rest of the captured troops escaped to organize or 

5 join an underground guerrilla army. 

6 (11) Even before the fall of Corregidor, Phil7 ippine resistance, in the form of guerrilla armies, 

8 began to wage warfare on the Japanese invaders. 

9 Guerrilla armies, from Northern Luzon to 

10 Mindanao— 

11 (A) raided Japanese camps, stealing weap12 ons and supplies; 

13 (B) sabotaged and ambushed Japanese 

14 troops on the move; and 

15 (C) with little weaponry, and severely out16 matched in numbers, began to extract victories. 

17 (12) Japanese intelligence reports reveal that 

18 from the time the Japanese invaded until the return 

19 of the United States Armed Forces in the summer 

20 of 1944, an estimated 300,000 Filipinos continued 

21 to fight against Japanese forces. Filipino resistance 

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

23 the Imperial Army formed the Morista Butai, a unit 

24 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 

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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 (Sepa16 rate) contributed to mop-up operations as a civil af17 fairs unit. 

18 (18) Filipinos participated in the war out of na19 tional pride, as well as out of a commitment to the 

20 Allied forces struggle against fascism. 57,000 Fili21 pinos in uniform died in the war effort. Estimates 

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

23 1,000,000, or between 4.38 to 6.25 percent of the 

24 prewar population of 16,000,000. 


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1 (19) Because Filipinos who served in the Com2 monwealth Army of the Philippines were originally 

3 considered a part of the Allied struggle, the military 

4 order issued by President Roosevelt on July 26, 

5 1941, stated that Filipinos who served in the Com6 monwealth Army of the Philippines were entitled to 

7 full veterans benefits. The guarantee to pay back the 

8 service of Filipinos through veterans benefits was re9 versed by the Rescission Acts of 1946 (Public Laws 

10 79–301 and 79–391; 60 Stat. 6 and 60 Stat. 221), 

11 which deemed that the wartime service of the Com12 monwealth Army of the Philippines and the new 

13 Philippine Scouts was not considered active and, 

14 therefore, did not qualify for benefits. 

15 (20) The loyal and valiant Filipino Veterans of 

16 World War II fought, suffered, and, in many in17 stances, died in the same manner and under the 

18 same commander as other members of the United 

19 States Armed Forces during World War II. 

20 (21) The Filipino Veterans of World War II 

21 fought alongside, and as an integral part of, the 

22 United States Armed Forces. The Philippines re23 mained a territory of the United States for the dura24 tion of the war and, accordingly, the United States 

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1 tions, including Philippine laws enacted by the Phil2 ippine Government. Filipinos who fought in the Phil3 ippines were not only defending or fighting for the 

4 Philippines, but also defending, and ultimately liber5 ating, sovereign territory held by the United States 

6 Government. 

7 (22) The United States remains forever in8 debted to the bravery, valor, and dedication that the 

9 Filipino Veterans of World War II displayed. Their 

10 commitment and sacrifice demonstrates a highly un11 common and commendable sense of patriotism and 

12 honor. 

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act— 

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

16 includes any individual who served— 

17 (1) honorably at any time during the period be18 ginning on July 26, 1941, and ending on December 

19 31, 1946; 

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

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

22 and 

23 (3)(A) within the Philippine Commonwealth 

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1 ippine Scouts, the First Filipino Infantry Regiment, 

2 the Second Filipino Infantry Battalion (Separate), 

3 or the First Reconnaissance Battalion; or 

4 (B) commanding or serving in a unit described 

5 in paragraph (3)(A) as a United States military offi6 cer or enlisted soldier; and 

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

8 Treasury. 

9 SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

10 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The President pro tem11 pore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep12 resentatives shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

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

14 appropriate design to the Filipino Veterans of World War 

15 II in recognition of the dedicated service of the veterans 

16 during World War II. 

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

18 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

19 strike the Gold Medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 

20 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

21 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

23 gold medal in honor of the Filipino Veterans of 

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

25 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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