II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2647 

To award a Congressional gold medal to the 369th Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the ‘‘Harlem Hellfighters’’, in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service during World War I. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2021 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself and Mr. SCHUMER) 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 369th Infantry 

Regiment, commonly known as the ‘‘Harlem 

Hellfighters’’, in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service during World War I. 

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 ‘‘Harlem Hellfighters 

5 Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) When the United States officially entered 

2 World War I in April 1917, the Armed Forces were 

3 still segregated, even though African-American sol4 diers had served and distinguished themselves in 

5 every war since the Revolutionary War, and even the 

6 Colonial Wars preceding the American Revolution. 

7 (2) After several years of advocacy and debate, 

8 in 1916 the State of New York authorized the re9 cruitment of the 15th New York National Guard 

10 Regiment, which was called to Federal service on 

11 July 25, 1917, soon after arriving for training at 

12 Camp Whitman, New York. 

13 (3) The 15th completed its basic military prac14 tice training at Camp Whitman, New York. 

15 (4) To receive combat training, the 15th re16 ported, on October 8, 1917, to Camp Wadsworth, in 

17 Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it experienced 

18 many incidents of racial discrimination. 

19 (5) Consequently, the government agreed to re20 move the 15th from Camp Wadsworth, but, instead 

21 of receiving further training, the regiment began 

22 preparing for deployment to France in November. 

23 (6) The 15th arrived in Saint Nazaire, France, 

24 on January 1, 1918, where it was redesignated the 

25 369th Infantry Regiment. 


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1 (7) Partly because many White soldiers within 

2 the American Expeditionary Forces (hereinafter, the 

3 ‘‘AEF’’) refused to perform combat duty with Black 

4 soldiers, members of the 369th were initially as5 signed manual labor tasks, such as loading and un6 loading supplies, and constructing roads and rail7 roads. 

8 (8) After receiving pressure from the 369th reg9 imental commander about not having a combat mis10 sion, the AEF attached the 369th to the French 

11 Fourth Army. 

12 (9) By mid-March of 1918, the 369th went to 

13 the Argonne Forest with the French 16th Division 

14 for training and soon entered the trenches. 

15 (10) The 369th encountered its first German 

16 soldiers in combat in April, 1918. 

17 (11) In May of 1918, Private Henry Johnson 

18 of the 369th received the French Croix de Guerre, 

19 with Palm, for extraordinary valor, becoming one of 

20 the first American soldiers to be awarded this honor. 

21 (12) Johnson also belatedly received a Purple 

22 Heart, was awarded the Distinguished Service 

23 Cross, and, in 2015, was awarded the Medal of 

24 Honor. 


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1 (13) Throughout the remainder of the spring 

2 and into the summer the 369th served at Minacourt, 

3 in the Champagne-Marne Defensive, and during the 

4 Aisne-Marne Offensive in support of the French 

5 161st Infantry Division. 

6 (14) As summer turned to autumn, the 369th 

7 went on to participate in the Meuse-Argonne offen8 sive, where it captured the important village of 

9 Sechault despite sustaining severe losses. 

10 (15) On October 14, 1918, the 369th advanced 

11 to Alsace. 

12 (16) On November 20, 1918, the 369th reached 

13 the banks of the Rhine River as part of the French 

14 Army of Occupation, the first Allied unit to do so. 

15 (17) The 369th was relieved of its assignment 

16 with the French 161st Division in December, 1918, 

17 and elements of the regiment sailed for New York 

18 in late January and early February, 1919. 

19 (18) The 369th Infantry Regiment received a 

20 parade up 5th Avenue in New York City on Feb21 ruary 17, 1919, receiving applause and cheers from 

22 hundreds of thousands of onlookers. 

23 (19) The 369th was demobilized on February 

24 28, 1919. 


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1 (20) Over 170 individual members of the 369th 

2 received the Croix de Guerre, many were awarded 

3 the Distinguished Service Cross, and the 369th was 

4 awarded a unit citation. 

5 (21) It is generally believed that the 369th was 

6 dubbed the ‘‘Harlem Hellfighters’’ by German sol7 diers, who found the men to be incredibly deter8 mined and courageous in battle. 

9 (22) The 369th was the first regiment of Afri10 can Americans to deploy overseas during World War 

11 I and spent 191 days on the front line in World War 

12 I, more than any other American regimental sized 

13 unit. 

14 (23) The 369th never lost a foot of ground nor 

15 had a man taken prisoner, despite suffering a high 

16 number of casualties. 

17 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

18 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 

19 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 

20 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

21 award, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of ap22 propriate design to the 369th Infantry Regiment, com23 monly known as the ‘‘Harlem Hellfighters’’, in recognition 

24 of their bravery and outstanding service during World 

25 War I. 


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

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

3 Treasury shall strike the gold medal with suitable em4 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

5 Secretary. 

6 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

8 gold medal in honor of the 369th Infantry Regiment, 

9 the ‘‘Harlem Hellfighters’’, the gold medal shall be 

10 given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it will be 

11 displayed as appropriate and made available for re12 search. 

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

14 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

15 make the gold medal awarded pursuant to this Act 

16 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

17 locations associated with the Harlem Hellfighters. 

18 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may strike and sell 

20 duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under sec21 tion 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the bronze 

22 medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, 

23 and overhead expenses. 

24 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALES.—The amounts received 

25 from the sale of duplicate medals under subsection (a) 


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1 shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public Enter2 prise Fund. 

3 (c) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

4 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

5 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec6 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 

7 this Act. 

8 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

9 The gold medal struck pursuant to this Act is a na10 tional medal for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

11 States Code. 

12 SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

13 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

14 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

15 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

16 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

17 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

18 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro19 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

20 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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