I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2701 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 23d Headquarters, Special 
Troops and the 3133rd Signal Service Company, in recognition of their 
unique and highly distinguished service as a ‘‘Ghost Army’’ that con-
ducted deception operations in Europe during World War II. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2017 
Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire (for herself, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. 
ENGEL, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. NEAL, Mrs. DIN-
GELL, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. THOMPSON 
of California) 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 to the 23d Head-
quarters, Special Troops and the 3133rd Signal Service 
Company, in recognition of their unique and highly dis-
tinguished service as a ‘‘Ghost Army’’ that conducted 
deception operations in Europe during World War II. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ghost Army Congres-
sional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The 23d Headquarters Special Troops, com-
prised of the 23d Headquarters and Headquarters 
Company, Special Troops, the 603d Engineer Cam-
ouflage Battalion, the 406th Combat Engineer Com-
pany, the 3132d Signal Service Company and the 
Signal Company, Special, 23d Headquarters, Special 
Troops) and the 3133d Signal Service Company 
were top-secret units of the United States Army that 
served in Europe during World War II. 
(2) The 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, was 
actively engaged in battlefield operations from June 
of 1944 through March of 1945. The 3133d Signal 
Service Company was engaged in operations in Italy 
in 1945. 
(3) The deceptive activities of these units were 
integral to several Allied victories across Europe and 
reduced American casualties. 
(4) In evaluating the performance of these units 
after the War, a U.S. Army analysis found that 
‘‘Rarely, if ever, has there been a group of such a 
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few men which had so great an influence on the out-
come of a major military campaign.’’. 
(5) Many Ghost Army soldiers were citizen-sol-
diers recruited from art schools, advertising agen-
cies, communications companies, and other creative 
and technical professions. 
(6) The first four members of the 23d Head-
quarters, Special Troops, landed on D-Day and two 
became casualties while creating false beach landing 
sites. 
(7) The 23d Headquarters Special Troops, se-
cret deception operations commenced in France on 
June 14, 1944, when Task Force Mason, a 17-man 
detachment of the 23d led by First Lieutenant Ber-
nard Mason, landed at Omaha Beach. Task Force 
Mason conducted Operation ELEPHANT between 1 
and 4 July, 1944, to draw enemy fire and protect 
the 980th Field Artillery Battalion (VIII Corps) as 
part of the Normandy Campaign. 
(8) Operation ELEPHANT was a prelude to 
21 full-scale tactical deceptions completed by the 
23d Headquarters, Special Troops. 
(9) Often operating on or near the front lines, 
the 23d Headquarters, Special Troops, used inflat-
able tanks, artillery, airplanes and other vehicles, ad-
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vanced engineered soundtracks, and skillfully crafted 
radio trickery to create the illusion of sizable Amer-
ican forces where there were none and to draw the 
enemy away from Allied troops. 
(10) The 3132d and the 3133d Signal Service 
Companies, activated in Pine Camp (now Fort 
Drum), New York, at the Army Experimental Sta-
tion in March 1944, were the only two active duty 
‘‘sonic deception’’ ground combat units in World 
War II. 
(11) Soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, Special 
Troops, impersonated other, larger Army units by 
sewing counterfeit patches onto their uniforms, 
painting false markings on their vehicles, and cre-
ating phony headquarters staffed by fake generals, 
all in an effort to feed false information to Axis 
spies. 
(12) During the Battle of the Bulge, the 23d 
Headquarters, Special Troops created counterfeit 
radio traffic to mask the efforts of General George 
Patton’s Third Army as it mobilized to break 
through to the 101st Airborne and elements of 10th 
Armored Division in the besieged Belgian town of 
Bastogne. 
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(13) In its final mission, Operation VIERSEN, 
in March 1945, the 23d Headquarters, Special 
Troops, conducted a tactical deception that drew 
German units down the Rhine River and away from 
the Ninth Army, allowing the Ninth Army to cross 
the Rhine into Germany. On this mission, the 1,100 
men of the Ghost Army, with the assistance of other 
units, impersonated forty thousand men, or two 
complete divisions of American forces, by using fab-
ricated radio networks, soundtracks of construction 
work and artillery fire, and more than 600 inflatable 
vehicles. According to a military intelligence officer 
of the 79th Infantry, ‘‘There is no doubt that Oper-
ation VIERSEN materially assisted in deceiving the 
enemy with regard to the real dispositions and inten-
tions of this Army.’’. 
(14) Three soldiers of the 23d Headquarters, 
Special Troops, gave their lives and dozens were in-
jured in carrying out their mission. 
(15) In April 1945, the 3133d Signal Service 
Company conducted Operation CRAFTSMAN in 
support of Operation SECOND WIND, the success-
ful allied effort to break through the German defen-
sive position to the north of Florence, Italy, known 
as the Gothic Line. Along with an attached platoon 
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