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. THOMP-
SON 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 con-
cerned 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Filipino Veterans of 
World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The First Philippine Republic was founded 
as a result of the Spanish-American War in which 
Filipino revolutionaries and the United States 
Armed Forces fought to overthrow Spanish colonial 
rule. On June 12, 1898, Filipinos declared the Phil-
ippines to be an independent and sovereign nation. 
The Treaty of Paris negotiated between the United 
States and Spain ignored this declaration of inde-
pendence, and the United States paid Spain 
$20,000,000 to cede control of the Philippines to the 
United States. Filipino nationalists who sought inde-
pendence rather than a change in colonial rulers 
clashed with forces of the United States in the Is-
lands. The Philippine-American War, which officially 
lasted for 3 years from 1899 to 1902, led to the es-
tablishment of the United States civil government in 
the Philippines. 
(2) In 1901, units of Filipino soldiers who 
fought for the United States against the nationalist 
insurrection were formally incorporated into the 
United States Army as the Philippine Scouts. 
(3) In 1934, the Philippine Independence Act 
(Public Law 73–127; 48 Stat. 456) established a 
timetable for ending colonial rule of the United 
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States. Between 1934 and Philippine independence 
in 1946, the United States retained sovereignty over 
Philippine foreign policy and reserved the right to 
call Filipinos into the service of the United States 
Armed Forces. 
(4) On December 21 1935, President of the 
Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel Quezon, signed 
the National Defense Act, passed by the Philippine 
Assembly. General Douglas MacArthur set upon the 
task of creating an independent army in the Phil-
ippines, consisting of a small regular force, the Phil-
ippine Constabulary, a police force created during 
the colonial period of the United States, and reserv-
ists. By July 1941, the Philippine army had 130,000 
reservists and 6,000 officers. 
(5) On July 26, 1941, as tensions with Japan 
rose in the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 
used his authority vested in the Constitution of the 
United States and the Philippine Independence Act 
to ‘‘call into service of the United States . . . all of 
the organized military forces of the Government of 
the Philippines.’’ On July 27th, 1941, in accordance 
with a War Department directive received a day ear-
lier, the United States Forces in the Far East 
(USAFFE) was established, and Manila was des-
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ignated as the command headquarters. Commander 
of the USAFFE, General Douglas MacArthur, 
planned to absorb the entire Philippine army into 
the USAFFE in phases. The first phase, which 
began on September 1, 1941, included 25,000 men 
and 4,000 officers. 
(6) Filipinos who served in the USAFFE in-
cluded— 
(A) the Philippine Scouts, who comprised 
half of the 22,532 soldiers in the Philippine De-
partment, or United States Army garrison sta-
tioned in the Islands at the start of the war; 
(B) the Philippine Commonwealth Army; 
(C) the new Philippine Scouts, or Filipinos 
who volunteered to serve with the United States 
Army when the United States Armed Forces re-
turned to the island; 
(D) Filipino civilians who volunteered to 
serve in the United States Armed Forces in 
1945 and 1946, and who became ‘‘attached’’ to 
various units of the United States Army; and 
(E) the ‘‘Guerrilla Services’’ who had 
fought behind enemy lines throughout the war. 
(7) Even after hostilities ceased, wartime serv-
ice of the new Philippine Scouts continued as a mat-
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ter of law until the end of 1946, and the force 
gradually disbanded until it was disestablished in 
1950. 
(8) On December 8th, 1941, not even 24 hours 
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Impe-
rial forces attacked bases of the United States Army 
in the Philippines. 
(9) In the spring of 1942, the Japanese 14th 
Army overran the Bataan Peninsula, and, after a 
heroic but futile defense, more than 78,000 members 
of the United States Armed Forces were captured, 
specifically 66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 service 
members from the United States. The Japanese 
transferred the captured soldiers from Bataan to 
Camp O’Donnell, in what is now known as the infa-
mous Bataan Death March. Forced to march the 
70-mile distance in 1 week, without adequate food, 
water, or medicine, nearly 700 members of the 
United States Armed Forces and an estimated 6,000 
to 10,000 Filipinos perished during the journey. 
(10) After the fall of the Bataan Peninsula, the 
Japanese Army turned its sights on Corregidor. The 
estimated forces in defense of Corregidor totaled 
13,000, and were comprised of members of the 
United States Armed Forces and Filipino troops. Of 
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