I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3085 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to American military 
personnel who fought in defense of Bataan, Corregidor, Guam, Wake 
Island, and the Philippine Archipelago between December 7, 1941, and 
May 10, 1942, and who died or were imprisoned by the Japanese military 
in the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Wake Island, and Guam 
from April 9, 1942, until September 2, 1945, in recognition of their 
personal sacrifice and service to their country. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 27, 2017 
Mr. PEARCE (for himself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM 
of New Mexico, and Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New Mexico) 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 consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to Amer-
ican military personnel who fought in defense of Bataan, 
Corregidor, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippine Ar-
chipelago between December 7, 1941, and May 10, 1942, 
and who died or were imprisoned by the Japanese mili-
tary in the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Wake 
Island, and Guam from April 9, 1942, until September 
2, 1945, in recognition of their personal sacrifice and 
service to their country. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, 
Hawaii, Imperial Japanese forces launched an at-
tack on the Philippines, cutting off vital lines of 
communication to members of the Armed Forces of 
the United States (referred to in this Act as the 
‘‘Armed Forces’’) and Filipino troops in the Far 
East under the command of General Douglas Mac-
Arthur. 
(2) On May 6, 1942, Corregidor fell after a 
weeklong siege and its defenders were surrendered. 
On May 10, 1942, American forces under the com-
mand of Major General William F. Sharp surren-
dered after fighting the Japanese from April 29, 
1942, to May 9, 1942, on the island of Mindanao in 
the southernmost portion of the Philippine Archi-
pelago. It was on this date, May 10, 1942, that Gen-
eral Wainwright, as Supreme Allied Commander, 
surrendered all Allied Forces in the Philippine Ar-
chipelago. 
(3) Despite being cut off from supply lines and 
reinforcements, members of the Armed Forces and 
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Philippine troops quickly executed a plan to delay 
the Japanese invasion and defend the Philippines 
against that invasion. 
(4) By April 1942, troops from the United 
States and the Philippines had bravely and staunch-
ly fought off enemy attacks in Bataan for more than 
4 months under strenuous conditions that resulted 
in widespread starvation and disease. 
(5) By maintaining their position and engaging 
the enemy for as long as they did, the troops at Ba-
taan were able to change the momentum of the war, 
delaying the Japanese timetable to take control of 
the Southeast Pacific for needed war materials. Be-
cause of the heroic actions of the defenders of Ba-
taan, members of the Armed Forces and other Allied 
forces throughout the Pacific had time to regroup 
and prepare for the successful liberation of the Pa-
cific and the Philippines. 
(6) On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward 
King, whose troops suffered from starvation and a 
lack of supplies, surrendered the soldiers from the 
United States and the Philippines into enemy hands. 
(7) Over the next week, troops from the Armed 
Forces and the Philippines were taken prisoner and 
forced to march 65 miles without any food, water, 
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or medical care in what came to be known as the 
‘‘Bataan Death March’’. 
(8) During this forced march, thousands of sol-
diers died, either from starvation, lack of medical 
care, sheer exhaustion, or abuse by their captors. 
(9) Conditions at the prisoner of war camps 
were appalling, leading to increased disease and mal-
nutrition among the prisoners. 
(10) The prisoners at Camp O’Donnell died at 
a rate of nearly 400 per day because of the poor 
conditions of the camp. 
(11) On June 6, 1942, the prisoners at Camp 
O’Donnell were transferred to Camp Cabanatuan, 
north of Camp O’Donnell. 
(12) Nearly 26,000 of the 50,000 Filipino pris-
oners of war died at Camp O’Donnell and survivors 
were gradually paroled from September through De-
cember 1942. 
(13) Between September of 1942 and December 
of 1944, prisoners of war from the Armed Forces 
who had survived the horrific death march were 
shipped north for forced labor aboard ‘‘hell ships’’ 
and succumbed in great numbers because of the 
abysmal conditions. Many of those ships were mis-
takenly targeted by Allied naval forces because the 
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Japanese military convoys were not properly labeled 
as carrying prisoners of war. The sinking of the 
Arisan Maru alone claimed nearly 1,800 lives of 
members of the Armed Forces. 
(14) The campus of the University of Santo 
Tomas was converted to the Santo Tomas Intern-
ment Camp by the Japanese during their occupation 
of the Philippines. Santo Tomas became the initial 
internment camp for both the army and navy 
nurses, with the army and navy nurses remaining 
there until their liberation. 
(15) The prisoners who remained in the camps 
suffered from continued mistreatment, malnutrition, 
lack of medical care, and horrific conditions until 
they were liberated in 1945. 
(16) The veterans of Bataan represented the 
best of the United States and the Philippines, hailed 
from various locales across both countries, and rep-
resented true diversity. 
(17) Over the subsequent decades, the veterans 
of Bataan formed support groups, were honored in 
local and State memorials, and told their stories to 
all people of the United States. 
(18) The United States Navy has continued to 
honor the history and stories of the veterans of Ba-
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