I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 719 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of 
the Civil Air Patrol. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 15, 2011 
Mr. FILNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House 
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War 
II members of the Civil Air Patrol. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The volunteer members of the Civil Air Pa-
trol (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘CAP’’) 
during World War II, civilian men and women rang-
ing in age from 19 to 81, provided extraordinary 
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public and combat services during a critical time of 
need for the Nation. 
(2) During the war, CAP members used their 
own aircraft to perform a myriad of essential tasks 
for the military and the Nation within the United 
States, including attacks on enemy submarines off 
the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United 
States. 
(3) This extraordinary service set the stage for 
the post-war CAP to become a valuable nonprofit, 
public service organization chartered by Congress 
and the Auxiliary of the United States Air Force 
that provides essential emergency, operational, and 
public services to communities, States, the Federal 
Government, and the military. 
(4) The CAP was established, initially as a part 
of the Office of Civil Defense, by air-minded citizens 
one week before the surprise attack on Pearl Har-
bor, Hawaii, on December 1, 1941, ‘‘out of the de-
sire of civil airmen of the country to be mobilized 
with their equipment in the common defense’’ of the 
Nation. 
(5) Within days of the start of the war, the 
German Navy started a massive submarine offensive, 
known as Operation Drumbeat, off the east coast of 
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the United States against oil tankers and other crit-
ical shipping that threatened the overall war effort. 
(6) Neither the Navy nor the Army had enough 
aircraft, ships, or other resources to adequately pa-
trol and protect the shipping along the Atlantic and 
Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, and 
many ships were torpedoed within sight of civilians 
on shore, including 52 tankers sunk between Janu-
ary and March 1942. 
(7) At that time General George Marshall re-
marked that ‘‘[t]he losses by submarines off our At-
lantic seaboard and in the Caribbean now threaten 
our entire war effort’’. 
(8) From the beginning CAP leaders urged the 
military to use its services to patrol coastal waters 
but met with great resistance because of the non-
military training and status of CAP pilots. 
(9) Finally, in response to the ever-increasing 
submarine attacks, the Tanker Committee of the Pe-
troleum Industry War Council urged the Navy De-
partment and the War Department to consider the 
use of the CAP to help patrol the sea lanes off the 
coasts of the United States. 
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(10) While the Navy initially rejected this sug-
gestion, the Army decided it had merit, and the Civil 
Air Patrol Coastal Patrol began in March 1942. 
(11) Oil companies and other organizations pro-
vided funds to help pay for some CAP operations, 
including vitally needed shore radios that were used 
to monitor patrol missions. 
(12) By late March 1942, the Navy also began 
to use the services of the CAP. 
(13) Starting with three bases located in Dela-
ware, Florida, and New Jersey, CAP aircrews imme-
diately started to spot enemy submarines as well as 
lifeboats, bodies, and wreckage. 
(14) Within 15 minutes of the first Coast Pa-
trol flight, the pilot had sighted a torpedoed tanker 
and was coordinating rescue operations. 
(15) Eventually 21 bases, ranging from Bar 
Harbor, Maine, to Brownsville, Texas, were set up 
for the CAP to patrol the Atlantic and Gulf of Mex-
ico coasts of the United States, with 40,000 volun-
teers participating. 
(16) The CAP used a wide range of civilian- 
owned aircraft, mainly light-weight, single engine 
aircraft—manufactured by Cessna, Beech, Waco, 
Fairchild, Stinson, Piper, Taylorcraft, and Sikorsky, 
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among others—as well as some twin engine aircraft 
such as the Grumman Widgeon. 
(17) These aircraft were painted in their civil-
ian prewar colors (red, yellow, blue, etc.) and carried 
special markings (a blue circle with a white triangle) 
to identify them as CAP aircraft. 
(18) Patrols were conducted up to 100 miles off 
shore, generally with 2 aircraft flying together, in 
aircraft often equipped with only a compass for navi-
gation and a single radio for communication. 
(19) Due to the critical nature of the situation, 
CAP operations were conducted in bad weather as 
well as good, often when the military was unable to 
fly, and in all seasons (including the winter) when 
ditching an aircraft in cold water would likely mean 
certain death to the aircrew. 
(20) Personal emergency equipment was often 
lacking, particularly during early patrols where inner 
tubes and kapok duck hunter vests were carried as 
flotation devices since ocean worthy wet suits, life 
vests, and life rafts were unavailable. 
(21) The initial purpose of the CAP was to spot 
submarines, report their position to the military, and 
force them to dive below the surface, which limited 
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their operating speed and maneuverability and re-
duced their ability to detect and attack shipping. 
(22) It soon became apparent that there were 
opportunities for CAP pilots to attack submarines, 
such as when a Florida CAP aircrew came across a 
surfaced submarine that quickly stranded itself on a 
sand bar. However, the aircrew could not get any as-
sistance from armed military aircraft before the sub-
marine freed itself. 
(23) Finally, after a number of these instances, 
a decision was made by the military to arm CAP air-
craft with 50- and 100-pound bombs, and to arm 
some larger twin engine aircraft with 325-pound 
depth charges. 
(24) The arming of CAP aircraft dramatically 
changed the mission for these civilian aircrews and 
resulted in more than 57 attacks on enemy sub-
marines. 
(25) While CAP volunteers received $8 a day 
flight reimbursement, their patrols were accom-
plished at a great economic cost to many of the 
members of the CAP who— 
(A) used their own aircraft and other 
equipment in defense of the Nation; 
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(B) paid for much of their own aircraft 
maintenance and hangar use; and 
(C) often lived in primitive conditions 
along the coast, including old barns and chicken 
coops converted for sleeping. 
(26) More importantly, the CAP Coastal Patrol 
service came at the high cost of 26 fatalities, 7 seri-
ous injuries, and 90 aircraft lost. 
(27) At the conclusion of the 18-month Coastal 
Patrol, the heroic CAP aircrews would be credited 
with the following: 
(A) 2 submarines destroyed or damaged; 
(B) 57 submarines attacked; 
(C) 82 bombs dropped against submarines; 
(D) 173 radio reports of submarine posi-
tions (with a number of credited assists for kills 
made by military units); 
(E) 17 floating mines reported; 
(F) 36 dead bodies reported; 
(G) 91 vessels in distress reported; 
(H) 363 survivors in distress reported; 
(I) 836 irregularities noted; 
(J) 1,036 special investigations at sea or 
along the coast; 
(K) 5,684 convoy missions for the Navy; 
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(L) 86,685 missions flown; 
(M) 244,600 total flight hours logged; and 
(N) more than 24,000,000 miles flown. 
(28) At least one high-level German Navy Offi-
cer credited the CAP with being the primary reason 
that submarine attacks were withdrawn from the At-
lantic coast of the United States in 1943 when he 
said that ‘‘[i]t was because of those damned little 
red and yellow planes!’’. 
(29) The CAP was dismissed from coastal mis-
sions with little thanks in August 1943 when the 
Navy took over the mission completely and ordered 
the CAP to stand down. 
(30) While the Coastal Patrol was ongoing, the 
CAP was also establishing itself as a vital wartime 
service to the military, States, and communities na-
tionwide by performing a wide range of missions in-
cluding— 
(A) border patrol; 
(B) forest fire patrol; 
(C) courier flights for mail, repair and re-
placement parts, and urgent deliveries; 
(D) emergency transportation of personnel; 
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(E) target towing (with live ammunition 
being fired at the targets and seven lives being 
lost) and searchlight tracking training missions; 
(F) 
missing 
aircraft 
and 
personnel 
searches; 
(G) rescue of aircraft crash survivors; 
(H) radar training flights; 
(I) aerial inspections of camouflaged mili-
tary and civilian facilities; 
(J) aerial inspections of city and town 
blackout conditions; 
(K) mock bombing attacks on cities and 
facilities to test air defenses; 
(L) aerial searches for scrap metal mate-
rials; 
(M) support of war bond drives; 
(N) airport guard duties; 
(O) support for State and local emer-
gencies such as natural disasters; 
(P) recruiting for the Army Air Force; and 
(Q) a cadet youth program which provided 
aviation and military training. 
(31) The CAP flew more than 500,000 hours 
on these additional missions, including— 
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(A) 20,500 missions involving target tow-
ing (with live ammunition) and gun/searchlight 
tracking which resulted in 7 deaths, 5 serious 
injuries, and the loss of 25 aircraft; 
(B) a courier service involving 3 major Air 
Force Commands over a 2-year period carrying 
more than 3,500,000 pounds of vital cargo and 
543 passengers; 
(C) southern border operations flying more 
than 30,000 hours, with 7,000 reports of un-
usual sightings including a vehicle (that was ap-
prehended) with 2 enemy agents attempting to 
enter the country; 
(D) a week in February 1945 during which 
CAP units found seven missing Army and Navy 
pilots; and 
(E) a State in which the CAP flew 790 
hours on forest fire patrol missions and re-
ported 576 fires to authorities during a single 
year. 
(32) On April 29, 1943, the CAP was trans-
ferred to the Army Air Forces, thus beginning its 
long association with the United States Air Force. 
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(33) Hundreds of CAP-trained women joined 
military women’s units including the Women’s Air 
Force Service Pilots (WASP) program. 
(34) Many members of the Women’s Air Force 
Service Pilots program joined or rejoined the CAP 
during the post-war period because it provided 
women opportunities to fly and continue to serve the 
Nation that were severely lacking elsewhere. 
(35) Due to the exceptional emphasis on safety, 
unit discipline, and pilot discipline, and the organi-
zation of the CAP, by the end of the war only 64 
members of the CAP had died in service and only 
150 aircraft had been lost (including its Coastal Pa-
trol losses from early in the war). 
(36) It is estimated that more than 200,000 ci-
vilians were members of the CAP in wide range of 
positions and that CAP aircrews flew a total of ap-
proximately 750,000 hours during the war, most of 
which was in their personal aircraft and often at 
real risk to their lives. 
(37) After the war, at a CAP dinner for Con-
gress, a quorum of both Houses attended with the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 
President thanking the CAP for its service. 
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(38) While air medals were issued for those 
participating in the Coastal Patrol, little other rec-
ognition was forthcoming for those efforts or for the 
other services the CAP volunteers provided during 
the war. 
(39) Despite efforts to end the organization at 
the end of the war, the CAP had proved its capabili-
ties and strengthened its ties with the Air Force and 
Congress. 
(40) In 1946, Congress chartered the CAP as 
a nonprofit, public service organization and in 1948 
as the Auxiliary of the United States Air Force. 
(41) Today the CAP conducts many of the 
same missions it performed during World War II, 
including a vital role in homeland security. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) AWARD.— 
(1) AUTHORIZED.—The President pro tempore 
of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep-
resentatives shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a single 
gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the 
World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol collec-
tively, in recognition of the military service and ex-
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emplary record of the Civil Air Patrol during World 
War II. 
(2) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes 
of the award referred to in paragraph (1), the Sec-
retary of the Treasury shall strike the gold medal 
with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to 
be determined by the Secretary. 
(3) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of 
the gold medal referred to in paragraph (1) in 
honor of the World War II members of the Civil 
Air Patrol, the gold medal shall be given to the 
Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be dis-
played as appropriate and made available for 
research. 
(B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense 
of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution 
should make the gold medal received under this 
paragraph available for display elsewhere, par-
ticularly at other locations associated with the 
Civil Air Patrol. 
(b) DUPLICATE MEDALS.—Under such regulations 
as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may strike 
and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck 
under this Act, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of 
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the medals, including labor, materials, dyes, use of ma-
chinery, and overhead expenses. 
(c) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to 
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 
of title 31, United States Code. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS 
OF SALE. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund, an amount not to exceed $30,000 
to pay for the cost of the medal authorized under section 
2. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 2(b) shall 
be deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 
Fund. 
Æ 
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