I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 755 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of 
the Civil Air Patrol. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 15, 2013 
Mr. MCCAUL (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
quently 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 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 unpaid volunteer members of the Civil 
Air Patrol (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘CAP’’) during World War II provided extraor-
dinary humanitarian, combat and national services 
during a critical time of need for the Nation. 
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(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 national service set the 
stage for the post-war CAP to become a valuable 
nonprofit, public service organization chartered by 
Congress and designated 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 desire 
of civil airmen of the country to be mobilized with 
their equipment in the common defense of the Na-
tion. 
(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 
the United States against oil tankers and other crit-
ical shipping that threatened the overall war effort. 
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(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 and sunk, often within 
sight of civilians on shore, including 52 tankers sunk 
between January 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 status of CAP civilian 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. 
(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. 
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(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 (rang-
ing in age from 18 to over 80) immediately started 
to spot enemy submarines as well as lifeboats, bod-
ies, and wreckage. 
(14) Within 15 minutes of starting his patrol 
on the first Coastal Patrol flight, a pilot had sighted 
a torpedoed tanker and was coordinating rescue op-
erations. 
(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 eventually 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) Most of these aircraft were painted in 
their civilian 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 Coastal Patrol 
was to spot submarines, report their position to the 
military, and force them to dive below the surface, 
which limited their operating speed and maneuver-
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ability and reduced their ability to detect and attack 
shipping because attacks against shipping were con-
ducted while the submarines were surfaced. 
(22) It immediately became apparent that there 
were opportunities for CAP pilots to attack sub-
marines, 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 assistance from armed military aircraft be-
fore the submarine freed itself. 
(23) Finally, after several instances when the 
military could not respond in a timely manner, a de-
cision was made by the military to arm CAP aircraft 
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 for cost incurred, their patrols 
were accomplished at a great economic cost to many 
CAP members who— 
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(A) used their own aircraft and other 
equipment in defense of the Nation; 
(B) paid for much of their own aircraft 
maintenance and hangar use; and 
(C) often lived in the beginning in primi-
tive 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 possibly damaged or de-
stroyed; 
(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; 
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(J) 1,036 special investigations at sea or 
along the coast; 
(K) 5,684 convoy missions as aerial escorts 
for Navy ships; 
(L) 86,685 total missions flown; 
(M) 244,600 total flight hours logged; and 
(N) more than 24,000,000 total miles 
flown. 
(28) It is believed that at least one high-level 
German Navy Officer credited CAP as one reason 
that submarine attacks moved away from the United 
States when he concluded that ‘‘[i]t was because of 
those damned little red and yellow planes!’’. 
(29) CAP was dismissed from coastal missions 
with little thanks in August 1943 when the Navy 
took over the mission completely and ordered CAP 
to stand down. 
(30) While the Coastal Patrol was ongoing, 
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 among others— 
(A) border patrol; 
(B) forest and fire patrols; 
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(C) military courier flights for mail, repair 
and replacement parts, and urgent military de-
liveries; 
(D) emergency transportation of military 
personnel; 
(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) air and ground search and rescue for 
missing aircraft and personnel; 
(H) radar and aircraft warning system 
training flights; 
(I) aerial inspections of camouflaged mili-
tary and civilian facilities; 
(J) aerial inspections of city and town 
blackout conditions; 
(K) simulated bombing attacks on cities 
and facilities to test air defenses and early 
warning; 
(L) aerial searches for scrap metal mate-
rials; 
(M) river and lake patrols including aerial 
surveys for ice in the Great Lakes; 
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(N) support of war bond drives; 
(O) management and guard duties at hun-
dreds of airports; 
(P) support for State and local emer-
gencies such as natural and manmade disasters; 
(Q) predator control; 
(R) rescue of livestock during floods and 
blizzards; 
(S) recruiting for the Army Air Force; 
(T) initial flight screening and orientation 
flights for potential military recruits; 
(U) mercy missions including the airlift of 
plasma to central blood banks; 
(V) nationwide emergency communications 
services; and 
(W) a cadet youth program which provided 
aviation and military training for tens of thou-
sands. 
(31) The CAP flew more than 500,000 hours 
on these additional missions, including, for exam-
ple— 
(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; 
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(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 patrol flying more 
than 30,000 hours and reporting 7,000 unusual 
sightings including a vehicle (that was appre-
hended) with 2 enemy agents attempting to 
enter the country; 
(D) a week in February 1945 during which 
CAP units rescued 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. 
(33) Hundreds of CAP-trained women pilots 
joined military women’s units including the Women’s 
Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) program. 
(34) Many members of the WASP program 
joined or rejoined the CAP during the post-war pe-
riod because it provided women opportunities to fly 
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and continue to serve the Nation that were severely 
lacking elsewhere. 
(35) Due to the exceptional emphasis on safety, 
unit and pilot training and discipline, and the orga-
nization of the CAP, by the end of the war a total 
of only 64 CAP members had died in service and 
only 150 aircraft had been lost (including its Coastal 
Patrol losses from early in the war). 
(36) It is estimated that up to 100,000 civilians 
(including youth in its cadet program) participated 
in CAP in wide range of staff and operational posi-
tions and that CAP aircrews flew a total of approxi-
mately 750,000 hours during the war, most of which 
was in their own personal aircraft and often at 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 CAP for its service. 
(38) While air medals were issued for some of 
those participating in the Coastal Patrol, little other 
recognition was forthcoming for the myriad of serv-
ices CAP volunteers provided during the war. 
(39) Despite some misguided efforts to end 
CAP at the end of the war, the organization had 
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proved its capabilities to the Nation and strength-
ened its ties with the Air Force and Congress. 
(40) In 1946, Congress chartered the CAP as 
a nonprofit, public service organization and in 1948 
made CAP 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. 
(42) CAP’s wartime service was highly unusual 
and extraordinary due to the unpaid civilian status 
of its members, the use of privately-owned aircraft 
and personal funds by many of its members, the 
myriad of humanitarian and national missions flown 
for the Nation, and the fact that for 18 months, 
during a time of great need for the United States, 
CAP flew combat-related missions in support of mili-
tary operations off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico 
coasts. 
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 
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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-
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 all 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 displayed 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. 
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(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 
the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machin-
ery, and overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold 
medal. 
(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 medals 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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