World War II Pacific War Heroes Congressional Gold Medal Act
Bill: H.R.3565 | Sponsor: Rep. Bost, Mike (R-IL)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
World War II Pacific War Heroes Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill provides for the award of a single Congressional Gold Medal to the men and women of the United States military and merchant marine, as well as citizen and noncitizen civilians who fought with the U.S. military and were surrendered, captured, or abandoned to become prisoners of war of Imperial Japan during World War II, in recognition of their dedicated and vital service during World War II.

To grant a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the men and women 
   of the United States Armed Forces and Merchant Marine, as well as 
 citizen and non-citizen civilians who served honorably with the U.S. 
   military, who were surrendered, captured, or abandoned to become 
   prisoners of war (POWs) of Imperial Japan throughout the Japanese 
Empire in the Pacific Theater of World War II from December 7, 1941, to 
                           September 2, 1945.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``World War II Pacific War Heroes 
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States POWs held by Imperial Japan in the 
        Pacific Theater during World War II, with most held in 
        captivity for more than three years, are Pacific War heroes who 
        represent the American spirit of courage, tenacity, and faith.
            (2) Imperial Japan did not abide by the Geneva and Hague 
        Conventions for the humane treatment of POWs.
            (3) The United States POWs held by Imperial Japan during 
        World War II numbered more than 27,000 with more than 11,000 or 
        40 percent perishing before the end of War.
            (4) On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan attacked not only 
        Pearl Harbor in the United States Territory of Hawaii, but also 
        the other United States possessions and military installations 
        in the Pacific of the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Howland 
        Island, and Midway as preludes to full-scale invasions and 
        military occupation throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
            (5) By the end of day, December 8, 1941, more than 300 
        United States Marines, sailors, diplomats, and Mariners in 
        China became the first United States prisoners of war of 
        Imperial Japan with most held for the full duration of the war.
            (6) Ninety-eight percent of the United States POWs of 
        Imperial Japan fought in the heroic battles of Guam, Wake 
        Island, Sunda Strait, Halsey-Doolittle Raid, Bataan, and 
        Corregidor, all within the first six months of World War II.
            (7) Most of the United States airmen, infantrymen, sailors, 
        and Marines surrendered in defense of the Netherlands East 
        Indies in March 1942 were sent to be slave laborers on the 
        Thai-Burma Death Railway or at construction projects in Changi, 
        Singapore.
            (8) On April 9, 1942, approximately 12,000 United States 
        military personnel and 66,000 Filipino soldiers became POWs 
        with the surrender of the American-Filipino forces on the 
        Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.
            (9) April 9, 1942, marked the beginning of the infamous 
        Bataan Death March where the Imperial Japanese Army forced all 
        American and Filipino forces from Marviveles or Bagac up the 
        Bataan Peninsula on a three-part, three-province, nearly 100-
        mile trek north to the makeshift POW facility Camp O'Donnell at 
        Capas, Tarlac. An estimated 650 American and 5,000-10,000 
        Filipino soldiers died on the Bataan Death March, while 
        hundreds of men remain unaccounted for.
            (10) On May 6, 1942, Corregidor Island, then operating as 
        the military command center for all the Philippines, United 
        States Forces in the Philippines (USFIP), was surrendered. 
        Nearly 10,000 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines 
        as well as more than 3,000 Filipino soldiers and nurses became 
        POWs of Imperial Japan.
            (11) The May 6, 1942, fall of Corregidor Island and 
        subsequent surrender of all the Philippines Islands marked the 
        end of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet; the U.S. Army Forces in the Far 
        East (USAFFE), and the U.S. Far East Air Force (USFEAF).
            (12) Included in the surrenders the Philippines were female 
        nurses of United States Army, Navy, Philippine Army, and 
        civilian volunteers who became the first large group of 
        American women in combat and, counted with the Army and Navy 
        nurses surrendered on Guam in December 1941, comprised the 
        first group of American military women taken captive and 
        imprisoned by an enemy.
            (13) More than 14,000 Americans POWs were transported 
        aboard ``hellships''--in the holds of unmarked merchant ships--
        from Pacific battle sites to be used as slave laborers; one-
        third of all POW deaths resulted from attacks on the 
        ``hellships'' by ``friendly fire'' from American submarines or 
        aircraft.
            (14) More than 600 members of the United States Merchant 
        Marine including one female Mariner, became prisoners of 
        Imperial Japan, many of whom were turned over to Japanese 
        control after being first captured by Nazi Germany's naval 
        forces. Fifteen percent were killed by either Imperial Japan 
        Navy officers during capture or died in Japanese POW camps.
            (15) Throughout World War II, the Imperial Japanese 
        military maintained approximately 775 POW camps throughout the 
        Empire: 185 POW camps on the Home Islands of Japan and 590 in 
        other areas of the Pacific Theater, which includes an unknown 
        number of temporary camps.
            (16) A priority of International Military Tribunal for the 
        Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal 
        and the ad hoc American and Allied military tribunals 
        throughout the Asia Pacific from 1945 to 1951 was to obtain 
        justice for the maltreatment of POWs. Approximately seventy-
        five percent of the more than 5,600 defendants were charged 
        with offenses against POWs. This reflects the July 26, 1945, 
        Potsdam Declaration's warning that, ``stern justice shall be 
        meted out to all war criminals, including those who have 
        visited cruelties upon our prisoners''.
            (17) President Ronald Reagan first proclaimed National 
        Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day in 1988, which was 
        established to coincide with April 9, the anniversary of the 
        start of the Bataan Death March.
            (18) In 2009, the Government of Japan issued an official, 
        Cabinet of Japan approved apology saying ``We extend a 
        heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous 
        damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of 
        wars, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan 
        Peninsula, Corregidor Island, in the Philippines, and other 
        places''.
            (19) In 2010, the Government of Japan initiated an annual 
        visitation program for former United States POWs of Japan and 
        family members to visit Japan for remembrance, reconciliation, 
        and healing.
            (20) It is time to recognize the ordinary men and women who 
        found uncommon courage in extraordinary circumstances to fight 
        the impossible and endure the unimaginable for freedom from 
        tyranny and oppression.
            (21) The Congressional Gold Medal is an appropriate way to 
        honor the service of the United States POWs held by Imperial 
        Japan in World War II and to highlight the unique imprisonment 
        of these Pacific War heroes and their poignant history of 
        sacrifice, perseverance, patriotism, and faith.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
     (a) the term ``prisoners of war of Imperial Japan'' includes any 
individual who--
            (1) was taken prisoner--
                    (A) by Japan while serving honorably in the service 
                of the United States at any time during the period 
                beginning on December 8, 1941, and ending on September 
                2, 1945;
                    (B) was taken prisoner by the Japanese while 
                serving in an active-duty status under the command of 
                the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), 
                United States Forces in the Philippines (USFIP), 
                American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, 
                Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), Pacific Ocean Area 
                (POA), China-Burma-India (CBI), Southeast Asia Command 
                (SEAC), 1st Defense Battalion, Wake Island (Marines), 
                Guam Battalion (Marines), 4th Marines, Marine Raiders, 
                U.S. Asiatic Fleet, Twentieth Air Force, Far East Air 
                Force, United States Army Air Forces, and the War 
                Shipping Administration; or
                    (C) was taken prisoner on Attu Island in the 
                Aleutians part of Alaska on June 7, 1942;
            (2) was not granted ``parole'' (release) by Imperial 
        Japanese forces during World War II; and
            (3) holds ``veterans' status'' or a ``certificate of 
        honorable service'' for their service in the Pacific Theater of 
        World War II when taken prisoner by Japan;
    (b) the term ``Pacific Theater'' means China, the Central Pacific, 
Southeast Asia, and the Southwest Pacific of World War II; and
    (c) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a 
single gold medal of appropriate design to the United States to the men 
and women of the United States military and merchant marine as well as 
citizen and non-citizen civilians who fought with the U.S. military and 
were surrendered, captured, or abandoned to become prisoners of war of 
Imperial Japan during World War II, in recognition of their dedicated 
and vital service during World War II.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award described 
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (in this Act referred 
to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
    (c) Smithsonian Institution.--
            (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
        under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the 
        Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, 
        where it shall be displayed as appropriate and made available 
        for research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American 
        History should make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 
        available for display at other locations, particularly at 
        locations that are associated with the prisoners of war of 
        Imperial Japan during World War II, such as The Harry S. Truman 
        Library and Museum, The MacArthur Memorial, National Prisoner 
        of War Museum; National Museum of the Pacific War, and New 
        Mexico Military Museum.

SEC. 5. 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 section 4, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the 
medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 6. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--Medals struck under this Act are national 
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
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