An Act to provide appropriate lapel buttons for widows, parents, and next of kin of members of the Armed Forces who lost or lose their lives in the armed services of the United States during World War II or during any subsequent war or period of armed hostilities in which the United States may be engaged
PL 82-121 (H.R.3911), enacted 08/21/1951

65 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 121—AUG. 21, 1951 
195 
SEC. 3. Tlie Secretary of the Interior shall make a full and complete 
annual progress report to the Congress of his activities and of the 
expenditures authorized under section 1. 
Approved August 21, 1951. 
Report to Congress. 
Public Law 121 
CHAPTER 339 
AN ACT 
To provide appropriate lapel buttons for widows, parents, and next of kin of 
members of the Armed Forces who lost or lose their lives in the armed services 
of the United States during World War II or during any subsequent war or 
period of armed hostilities in which the United States may be engaged. 
August 21, 1961 
[H. R. 3911] 
Gold 
button. 
Procurement. 
Furnishing of 
tons 
to 
wid 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Act of 
August 1,1947 (61 Stat. 710, title 36, U. S. C. 182a-182d), is amended 
to read as follows: 
'^That the Secretary of Defense shall formulate and fix the size, 
design, and composition of a lapel button (to be known as the 'gold 
star lapel button') suitable as a means of identification for widows, 
parents, and next of kin of members of the Armed Forces of the 
United States who lost or lose their lives in the armed services of 
the United States during World War I, World War II, or during any 
subsequent war or period of armed hostilities in which the United 
States may be engaged. 
The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and 
Air Force shall procure for their respective departments such num-
ber of gold star lapel buttons as shall be necessary to effect distribu-
tion of such buttons in accordance with the provisions of this Act. 
"SEC. 2. (a) Upon application to the Department of the Army, 
Department of the Navy, or the Department of the Air Force, as the pare^its^etc. 
case may be, one such gold star lapel button shall be furnished, with-
out cost, to the widow and to each of the parents of a member of the 
Armed Forces of the United States who lost or loses his or her life 
in the armed services of the United States during World War I, 
World War II, or during any subsequent war or period of armed 
hostilities in which the United States may be engaged. 
"(b) In addition to the gold star lapel button authorized in sub-
section (a) of this section, gold star lapel buttons shall also be fur-
nished, upon application and the payment of an amount sufficient to 
cover the cost of manufacture and distribution, to the next of kin, 
not hereinbefore designated, of any such deceased person. 
"(c) Not more than one gold star lapel button shall be furnished 
to any one individual as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of this 
section, except whenever a gold star lapel button furnished under 
the provisions of this Act shall have been lost, destroyed, or rendered 
unfit for use, without fault or neglect on the part of the person to 
whom it was furnished such button may be replaced, upon applica-
tion, by payment of an amount sufficient to cover the cost of manu-
facture and distribution. 
"(d) Gold star lapel buttons shall be distributed in accordance 
with rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. 
"SEC. 3. As used in this Act, (a) the term 'widow' shall include 
widower; (b) the term 'parents' shall include mother, father, step-
mother, stepfather, mother through adoption, father through adop-
tion, and foster parents who stood in loco parentis; (c) the term 
'next of kin' shall include only children, brothers, sisters, half broth-
ers, and half sisters; (d) the term 'children' shall include stepchildren 
and children through adoption; (e) the term 'World War I' shall 
include the period extending from April 6, 1917, to March 3, 1921; 
star lapel 
but-
ows, 
Replacements. 
Distribution. 
Definitions. 
196 
PUBLIC LAW 122—AUG. 22. 1951 
[65 
STAT. 
Penalty for unlaw-
ful use, etc. 
Appropriations 
thorized. 
and (f) the term 'World War II' shall include the period extending 
from September 8, 1939, to July 25, 1947, at 12 o'clock noon. 
"SEC. 4. Whoever shall (1) wear, display on his person, or other-
wise use as an insignia, any gold star lapel button issued to another 
person under the provisions of this Act; (2) falsely make, forge, or 
counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, forged, or coun-
terfeited, or aid in falsely making, forging or counterfeiting any 
lapel button authorized by this Act; or (3) sell or bring into the 
United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, from 
any foreign place, or have in his possession, any such false, forged, 
or counterfeited lapel button, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or 
imprisoned not more than two years, or both. 
"SEC. 5. Such sums are hereby authorized to be appropriated as 
may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act." 
Approved August 21, 1951. 
August 22, 1951 
[H. R. 2736] 
Public Law 122 
CHAPTER 
340 
AN ACT 
To authorii^ advances for clothing and equipment to cadets at the Military-
Academy and the Coast Guard Academy and to midshipmen at the Naval 
Academy, and for other purposes. 
Cadets and mid-
shipmen. 
Initial clothing and 
equipment advances. 
Discharge prior to 
graduation. 
10 U. S. C. § 1149. 
34 U. S. C. § 1052. 
m Stat. SOS. 
Be it eriacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary 
of the Army and the Secretary of the Navy are respectively author-
ized to prescribe the sum which shall be credited to each new cadet 
or midshipman, upon first admission to the Military Academy or the 
Naval Academy, to cover the cost of his initial clothing and equip-
ment issue, which sum shall be deducted subsequently from his pay: 
Provided, That hereafter each cadet or midshipman discharged prior 
to graduation who is indebted to the United States on account of 
advances of pay to purchase required clothing and equipment shall 
be required to turn in to the respective Academies all clothing and 
equipment of a distinctively military nature to the extent required 
to discharge such indebtedness; and, if the value of such clothing 
and equipment so turned in does not cover the indebtedness so 
incurred, then such indebtedness shall be canceled. 
SEC. 2. That part of the Act of June 30, 1921 (42 Stat. 68, 95), 
under the heading "United States Military Academy—Permanent 
Establishment" which reads: ''''Provided further, That hereafter each 
new cadet shall, upon admission to the United States Military 
Academy, be credited with the sum of $250 to cover the cost of his 
initial clothing and equipment issue, to be deducted subsequently from 
his pay."; and that part of the Act of July 12,1921 (42 Stat. 122,131), 
under the heading "Bureau of Supplies and Accounts", which reads: 
'-''Provided, That hereafter each new midshipman shall, upon admis-
sion to the Naval Academy, be credited with the sum of $250 to cover 
the cost of his initial clothing and equipment issue, to be deducted 
subsequently from his pay.", are hereby repealed. 
SEC. 3. Section 183 of title 14 of the United States Code is amended 
to read as follows: 
"§ 183. Cadets; initial clothing allowance 
"The Secretary may prescribe a sum which shall be credited to each 
new cadet upon first admission to the Academy, to cover the cost of 
his initial clothing and equipment issue, which sum shall be deducted 
subsequently from his pay. 
Each cadet discharged prior to gradua-
tion who is indebted to the United States on account of advances of