Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Congressional Gold Medal Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4933 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4933

 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals
 who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of
Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and became prisoners of war from
                 December 8, 1941, to August 15, 1945.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 24, 2026

Mr. Heinrich (for himself, Ms. Baldwin, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Bennet, Mr.
 Boozman, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Collins, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mrs. Fischer,
   Mr. Kaine, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. King, Mrs. Hyde-
  Smith, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Markey, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr.
Murphy, Mr. Sheehy, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Young, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Schiff, Mrs.
  Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
                  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals
 who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of
Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and became prisoners of war from
                 December 8, 1941, to August 15, 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 ``Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
        Territory, on December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese forces
        launched coordinated attacks throughout Asia, striking Malaya,
        Thailand, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and
        the United States territories of Guam, Midway Island, Wake
        Island, and Howland Island.
            (2) For the next 7 months, undermanned United States forces
        in the Pacific fought with outdated weapons, expired
        ammunition, and without reinforcement or resupply to their
        besieged island posts.
            (3) On the first day of United States participation in
        World War II, December 8, 1941, the ``first to fire'' in the
        Philippines at the Imperial Japanese were the New Mexico
        National Guardsmen from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery
        (AA) regiments, the successors to the famed ``Rough Riders'' of
        the Spanish-American War, who had only recently arrived in the
        Philippines where they were stationed at Fort Stotsenburg north
        of Manila with the mission of defending Clark Field.
            (4) Filipino soldiers and civilians valiantly fought
        alongside and as part of the United States Armed Forces and
        were integral to their war efforts.
            (5) By the end of December 1941, all United States forces
        on Luzon Island in the Philippines withdrew to the Bataan
        Peninsula of the island, where, for the next 4 months, with
        neither air nor sea defenses, an estimated 12,000 United States
        and at least 63,000 Filipino troops and 20,000 Filipino
        civilians endured siege conditions.
            (6) On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King, Jr.
        surrendered the United States and Filipino forces on the Bataan
        Peninsula. The Imperial Japanese Army forced thousands of
        troops and civilians to assemble at the port of Mariveles at
        the tip of Bataan and other locations along the peninsula for a
        65-mile forced march. This forced trek came to be known as the
        ``Bataan Death March''.
            (7) During the Bataan Death March, approximately 700 people
        of the United States and 6,000 to 10,000 Filipinos were killed.
        Survivors were sent to Camp O'Donnell where 26,000 more
        Filipino prisoners died.
            (8) On May 6, 1942, Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright
        surrendered the fortress islands of Corregidor (Fort Mills),
        Fort Drum, Fort Frank, and Fort Hughes in Manila Bay. The
        complete surrender of the remaining United States and Filipino
        forces in the Philippines occurred on June 9, 1942.
            (9) Included in the surrenders in the Philippines were
        female nurses of the United States Army and Navy and the
        Philippine Army and civilian volunteers who became the first
        large group of United States women in combat and, counted with
        the Army and Navy nurses surrendered on Guam in December 1941,
        comprised the first group of United States military women taken
        captive and imprisoned by an enemy.
            (10) Between January 1942 and August 1945, thousands of
        prisoners of war from the United States who had survived the
        surrenders throughout the Pacific were shipped in unmarked
        freighters and vessels.
            (11) It is time to recognize the defenders of Bataan,
        Corregidor, and other places throughout the Pacific who were
        ordinary men and women who found uncommon courage in
        extraordinary circumstances.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Individuals who fought for or with the united states.--
        The term ``individuals who fought for or with the United
        States''--
                    (A) includes any individual who--
                            (i) was in the Pacific theater at any time
                        during the period beginning on December 8,
                        1941, and ending on August 15, 1945; and
                            (ii)(I) served honorably as a member of the
                        United States Armed Forces or at the command of
                        the United States Armed Forces in the defensive
                        battles in the Pacific from December 8, 1941,
                        to June 9, 1942; or
                            (II) became a prisoner of war of Imperial
                        Japan during World War II until August 15,
                        1945, including civilians who the Imperial
                        Japanese Armed Forces considered military
                        prisoners of war and received veterans status
                        after the war; and
                    (B) does not include a member of the Pacific Fleet
                or the Hawaiian Department.
            (2) Pacific theater.--The term ``Pacific theater'' means
        Shanghai, the Central Pacific Area, and the Southwest Pacific
        Area.
            (3) Resistance or battle.--The term ``resistance or
        battle'' includes an action in and around Shanghai, Tientsin,
        Guam, Wake Island, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, the
        Philippines, or Midway Island.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
        of the Treasury.

SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate
arrangements for the collective award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold
medal of appropriate design to the individuals who fought for or with
the United States to defend Bataan, Corregidor, and other places in the
Pacific theater, and became prisoners of war, in recognition of their
personal sacrifice and service during World War II.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the award under
subsection (a), 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
        National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian
        Institution, where it shall be displayed as appropriate and
        made available for research.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
        the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian
        Institution should make the gold medal received under paragraph
        (1) available for display at other locations, particularly at
        locations that are associated with--
                    (A) the defensive battles of World War II in the
                Pacific theater from December 8, 1941, to August 15,
                1945;
                    (B) the prisoners of war of Imperial Japan; and
                    (C) the defense of the Philippines, Guam, Wake
                Island, Midway Island, and Java.

SEC. 5. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    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 sections 5134 and 5136 of
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 7. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals authorized under section 5 shall be deposited into the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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