Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor to Receive Congressional Gold Medal for WWII Sacrifice

This legislation authorizes the collective award of a single Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. and Filipino service members and civilians who defended the Pacific theater from December 1941 through the end of World War II. Specifically, it honors those who endured the four-month siege of Bataan, the subsequent surrender of Corregidor, and the brutal conditions of the Bataan Death March and Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. The bill formally recognizes the 'uncommon courage' of these individuals, including the first large group of U.S. military women taken captive, and ensures their legacy is preserved through a permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution.

A Debt Long Overdue

The bill covers a wide range of individuals who served between December 8, 1941, and August 15, 1945. This includes not just U.S. Armed Forces, but also Filipino soldiers and civilians who fought under U.S. command, as well as civilian prisoners of war who were later granted veteran status (Section 3). By including specific mention of the New Mexico National Guardsmen who fired the first shots and the female nurses of the Army and Navy, the legislation ensures that the diverse faces of the resistance are captured in the national record. For the families of these veterans, this is more than a trophy; it is a formal federal acknowledgement of the starvation, lack of resupply, and 'extraordinary circumstances' their loved ones faced while the world’s attention was often focused elsewhere.

From the Mint to the Museum

Once the medal is designed and struck by the Secretary of the Treasury, it won't just sit in a vault. Section 4 mandates that the gold medal be given to the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian, for display and research. However, the bill also encourages the museum to loan the medal to other locations—think local veterans' museums or historical sites in places like New Mexico or the Philippines—to make the history accessible to people where they actually live. This ensures that the story of the 65-mile Death March and the 26,000 Filipinos who died at Camp O’Donnell remains a visible part of our collective education.

How the Program Pays for Itself

While the primary gold medal is a one-of-a-kind honor, the U.S. Mint is authorized to create and sell bronze duplicate medals to the general public (Section 5). If you are a history buff or a descendant of a Bataan defender, you’ll be able to purchase these replicas. The law requires the Treasury to set the price of these duplicates high enough to cover all production costs—including labor, materials, and overhead—meaning the program is designed to be self-sustaining. All proceeds from these sales go back into the Mint’s enterprise fund to ensure that honoring these veterans doesn't create a hole in the federal budget (Section 7).