Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act

(1) In January 1944, there were no Black officers in the United States Navy. That month, 16 Black enlisted men were assembled at the Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, for officer training.

(2) These men were expected to complete officer training in 8 weeks, even though officer training was normally 16 weeks.

(3) These men supported each other, including by placing blankets over their windows and studying as a group by flashlight at night. Each man brought to the group his own expertise to help the others.

(4) When their officer training was completed, all 16 men passed their exams, leading some to claim that they had cheated. The men were forced to retake certain exams, and the group scored even higher.

(5) The average grade for these men on the exams was a 3.89 out of a 4.00, the highest average of any class in Navy history at that time.

(6) Even though all 16 men passed their exams, on February 24, 1944, the Navy commissioned only 12 of them, and a 13th was made a chief warrant officer. Because the Navy had assumed a 25-percent attrition rate, only 12 officer commissions were anticipated. As the class had a 100-percent passage rate, the other three men were returned to the enlisted ranks, with no reason given.

(7) During their careers, these men oversaw all-Black units or the training of Black recruits. One would go on to make his career in the Navy after World War II, and the rest would return to civilian life.

(8) In the 1970s, Captain Edward Secrest, a former instructor, gave the group the name Golden Thirteen.

(9) In 1982, these men were formally recognized with a first-ever reunion at sea aboard the USS KIDD–993.

(10) The members of the Golden Thirteen were Jesse Walter Arbor; Phillip G. Barnes; Samuel Edward Barnes; Dalton Louis Baugh, Sr.; George Clinton Cooper; Reginald Ernest Goodwin; James Edward Hair; Charles Byrd Lear; Graham Edward Martin; Dennis Denmark Nelson; John Walter Reagan; Frank Ellis Sublett, Jr.; and William Sylvester White. The three men who passed their exams, but not made officers, were Augustus Alves; J.B. Pinkney; and Lewis Mummy Williams.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration to the Golden Thirteen, in recognition of their contributions to the Nation.

For the purposes of the presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the Secretary) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

Following the award of the gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for display as appropriate and made available for research.

It is the sense of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, particularly at other appropriate locations associated with the Golden Thirteen.

Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

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.

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 pursuant to this Act.

The amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.