I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 6406
To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish the Last Servicemember
Standing Medal.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER14, 2023
Ms. K
APTUR(for herself and Mr. CARTERof Texas) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish the
Last Servicemember Standing Medal.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Last Servicemember 4
Standing Medal Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR LAST SERVICEMEMBER 6
STANDING MEDAL. 7
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—Chapter 57 of title 10, United 8
States Code, is amended— 9
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(1) by redesignating sections 1135 and 1136 as 1
sections 1136 and section 1137, respectively; and 2
(2) by inserting after section 1134 the following 3
new section: 4
‘‘§ 1135. Last Servicemember Standing medal 5
‘‘(a) M
EDALAUTHORIZED.—The Secretary con-6
cerned may issue a service medal, to be known as the ‘Last 7
Servicemember Standing medal’, to persons eligible under 8
subsection (c). 9
‘‘(b) D
ESIGN.—The Last Servicemember Standing 10
medal shall be of an appropriate design approved by the 11
Secretary of Defense, with ribbons, lapel pins, and other 12
appurtenances. 13
‘‘(c) E
LIGIBLEPERSONS.—Subject to subsection (d), 14
a person eligible to be issued the Last Servicemember 15
Standing medal is any member who— 16
‘‘(1) served on active duty; 17
‘‘(2) was deployed during war or overseas con-18
tingency operation; 19
‘‘(3) as a result of a combat instance during 20
such war or overseas contingency, was the last sur-21
viving member of a unit; 22
‘‘(4) demonstrated extraordinary heroism in de-23
fense of the United States during such combat in-24
stance; and 25
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‘‘(5) whose character is recommended for rec-1
ognition by their commanding officer and at least 2
two peers. 3
‘‘(d) O
NEMEDALAUTHORIZED.—Not more than one 4
Last Servicemember Standing medal may be issued to any 5
person. 6
‘‘(e) I
SSUANCE TONEXT-OF-KIN.—If a person de-7
scribed in subsection (c) is deceased, the Secretary con-8
cerned may provide for issuance of the Last Servicemem-9
ber Standing medal to the next-of-kin of the person. 10
‘‘(f) R
EGULATIONS.—The issuance of a Last Service-11
member Standing medal shall be subject to such regula-12
tions as the Secretaries concerned shall prescribe for pur-13
poses of this section. The Secretary of Defense shall en-14
sure that any regulations prescribed under this subsection 15
are uniform to the extent practicable.’’. 16
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-17
gress that the Secretary of Defense should take appro-18
priate actions to expedite— 19
(1) the design of the Last Servicemember 20
Standing medal provided for by section 1136 of title 21
10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a); 22
and 23
(2) the establishment and implementation of 24
mechanisms to facilitate the issuance of the Last 25
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Servicemember Standing Medal to persons eligible 1
for the issuance of the medal under such section. 2
Æ
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