I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2336
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris Miller, in
recognition of his acts of valor while a member of the United States
Navy during World War II.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. M
FUMEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Ad-
ministration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris
Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while a member
of the United States Navy during World War II.
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 ‘‘Doris Miller Congres-4
sional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Doris Miller, like other African-American 1
sailors of his day, was generally relegated to service- 2
based roles on ships, as the Navy did not allow sail-3
ors of color to enlist in combat roles. 4
(2) On December 7, 1941, Doris Miller was 5
serving aboard the USS West Virginia in Hawaii 6
when Japanese torpedo bombers attacked his ship 7
and others at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base—head-8
quarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. During this infa-9
mous attack, Doris Miller manned a gun magazine 10
amidships. When a torpedo damaged the magazine, 11
Doris Miller helped carry the wounded to safety, in-12
cluding his ship’s commander, Captain Mervyn S. 13
Bennion. Doris Miller then manned a .50 caliber 14
antiaircraft gun, for which he had no training, and 15
continued firing on the enemy until he ran out of 16
ammunition and received the order to abandon ship. 17
(3) Doris Miller was acknowledged in the USS 18
West Virginia Action Report, individually, along 19
with other brave personnel for having ‘‘carried out 20
every order promptly and enthusiastically, even when 21
it meant danger to themselves. They did not attempt 22
to abandon the bridge until ordered to do so.’’. 23
(4) Doris Miller aided other service members 24
and ‘‘was instrumental in hauling people along 25
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through oil and water to the quarterdeck, thereby 1
unquestionably saving the lives of a number of peo-2
ple who might otherwise have been lost.’’. 3
(5) On December 15, 1941, the Navy released 4
its commendations for actions in Pearl Harbor 5
which included one ‘‘unnamed Negro’’. It wasn’t 6
until March of 1942, at the behest of the NAACP, 7
that the Navy formally recognized Miller’s heroism. 8
(6) Doris Miller was recognized by the Navy 9
and awarded the Navy Cross Medal with the citation 10
reading ‘‘For distinguished devotion to duty, ex-11
traordinary courage and disregard for his own per-12
sonal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl 13
Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on 14
December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain 15
on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and 16
bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted 17
in moving his Captain, who had been mortally 18
wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later 19
manned and operated a machine gun directed at 20
enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to 21
leave the bridge.’’. 22
(7) On May 27, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz 23
personally pinned the Navy Cross to Miller’s left 24
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breast pocket while on board the aircraft carrier 1
USS Enterprise. 2
(8) Doris Miller died in action on November 24, 3
1943, on board the USS Liscome Bay in the Pacific 4
Ocean after a single Japanese torpedo sank the ves-5
sel off the coast of Butaritari Island. 6
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 7
(a) P
RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 8
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-9
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 10
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 11
of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration 12
of Doris Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while 13
a member of the Navy during World War II. 14
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 15
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 16
of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 17
‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em-18
blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 19
Secretary. 20
(c) S
MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 22
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 23
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 24
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it shall be available for display as appropriate and 1
made available for research. 2
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 3
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 4
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 5
available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 6
appropriate locations associated with Doris Miller. 7
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 8
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 9
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 10
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 11
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 12
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 13
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-14
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 15
51 of title 31, United States Code. 16
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 17
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 18
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 19
items. 20
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 21
SALE. 22
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 23
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 24
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-25
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essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 1
to this Act. 2
(b) P
ROCEEDS OF SALE.—The amounts received 3
from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under 4
section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint 5
Public Enterprise Fund. 6
Æ
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