Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB3175 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	V
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 3175
5	5	To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor to Thomas H.
6	6	Griffin for acts of valor as a member of the Army during the Vietnam
7	7	War.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MAY1, 2025
10	10	Mr. P
11	11	ANETTAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on Armed Services
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor
15	15	to Thomas H. Griffin for acts of valor as a member
16	16	of the Army during the Vietnam War.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. ACTS OF VALOR DESCRIBED. 3
20	20	Congress recognizes the following acts of valor by 4
21	21	Thomas Helmut Griffin: 5
22	22	(1) Thomas Helmut Griffin distinguished him-6
23	23	self by valorous actions against overwhelming odds 7
24	24	while serving as a captain in the Army, Senior Advi-8
25	25	VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 May 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175
26	26	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
27	27	•HR 3175 IH
28	28	sor, 4/5 Infantry Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, 1
29	29	Army of the Republic of Vietnam. 2
30	30	(2) From March 1, 1969 through March 3, 3
31	31	1969, during the Vietnam War, such battalion was 4
32	32	ordered to forestall an imminent attack on Quang 5
33	33	Ngai City threatened by units of the North Viet-6
34	34	namese Army (hereinafter, ‘‘NVA’’). The 4/5 Bat-7
35	35	talion engaged unabatedly with an entrenched NVA 8
36	36	regiment over the course of three days. Captain 9
37	37	Griffin (hereinafter, ‘‘CPT Griffin’’) risked his life 10
38	38	and disregarded his personal safety, all above and 11
39	39	beyond his duty, on some 20 occasions, to lead his 12
40	40	battalion in the fight as well as direct gunships, air, 13
41	41	and artillery strikes on the enemy positions. 14
42	42	(3) During the initial phase of battle, CPT 15
43	43	Griffin made numerous trips across 50 meters of 16
44	44	open ground, while under heavy automatic weapon, 17
45	45	rocket, and small arms fire, to advise on the conduct 18
46	46	of the battle and better direct strikes against enemy 19
47	47	forces. Fearing slaughter of his soldiers, CPT Grif-20
48	48	fin, with one of his counterparts from the Army of 21
49	49	the Republic of Vietnam (hereinafter, ‘‘ARVN’’), 22
50	50	charged directly into heavy enemy fire and assaulted 23
51	51	a machine gun bunker. CPT Griffin continued these 24
52	52	VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 May 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175
53	53	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
54	54	•HR 3175 IH
55	55	runs, despite the enemy shooting the heels off CPT 1
56	56	Griffin’s boots. 2
57	57	(4) After taking out the NVA bunker, CPT 3
58	58	Griffin brandished the captured machine gun and 4
59	59	rocket launcher to exhort his battalion out of the kill 5
60	60	zone and continue the assault into the enemy en-6
61	61	trenchments while remaining exposed to heavy fire. 7
62	62	CPT Griffin’s raw and intense close combat leader-8
63	63	ship galvanized his battalion to move out of the kill 9
64	64	zone and continue their mission. 10
65	65	(5) CPT Griffin’s ARVN counterpart was 11
66	66	struck by close fire, and CPT Griffin unhesitatingly 12
67	67	carried the wounded commander to safety while 13
68	68	shielding him with his own body against rocket and 14
69	69	artillery fire. CPT Griffin proceeded to carry four 15
70	70	more wounded soldiers to safety while protecting 16
71	71	them with his own body, returning each time against 17
72	72	devastating enemy fire. While leading the final at-18
73	73	tack, CPT Griffin was hit three times in the chest 19
74	74	by enemy small arms fire, yet continued to lead at 20
75	75	the forefront of his battalion until the mission was 21
76	76	completed. Under CPT Griffin’s command and lead-22
77	77	ership, the 4/5 Battalion continued to reduce the 23
78	78	enemy regiment’s fighting capacity. 24
79	79	VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 May 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175
80	80	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
81	81	•HR 3175 IH
82	82	(6) CPT Griffin’s personal leadership in intense 1
83	83	close combat resulted in a major win for his bat-2
84	84	talion against overwhelming odds, killing 93 enemy 3
85	85	soldiers and saving the lives of over 300 allied sol-4
86	86	diers by galvanizing and leading them out of the kill 5
87	87	zone. 6
88	88	(7) CPT Griffin’s selfless devotion to duty, his 7
89	89	extraordinary heroism, conspicuous gallantry and in-8
90	90	trepidity, and numerous risks of his life above and 9
91	91	beyond the call of duty, are all in keeping with the 10
92	92	highest traditions of the Army, and reflect great 11
93	93	credit on himself, the Armed Forces, and the United 12
94	94	States. 13
95	95	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 14
96	96	Congress finds the following with regards to the origi-15
97	97	nal decision to award a Silver Star to Thomas Helmut 16
98	98	Griffin: 17
99	99	(1) When awarding him the Silver Star, CPT 18
100	100	Griffin’s chain of command was unaware of the full 19
101	101	extent of his valorous actions and the numerous 20
102	102	risks he took for his soldiers, all above and beyond 21
103	103	the call of duty. 22
104	104	(2) Congress notes that although CPT Griffin 23
105	105	was struck three times by enemy fire, and at one 24
106	106	point was completely surrounded by the enemy, he 25
107	107	VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 May 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175
108	108	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
109	109	•HR 3175 IH
110	110	continued to fight and lead his battalion against dev-1
111	111	astating and overwhelming enemy fire. 2
112	112	(3) Congress notes that CPT Griffin’s Com-3
113	113	manding Officer, Colonel Dean E. Hutter (ret.), sent 4
114	114	a letter to the Department of the Army dated No-5
115	115	vember 6, 2013, in which he accounts for the revela-6
116	116	tion of additional, substantive and material evidence 7
117	117	not known at the time of the decision to award the 8
118	118	Silver Star, and in which he describes as compelling 9
119	119	‘‘the justice of upgrading CPT Griffin’s sustained 10
120	120	and varied acts of combat valor to their rightful level 11
121	121	of recognition, the Medal of Honor’’. 12
122	122	(4) Congress further notes that Colonel Hutter 13
123	123	issued a letter to former United States Representa-14
124	124	tive Sam Farr on September 15, 2011, noting his 15
125	125	support for an upgrade from a Silver Star to a 16
126	126	Medal of Honor, having recognized CPT Griffin’s 17
127	127	acts of valor as, ‘‘numerous, selfless demonstrations 18
128	128	of personal risk in pressing a close-combat attack 19
129	129	against a well-entrenched element of a battalion-size 20
130	130	enemy formation’’. 21
131	131	VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 May 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175
132	132	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
133	133	•HR 3175 IH
134	134	SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF AWARD OF MEDAL OF HONOR 1
135	135	TO THOMAS HELMUT GRIFFIN FOR ACTS OF 2
136	136	VALOR AS A MEMBER OF THE ARMY DURING 3
137	137	THE VIETNAM WAR. 4
138	138	(a) A
139	139	UTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding the time lim-5
140	140	itations specified in section 7274 of title 10, United States 6
141	141	Code, or any other time limitation with respect to the 7
142	142	awarding of certain medals to persons who served in the 8
143	143	Armed Forces, the President is authorized to award the 9
144	144	Medal of Honor, under section 7271 of such title, to 10
145	145	Thomas Helmut Griffin for the acts of valor described in 11
146	146	subsection (b). 12
147	147	(b) A
148	148	CTS OFVALORDESCRIBED.—The acts of valor 13
149	149	described in this subsection are the actions of Thomas H. 14
150	150	Griffin during the period of March 1 through March 3, 15
151	151	1969, while serving as a captain in the Army during the 16
152	152	Vietnam War, for which he was previously awarded the 17
153	153	Silver Star. 18
154	154	Æ
155	155	VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 May 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3175.IH H3175
156	156	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS