Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB819 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 819
5	5	To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Colonel Young Oak
6	6	Kim in recognition of his extraordinary heroism, leadership, and humani-
7	7	tarianism.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY28, 2025
10	10	Ms. S
11	11	TRICKLAND(for herself, Mrs. KIM, Mr. MIN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr.
12	12	J
13	13	ACKSONof Illinois, and Mr. CARSON) introduced the following bill;
14	14	which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addi-
15	15	tion to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
16	16	quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
17	17	provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Colo-
20	20	nel Young Oak Kim in recognition of his extraordinary
21	21	heroism, leadership, and humanitarianism.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Colonel Young Oak 4
26	26	Kim Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
27	27	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
28	28	The Congress finds the following: 7
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31	31	•HR 819 IH
32	32	(1) Young Oak Kim was born in Los Angeles 1
33	33	in 1919 to Korean American immigrants, where his 2
34	34	family faced numerous challenges. After high school, 3
35	35	Kim enrolled in Los Angeles City College, but 4
36	36	dropped out after a year to find work to help sup-5
37	37	port his family. 6
38	38	(2) Because of racial discrimination, Kim strug-7
39	39	gled to keep employed. With the outbreak of World 8
40	40	War II (WWII), Kim tried to enlist in the United 9
41	41	States Army, but that opportunity was closed off to 10
42	42	him, too, as an Asian American. However, after 11
43	43	Congress extended conscription to Asian Americans, 12
44	44	Kim was drafted into the Army, entering the service 13
45	45	on January 31, 1941. 14
46	46	(3) From the earliest days of Kim’s service in 15
47	47	the United States Army, he distinguished himself as 16
48	48	a leader, being selected for the Infantry Officer Can-17
49	49	didate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon his 18
50	50	commission as a second lieutenant in 1943, Kim was 19
51	51	assigned to the all-Japanese American 100th Infan-20
52	52	try Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team. 21
53	53	(4) Young Oak Kim was assigned as an officer 22
54	54	of the 100th Infantry Battalion that was formed on 23
55	55	June 5, 1942, comprised of predominantly second- 24
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58	58	•HR 819 IH
59	59	generation Americans of Japanese ancestry from the 1
60	60	Hawaiian Islands. 2
61	61	(5) When Kim reported to duty, his com-3
62	62	manding officer gave Kim the option to transfer due 4
63	63	to the historical conflicts between the Japanese and 5
64	64	Koreans, but Kim stated, ‘‘Sir, they’re Americans 6
65	65	and I am an American. And we’re going to fight for 7
66	66	America.’’. 8
67	67	(6) The 100th Infantry Battalion was deployed 9
68	68	to the Mediterranean and entered combat in Italy on 10
69	69	September 26, 1943. The 100th Battalion fought at 11
70	70	Cassino, Italy, in January 1944, and later accom-12
71	71	panied the 34th Infantry Division to Anzio, Italy. 13
72	72	(7) Kim’s most notable feat occurred at the 14
73	73	Battle of Anzio. During broad daylight he volun-15
74	74	teered to capture German soldiers for intelligence in-16
75	75	formation. He and another soldier crawled more 17
76	76	than 600 yards located directly under German obser-18
77	77	vation posts with no cover. They captured two pris-19
78	78	oners and obtained information that significantly 20
79	79	contributed to the fall of Rome. For his actions, Kim 21
80	80	received the Distinguished Service Cross from the 22
81	81	United States and the Military Valor Cross, the 23
82	82	highest military decoration in Italy. 24
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85	85	•HR 819 IH
86	86	(8) The 100th Infantry Battalion was formally 1
87	87	made an integral part of the 442nd Regimental 2
88	88	Combat Team on June 15, 1944, and fought for the 3
89	89	last 11 months of the war with distinction in Italy, 4
90	90	southern France, and Germany. The 442nd Regi-5
91	91	mental Team became the most decorated unit in 6
92	92	United States military history for its size and length 7
93	93	of service. The 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regi-8
94	94	mental Combat Team, received 7 Presidential Unit 9
95	95	Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished 10
96	96	Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze 11
97	97	Stars, 22 Legion of Merit Medals, 15 Soldier’s Med-12
98	98	als, and over 4,000 Purple Hearts, among numerous 13
99	99	additional distinctions. 14
100	100	(9) When the Korean war broke out in 1950, 15
101	101	Kim rejoined the United States Army and partici-16
102	102	pated in the United Nations Forces’ last drive into 17
103	103	Korea. As commander of the First Battalion, 31st 18
104	104	Infantry Regiment, he became the first officer of 19
105	105	color in United States history to command an Army 20
106	106	battalion on the battlefield. 21
107	107	(10) In Seoul, he led his battalion in sponsoring 22
108	108	an orphanage of more than 500 children. The bat-23
109	109	talion was the only United Nations military unit to 24
110	110	sponsor an orphanage during the war. 25
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113	113	•HR 819 IH
114	114	(11) In 1972, Kim retired from the Army at 1
115	115	the rank of Colonel. By the end of his career, Kim 2
116	116	had earned the Distinguished Service Cross, two Sil-3
117	117	ver Stars, two Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, 4
118	118	two Legions of Merit, and several military com-5
119	119	mendations from foreign governments—Italy’s 6
120	120	Bronze Medal of Military Valor and Military Valor 7
121	121	Cross, France’s La Legion D’Honneur, and the Re-8
122	122	public of Korea’s Taeguk Order of Military Merit. 9
123	123	(12) Kim returned to his native Los Angeles 10
124	124	and became a civic leader. In 1975, he established 11
125	125	the Koreatown Youth and Community Center in Los 12
126	126	Angeles to support recently immigrated Korean 13
127	127	youth who were struggling with poverty and lan-14
128	128	guage barriers, which today serves a broad multi- 15
129	129	ethnic population of 11,000 people in the greater 16
130	130	Los Angeles area. 17
131	131	(13) In 1978, Kim helped establish the Center 18
132	132	for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF), an organiza-19
133	133	tion providing culturally and linguistically appro-20
134	134	priate domestic violence and sexual assault services 21
135	135	to the pan-Asian immigrant community. Under his 22
136	136	leadership as CPAF’s chairman, the organization be-23
137	137	came the largest women’s shelter in Southern Cali-24
138	138	fornia in the 1990s. 25
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141	141	•HR 819 IH
142	142	(14) In 1986, Kim founded the Korean Health, 1
143	143	Education, Information and Research Center 2
144	144	(KHEIR), a nonprofit service agency providing cul-3
145	145	turally and linguistically sensitive health care and 4
146	146	human services to the uninsured and underserved 5
147	147	residents of Los Angeles. Today KHEIR operates 6
148	148	two clinics that can accommodate more than 75,000 7
149	149	patient visits annually and is the only federally 8
150	150	qualified health center in the United States that 9
151	151	serves a majority Korean patient base, with all serv-10
152	152	ices available in English, Korean, and Spanish. 11
153	153	(15) In 1985, Kim co-founded the Japanese 12
154	154	American National Museum (JANM), which pro-13
155	155	motes understanding and appreciation of America’s 14
156	156	ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japa-15
157	157	nese American experience. 16
158	158	(16) In 1989, Kim founded and served as the 17
159	159	Chairman of the 100th/442nd/MIS WWII Memorial 18
160	160	Foundation, which is now known as the Go for 19
161	161	Broke National Education Center. Kim led a cam-20
162	162	paign with veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 21
163	163	442nd RCT and Military Intelligence Service to 22
164	164	build the Go for Broke Monument, in downtown Los 23
165	165	Angeles, which serves as a tribute to the Japanese 24
166	166	American soldiers of World War II. 25
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169	169	•HR 819 IH
170	170	(17) Kim’s contributions in the 1980s and 1
171	171	1990s also included founding the Korean American 2
172	172	Museum and the Korean American Coalition, both 3
173	173	entities dedicated to understanding the Korean 4
174	174	American experience and addressing its issues and 5
175	175	needs. 6
176	176	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 7
177	177	(a) P
178	178	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 8
179	179	the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-9
180	180	pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 10
181	181	for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con-11
182	182	gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design, in commemo-12
183	183	ration of Colonel Young Oak Kim, in recognition of his 13
184	184	achievements and contributions to heroism, leadership, 14
185	185	and humanitarianism. 15
186	186	(b) D
187	187	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 16
188	188	presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 17
189	189	of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-18
190	190	retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 19
191	191	devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec-20
192	192	retary. 21
193	193	(c) S
194	194	MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 22
195	195	(1) I
196	196	N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 23
197	197	gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 24
198	198	shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 25
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201	201	•HR 819 IH
202	202	it shall be available for display as appropriate and 1
203	203	made available for research. 2
204	204	(2) S
205	205	ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 3
206	206	Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 4
207	207	make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 5
208	208	available for— 6
209	209	(A) display, particularly at the National 7
210	210	Portrait Gallery; or 8
211	211	(B) loan, as appropriate, so that the medal 9
212	212	may be displayed elsewhere. 10
213	213	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 11
214	214	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 12
215	215	bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 13
216	216	under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 14
217	217	a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 15
218	218	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 16
219	219	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 17
220	220	(a) N
221	221	ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-18
222	222	ant this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 19
223	223	51 of title 31, United States Code. 20
224	224	(b) N
225	225	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 21
226	226	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 22
227	227	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 23
228	228	items. 24
229	229	Æ
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