,i #aafth ,,congress #ast ,session ,h4 ,r4 #cach ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of ,,representatives ,june #e1 #bjai,ms4 ,moore 7for herself1 ,mr4 ,watkins1 ,ms4 ,jackson ,lee1 ,mrs4 ,beatty1 ,mr4 ,grijalva1 ,ms4 ,wild1 ,mr4 ,khanna1 ,mr4 ,higgins of ,new ,york1 ,mr4 ,ruppersberger1 ,mr4 ,thompson of ,mississippi1 ,mr4 ,richmond1 ,mr4 ,johnson of ,georgia1 ,ms4 ,kelly of ,illinois1 ,mr4 ,cox of ,california1 ,mr4 ,cohen1 ,mr4 ,mc,govern1 ,mr4 ,raskin1 ,ms4 ,norton1 ,ms4 ,plaskett1 ,ms4 ,clarke of ,new ,york1 ,mr4 ,cole1 ,mr4 ,price of ,north ,carolina1 ,mr4 ,lynch1 ,mr4 ,brown of ,maryland1 ,mr4 ,danny ,k4 ,davis of ,illinois1 ,mr4 ,bishop of ,georgia1 ,ms4 ,kaptur1 ,mr4 ,cummings1 ,mr4 ,meeks1 ,mr4 ,evans1 ,ms4 ,lee of ,california1 ,ms4 ,wilson of ,florida1 ,mrs4 ,watson ,coleman1 ,mr4 ,rush1 ,ms4 ,titus1 ,ms4 ,blunt ,rochester1 ,mrs4 ,luria1 ,mr4 ,engel1 ,ms4 ,haaland1 and ,ms4 ,schakowsky7 introduced the following bill2 which was referred to the ,committee on ,financial ,services1 and in addition to the ,committee on ,house ,administration1 for a period to be subsequently determined by the ,speaker1 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned ,a ,,bill ,to award a ,congressional ,gold ,medal to the members of the ,women's ,army ,corps who were assigned to the #fhhhth ,central ,postal ,directory ,battalion1 known as the ,six ,triple ,eight4 #a4 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as the #8,six ,triple ,eight' ,congressional ,gold ,medal ,act of #bjai4 #b4 ,findings ,congress finds the following3 7#a7 ,on ,july #a1 #aidc1 ,president ,franklin ,d4 ,roosevelt signed into law legislation that established the ,women's ,army ,corps 7referred to in this section as the ,,wac7 as a component in the ,army4 ,the ,,wac was converted from the ,women's ,army ,auxiliary ,corps 7referred to in this section as the ,,waac71 which had been created in #aidb without official military status4 ,first ,lady ,eleanor ,roosevelt and ,mary ,mc,leod ,bethune1 the founder of the ,national ,council of ,negro ,women1 advocated for the admittance of ,african-,american women into the newly formed ,,wac to serve as officers and enlisted personnel4 7#b7 ,dubbed #aj percenters1 the recruitment of ,african-,american women to the ,,waac was limited to #aj percent of the population of the ,,waac to match the proportion of ,african ,americans in the national population4 ,despite an ,executive order issued by ,president ,franklin ,d4 ,roosevelt in #aida banning racial discrimination in civilian defense industries1 the ,armed ,forces remained segregated4 ,enlisted women served in segregated units1 participated in segregated training1 lived in separate quarters1 ate at separate tables in mess halls1 and used segregated recreational facilities4 ,officers received their officer candidate training in integrated units but lived under segregated conditions4 ,specialist and technical training schools were integrated in #aidc4 ,during ,world ,war ,,ii1 a total of #f1ebj ,african-,american women served in the ,,waac and the ,,wac4 7#c7 ,after several units of ,white women were sent to serve in the ,european theater of operations 7referred to in this section as the ,,eto7 during ,world ,war ,,ii1 ,african-,american organizations advocated for the ,war ,department to extend the opportunity to serve overseas to ,african-,american ,,wac units4 7#d7 ,in ,november #aidd1 the ,war ,department approved sending ,african-,american women to serve in ,europe4 ,a battalion of all ,african-,american women drawn from the ,,wac1 the ,army ,service ,forces1 and the ,army ,air ,forces was created and designated as the #fhhhth ,central ,postal ,directory ,battalion 7referred to in this section as the #fhhhth71 which was nicknamed the ,six ,triple ,eight4 7#e7 ,with the exception of smaller units of ,african-,american nurses who served in ,africa1 ,australia1 and ,england1 the #fhhhth was the only ,african-,american women's unit to serve overseas during ,world ,war ,,ii4 7#f7 ,army officials reported a shortage of qualified postal officers within the ,,eto1 which resulted in a backlog of undelivered mail4 ,as ,allied forces drove across ,europe1 the ever-changing locations of servicemembers hampered the delivery of mail to those servicemembers4 ,one general predicted that the backlog in ,birmingham1 ,england1 would take #f months to process and the lack of reliable mail service was hurting morale4 7#g7 ,in ,may #aide1 the #fhhhth arrived in ,birmingham4 ,upon their arrival1 the #fhhhth found warehouses filled with millions of pieces of mail intended for members of the ,armed ,forces1 ,united ,states ,government personnel1 and ,red ,cross workers serving in the ,,eto4 7#h7 ,the #fhhhth created effective processes and filing systems to track individual servicemembers1 organize undeliverable mail1 determine the intended recipient for insufficiently addressed mail1 and handle mail addressed to servicemembers who had died4 ,adhering to their motto of ,no mail1 low morale1 the women processed an average of #fe1jjj pieces of mail per shift and cleared the #f-month backlog of mail within #c months4 7#i7 ,the #fhhhth traveled to ,rouen1 ,france1 later in ,may #aide and worked through a separate backlog of undelivered mail dating back as far as #c years4 7#aj7 ,at the completion of their mission1 the entire unit returned to the ,united ,states4 ,the #fhhhth was discontinued on ,march #i1 #aidf1 at ,fort ,dix1 ,new ,jersey4 7#aa7 ,these women faced racism and sexism1 and worked in austere conditions1 but were able to clear more than #ah1jjj1jjj pieces of backlog mail for ,americans in the ,,eto4 ,three died in ,france and are buried in ,normandy1 ,france1 while three others were beaten in a bus station in ,kentucky4 7#ab7 ,according to the ,department of ,defense1 during the period between ,february #aide and ,february #aidf1 the members of the ,six ,triple ,eight displayed meritorious service while deployed to ,england and ,france and conducted combat support operation which impacted the morale and welfare of ,u4,s4 servicemembers fighting across the ,european continent4 7#ac7 ,the ,department of the ,army awarded its ,meritorious ,unit ,commendation award to the members of the ,six ,triple ,eight noting that their professionalism and dedication are in keeping with the finest tradition of military service and reflect great credit upon themselves1 the ,women's ,army ,corps1 and the ,u4,s4 ,army4 7#ad7 ,the accomplishments of the #fhhhth in ,europe encouraged the ,general ,board1 ,united ,states ,forces1 ,european ,theater of ,operations to adopt the following premise in their study of the ,,wac issued in ,december #aide3 ,the national security program is the joint responsibility of all ,americans irrespective of color or sex and the continued use of colored1 along with white1 female military personnel is required in such strength as is proportionately appropriate to the relative population distribution between colored and white races4 7#ae7 ,the members of the ,six ,triple ,eight received the ,european ,african ,middle ,eastern ,campaign ,medal1 the ,women's ,army ,corps ,service ,medal1 and the ,world ,war ,,ii ,victory ,medal for their service4 7#af7 ,while over #hej ,african-,american women from across the ,united ,states have been documented to serve overseas with the ,six ,triple ,eight1 only a few are still alive including ,anna ,mae ,wilson ,robertson of ,milwaukee1 ,wisconsin1 ,delores ,l4 ,ruddock of ,mt4 ,rainer1 ,maryland1 ,lena ,derrieott ,bell ,king of ,las ,vegas1 ,nevada1 ,elizabeth ,bernice ,barker ,johnson of ,hickory1 ,north ,carolina1 ,maybelle ,rutland ,tanner ,campbell of ,alexandria1 ,virginia1 ,fannie ,mae ,mc,clendon of ,arizona1 and ,indiana ,hunt ,martin of ,maryland4 #c4 ,congressional ,gold ,medal 7a7 ,award authorized ,the ,speaker of the ,house of ,representatives and the ,president pro tempore of the ,senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the award1 on behalf of ,congress1 of a single gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the women of the #fhhhth ,central ,postal ,directory ,battalion 7commonly known as the ,six ,triple ,eight7 in recognition of-- 7#a7 the pioneering military service of those women2 7#b7 the devotion to duty of those women2 and 7#c7 the contributions made by those women to increase the morale of all ,united ,states personnel stationed in the ,european theater of operations during ,world ,war ,,ii4 7b7 ,design and striking ,for the purposes of the award described in subsection 7a71 the ,secretary of the ,treasury 7referred to in this ,act as the ,secretary7 shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems1 devices1 and inscriptions1 to be determined by the ,secretary4 7c7 ,smithsonian ,institution 7#a7 ,in general ,after the award of the gold medal under subsection 7a71 the medal shall be given to the ,smithsonian ,institution1 where the medal shall be available for display1 as appropriate1 and made available for research4 7#b7 ,sense of ,congress ,it is the sense of ,congress that the ,smithsonian ,institution should make the gold medal received under paragraph 7#a7 available elsewhere1 particularly at-- 7,a7 appropriate locations associated with the #fhhhth ,central ,postal ,directory ,battalion2 7,b7 the ,women in ,military ,service for ,america ,memorial2 7,c7 the ,united ,states ,army ,women's ,museum2 7,d7 the ,national ,world ,war ,,ii ,museum and ,memorial2 and 7,e7 any other location determined appropriate by the ,smithsonian ,institution4 #d4 ,duplicate medals ,under such regulations as the ,secretary may prescribe1 the ,secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under section #c at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the medals1 including labor1 materials1 dies1 use of machinery1 and overhead expenses4 #e4 ,national medals 7a7 ,national medals ,medals struck under this ,act are national medals for purposes of chapter #ea of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code4 7b7 ,numismatic items ,for purposes of section #eacd of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 all medals struck under this ,act shall be considered to be numismatic items4