119-hr819

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 819 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 819

 To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Colonel Young Oak 
 Kim in recognition of his extraordinary heroism, leadership, and 
 humanitarianism.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 28, 2025

 Ms. Strickland (for herself, Mrs. Kim, Mr. Min, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. 
 Jackson of Illinois, and Mr. Carson) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in 
 addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
 of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
 concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Colonel Young Oak 
 Kim in recognition of his extraordinary heroism, leadership, and 
 humanitarianism.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Colonel Young Oak Kim Congressional 
Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 The Congress finds the following:

    (1) Young Oak Kim was born in Los Angeles in 1919 to Korean 
 American immigrants, where his family faced numerous 
 challenges. After high school, Kim enrolled in Los Angeles City 
 College, but dropped out after a year to find work to help 
 support his family.

    (2) Because of racial discrimination, Kim struggled to keep 
 employed. With the outbreak of World War II

    (WWII) , Kim tried 
 to enlist in the United States Army, but that opportunity was 
 closed off to him, too, as an Asian American. However, after 
 Congress extended conscription to Asian Americans, Kim was 
 drafted into the Army, entering the service on January 31, 
 1941.

    (3) From the earliest days of Kim's service in the United 
 States Army, he distinguished himself as a leader, being 
 selected for the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort 
 Benning, Georgia. Upon his commission as a second lieutenant in 
 1943, Kim was assigned to the all-Japanese American 100th 
 Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team.

    (4) Young Oak Kim was assigned as an officer of the 100th 
 Infantry Battalion that was formed on June 5, 1942, comprised 
 of predominantly second-generation Americans of Japanese 
 ancestry from the Hawaiian Islands.

    (5) When Kim reported to duty, his commanding officer gave 
 Kim the option to transfer due to the historical conflicts 
 between the Japanese and Koreans, but Kim stated, ``Sir, 
 they're Americans and I am an American. And we're going to 
 fight for America.''.

    (6) The 100th Infantry Battalion was deployed to the 
 Mediterranean and entered combat in Italy on September 26, 
 1943. The 100th Battalion fought at Cassino, Italy, in January 
 1944, and later accompanied the 34th Infantry Division to 
 Anzio, Italy.

    (7) Kim's most notable feat occurred at the Battle of 
 Anzio. During broad daylight he volunteered to capture German 
 soldiers for intelligence information. He and another soldier 
 crawled more than 600 yards located directly under German 
 observation posts with no cover. They captured two prisoners 
 and obtained information that significantly contributed to the 
 fall of Rome. For his actions, Kim received the Distinguished 
 Service Cross from the United States and the Military Valor 
 Cross, the highest military decoration in Italy.

    (8) The 100th Infantry Battalion was formally made an 
 integral part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team on June 15, 
 1944, and fought for the last 11 months of the war with 
 distinction in Italy, southern France, and Germany. The 442nd 
 Regimental Team became the most decorated unit in United States 
 military history for its size and length of service. The 100th 
 Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, received 7 
 Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 
 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze 
 Stars, 22 Legion of Merit Medals, 15 Soldier's Medals, and over 
 4,000 Purple Hearts, among numerous additional distinctions.

    (9) When the Korean war broke out in 1950, Kim rejoined the 
 United States Army and participated in the United Nations 
 Forces' last drive into Korea. As commander of the First 
 Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, he became the first officer 
 of color in United States history to command an Army battalion 
 on the battlefield.

    (10) In Seoul, he led his battalion in sponsoring an 
 orphanage of more than 500 children. The battalion was the only 
 United Nations military unit to sponsor an orphanage during the 
 war.

    (11) In 1972, Kim retired from the Army at the rank of 
 Colonel. By the end of his career, Kim had earned the 
 Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze 
 Stars, three Purple Hearts, two Legions of Merit, and several 
 military commendations from foreign governments--Italy's Bronze 
 Medal of Military Valor and Military Valor Cross, France's La 
 Legion D'Honneur, and the Republic of Korea's Taeguk Order of 
 Military Merit.

    (12) Kim returned to his native Los Angeles and became a 
 civic leader. In 1975, he established the Koreatown Youth and 
 Community Center in Los Angeles to support recently immigrated 
 Korean youth who were struggling with poverty and language 
 barriers, which today serves a broad multi-ethnic population of 
 11,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area.

    (13) In 1978, Kim helped establish the Center for the 
 Pacific Asian Family

    (CPAF) , an organization providing 
 culturally and linguistically appropriate domestic violence and 
 sexual assault services to the pan-Asian immigrant community. 
 Under his leadership as CPAF's chairman, the organization 
 became the largest women's shelter in Southern California in 
 the 1990s.

    (14) In 1986, Kim founded the Korean Health, Education, 
 Information and Research Center

    (KHEIR) , a nonprofit service 
 agency providing culturally and linguistically sensitive health 
 care and human services to the uninsured and underserved 
 residents of Los Angeles. Today KHEIR operates two clinics that 
 can accommodate more than 75,000 patient visits annually and is 
 the only federally qualified health center in the United States 
 that serves a majority Korean patient base, with all services 
 available in English, Korean, and Spanish.

    (15) In 1985, Kim co-founded the Japanese American National 
 Museum

    (JANM) , which promotes understanding and appreciation of 
 America's ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese 
 American experience.

    (16) In 1989, Kim founded and served as the Chairman of the 
 100th/442nd/MIS WWII Memorial Foundation, which is now known as 
 the Go for Broke National Education Center. Kim led a campaign 
 with veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd RCT and 
 Military Intelligence Service to build the Go for Broke 
 Monument, in downtown Los Angeles, which serves as a tribute to 
 the Japanese American soldiers of World War II.

    (17) Kim's contributions in the 1980s and 1990s also 
 included founding the Korean American Museum and the Korean 
 American Coalition, both entities dedicated to understanding 
 the Korean American experience and addressing its issues and 
 needs.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of 
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design, in commemoration 
of Colonel Young Oak Kim, in recognition of his achievements and 
contributions to heroism, leadership, and humanitarianism.

    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the presentation 
referred to in subsection

    (a) , the Secretary of the Treasury (referred 
to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the 
Secretary.
            (c) Smithsonian Institution.--

    (1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal 
 under subsection

    (a) , the gold medal shall be given to the 
 Smithsonian Institution, where it shall be available for 
 display as appropriate and made available for research.

    (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
 the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal received 
 under paragraph

    (1) available for--
        (A) display, particularly at the National Portrait 
 Gallery; or
        (B) loan, as appropriate, so that the medal may be 
 displayed elsewhere.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to 

section 3 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant this Act are 
national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States 
Code.

    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
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