Introduction of the Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act. This bill would award a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 African Americans who became the first African American commissioned and warrant officers in the United States Navy.

In 1944, the Navy began officer training courses for 16 African American men. At the time, there were no African American officers in the Navy. These 16 men were expected to complete their training in eight weeks, while normal officer training was 16 weeks.

These 16 men supported each other, including by placing blankets over their windows and studying as a group by flashlight at night. Each brought to the group his own expertise to help the others.

When the course was completed, all 16 passed their exams. With some claiming that the group must have cheated, the group was forced to retake certain exams and scored even higher. The average grade for the group was 3.89 out of 4.00, the highest average of any class in Navy history at that time.

Even though all 16 men passed the course, the Navy commissioned only 12 of the men, and a 13th was made a chief warrant officer. Three returned to the enlisted corps, with no reason given by the Navy.

During the men's careers, they oversaw all-Black units or the training of Black recruits. One would go on to make his career in the Navy after World War II, with the rest returning to civilian life. In the 1970s, Captain Edward Secrest, a former instructor, gave the group the name the ``Golden Thirteen.''

I urge my colleagues to support this bill to honor the first African American officers in the Navy, Jesse Walter Arbor; Phillip G. Barnes; Samuel Edward Barnes; Dalton Louis Baugh, Sr.; George Clinton Cooper; Reginald Ernest Goodwin; James Edward Hair; Charles Byrd Lear; Graham Edward Martin; Dennis Denmark Nelson; John Walter Reagan; Frank Ellis Sublett, Jr.; and William Sylvester White. The three members who passed their exams but were not given a commission were Augustus Alves; J.B. Pinkney; and Lewis ``Mummy'' Williams.

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