119th (2025–2027)
H.R. 4621
This bill authorizes Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, an all-African-American Army unit that played a vital role during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. The battalion was the only American barrage balloon unit in France and the first and only segregated African-American unit to land on the beaches during D-Day, where they deployed hydrogen-filled balloons to protect Allied forces from German aircraft attacks and contributed to downing at least one enemy plane. The bill highlights their extraordinary contributions, including medic Corporal Waverly B. Woodson Jr., who saved approximately 200 soldiers despite being severely wounded, though he never received the Medal of Honor he was recommended for. After receiving the medal, it will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution with the expectation that it may travel to locations associated with D-Day and World War II history. The Treasury Department will fund the medal's creation through the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and any revenue from selling duplicate bronze medals will be returned to that fund.