1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Congressional Gold Medal Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Hours after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Imperial Japanese forces launched an attack on the Philippines, cutting off vital lines of communication to members of the Armed Forces of the United States (referred to in this Act as the Armed Forces ) and Filipino troops in the Far East under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. (2) On December 8, 1941, the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery Regiments, successors to the New Mexico National Guardsmen who made up part of the famed Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War, were the first to fire . (3) Despite being cut off from supply lines and reinforcements, members of the Armed Forces and Philippine troops quickly executed a plan to delay the Japanese invasion and defend the Philippines against that invasion. (4) Combined U.S.-Filipino ground forces fight a prolonged six-month resistance to Imperial Japan’s invasion of the Philippines. With the U.S. unable to deliver reinforcements, the U.S.-Filipino forces slowly deteriorate in combat effectiveness through lack of food, supplies, ammunition, and disease as well as from no air and naval support. (5) By December 10, 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps airfields at Del Carmen, Clark, Nichols, and Nielson on Luzon in the Philippines, as well as the nearby U.S. Naval facilities at Cavite and Olongapo had been destroyed. The surviving sailors, Marines, and airmen were organized into provisional infantry units and sent to fight on the Bataan Peninsula. (6) By April 1942, troops from the United States and the Philippines had bravely and staunchly fought off enemy attacks in Bataan for more than 4 months under strenuous conditions that resulted in widespread starvation and disease. (7) Securing the withdrawal of United States forces on Luzon to the Bataan Peninsula were— (A) 1,809 New Mexico National Guardsmen from 200th and 515th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft)