1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) In January 1944, there were no Black officers in the United States Navy. That month, 16 Black enlisted men were assembled at the Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, for officer training. (2) These men were expected to complete the training in 8 weeks, while the normal officer training course was 16 weeks. (3) These men supported each other, including by placing blankets over their windows and studying as a group by flashlight at night. Each man brought to the group his own expertise to help the others. (4) When the course was over, all 16 men passed their exams, leading some to claim that they had cheated. The men were forced to retake certain exams and scored even higher. (5) The average grade for these men on the exams was a 3.89 out of a 4.00, the highest average of any class in Navy history at that time. (6) Despite all 16 men having passed the course, on February 24, 1944, the Navy commissioned only 12 of them, and a 13th was made a chief warrant officer. Because the Navy had assumed a 25-percent attrition rate, only 12 officer commissions were anticipated. As the class had a 100-percent passage rate, the other three men were returned to the enlisted corps, with no reason given. (7) During their careers, these men 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, and the rest would return to civilian life. (8) In the 1970s, Captain Edward Secrest, a former instructor, gave the group the name Golden Thirteen . (9) In 1982, these men were formally recognized with a first-ever reunion at sea aboard the USS KIDD–993. (10) The members of the Golden Thirteen were 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