Proposal to Award OSS Medal to WWII Veterans Has Stalled in Congress

Congress has stalled in its attempt to honor some special World War II veterans.

Legislation has been proposed to award the Congressional Gold Medal to members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The legislation states the reason for the award is their effectiveness in espionage. At its peak, the organization had 13,000 men and women from all branches of the military. The OSS was known for its ingenuity.

The “OSS Congressional Gold Medal Act” passed the Senate and had the proper number of co-sponsors to pass the House. But that’s as far as it  has gotten and it now sits, stalled. All remaining OSS members are in their 90s.

“If the bill is not passed by the end of the 114th Congress, it will die and some of the greatest heroes of the ‘greatest generation’ will never be honored for their service, which would be a travesty,” said a source familiar with the situation.

To make matters worse, the medal has been awarded to their peer, the Native American Code Talkers, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.

Military historian Patrick O’Donnell verifies that the OSS members deserve the medal, The Washington Times reported.

“They changed the face of World War II. You’d be very hard-pressed to find a smaller group of individuals who made such a profound difference in the history of modern American warfare,” said Mr. O’Donnell.