A number of new programs have entered the legislative system, calling for congressional gold medals.

A congressional gold medal is sought as H.R. 9386 to honor “James J. Andrews and William H. Campbell in recognition of their extraordinary bravery and steadfast devotion to the Nation during the [American] Civil War as the only civilian members of Andrews’ Raiders, who launched a daring military raid that became known as the ‘Great Locomotive Chase.’ ”It  was introduced in the House Aug. 20 by Rep. Charles J. Fleischman, R-Tennessee.

Volunteers from the Union Army, led by civilian scout James J. Andrews, commandeered a steam-powered locomotive train, The General, and powered it northward toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, inflicting as much damage as possible to the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&A) line from Atlanta to Chattanooga as they went.

Confederate forces were on the heels of the train, first on foot, and afterward in a succession of locomotives, including The Texas, for some 87 miles.

Built in 1855 by the Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor in Paterson, New Jersey for the Western & Atlantic Railroad, The General is today preserved on display at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Protecting the nation

House Resolution 9336 was introduced by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-New Mexico and the companion S. 4988 was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Martin Heinnrich, D-New Mexico.

The measures seek “To award a congressional gold medal, collectively, to the individuals who fought for or with the United States against the armed forces of Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater and the impacted Saskinax people on Attu, whose lives, culture, and community were irrevocably changed from Dec. 8, 1941, to Aug. 15, 1945.”

According to U.S. military archives, Japanese armed forces invaded Attu in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska during World War II.

Imperial Japanese Army troops landed unchallenged on June 7, 1942, the day after the invasion of nearby Kiska.

Along with the Kiska assault, it was the first time that the continental United States was invaded and occupied by a foreign power since the War of 1812, and was the second of the only two invasions of the United States during World War II.

Attu’s occupation ended May 30, 1943 with the Allied victory in the Battle of Attu.

In May 1942, Japanese forces conducted almost simultaneous maneuvers against the Aleutian Islands and Midway.

The 1,140 Japanese infantry troops captured Attu’s entire population of 47 people — taking prisoner 45 indigenous Aleuts and a white American couple, Charles and Etta Jones.

Those taken prisoner were transported to prison camps in Japan, except for Charles Jones, a radio operator killed by Japanese troops for his refusal to fix the radio he destroyed to prevent its use by the invaders.

During the Battle of Attu that began on May 11, 1943, Allied troops gained control, killing all but 29 of the Japanese soldiers. U.S. Army casualties totaled 549 killed and 1,148 wounded.

Masonic lodge activist

House Resolution 9329, introduced in the House by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, seeks recognition for Prince Hall, the founder of the first Black Masonic lodge in the United States.

Hall (born circa 1738, in Bridgetown, Barbados; died Dec. 4, 1807, age 72, in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston.

Hall founded Prince Hall Freemasonry and pushed for education rights for African American children. He was also active in the back-to-Africa movement.

The movement grew from a widely held assumption, primarily among some European Americans in the 18th and 19th century United States, that African Americans would naturally want to return to the continent of Africa, which turned out to be far from the truth. Failure of the movement triggered the foundation of radicalized abolitionist initiatives.

Hall strived to reserve a place for New York’s enslaved and free blacks in Freemasonry, education, and the military, some of the most crucial spheres of society in his time.

Hall is considered the founder of “Black Freemasonry” in the United States, known today as Prince Hall Freemasonry.

Hall formed the African Grand Lodge, the first black Masonic lodge, on Sept. 29, 1784, and was unanimously elected its Grand Master, serving until his death.

Hall was attracted to the Masonic ideals of liberty, equality, and peace. Before the outbreak of the American Revolution, Hall and other like-minded blacks had sought membership in an all-white Boston St. John’s Lodge but were rebuffed.

Recognition of labor

House Resolution 9419, introduced Aug. 27 by Rep. Donald Norcross, D-New Jersey, would recognize posthumously Peter J. McGuire for his contributions to the American labor movement.

McGuire, credited with proposing in 1882 the first Labor Day as a national holiday, was a 19th century American labor leader.

Along with Gustav Luebkert, McGuire co-founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1881 and grew to become a leading figure in the first three decades of the American Federation of Labor.

McGuire dedicated his efforts early to political activism over trade unionism.

McGuire joined forces with Adolph Strasser, later president of the Cigar Makers’ Union, to found the Social Democratic Workingmens Party of North America, a Lassallean socialist organization that proposed to achieve socialism through organization of a socialist party and the organization of trade unions.

McGuire became heavily entrenched in efforts toward an eight-hour workday, and subsequently held membership in the Greenback Labor Party after moving in 1878 to St. Louis, Missouri, from New York City.

In St. Louis, McGuire continued to work as a carpenter and joined the Knights of Labor. McGuire spearheaded a successful strike of carpenters in St. Louis in support of the eight-hour day.

With the eventual disbanding of the Greenback Labor Party, McGuire focused his attention on the Knights of Labor.

Opposed to some of that labor group’s policies, McGuire championed creation of a separate labor federation. He attended one of the preliminary meetings that led to the organization of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881. McGuire served as vice-president of the Federation and its successor, the American Federation of Labor, for most of the following two decades.

All House measures were sent to the House Committee on Financial Services.

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