About The Congressional Gold Medal

Chinese American Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Images © United States Mint 2019. Non-journalism use requires United States Mint 2019 permission Notwithstanding any terms of use.

After the Chinese American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act became Public Law 115-337 on December 20, 2018, Senator Tammy Duckworth and Representative Ted Lieu designated Major General Robert G.F. Lee (US Army Retired) as the official liaison to the U.S. Mint to design a suitable Congressional Gold Medal (CGM) for Chinese American World War II Veterans.

The CGM liaison team of Ed Gor, C.A.C.A. Past National President, Ed Moy, former U.S. Mint Director, Major General William Chen (US Army Retired), Major General Stephen Tom (US Army Retired), Major General Darryll Wong (US Air Force Retired), Rear Admiral Jonathan Yuen (US Navy Retired), Commander Evelyn Moy (US Navy Retired) worked jointly and collaboratively with the staff and artists of the U.S. Mint on the development process for candidate designs for the CGM. 

After extensive reviews of the CGM candidate designs, the C.A.C.A. CGM liaison team narrowed the focus to designs for the obverse (front) that showcased that Chinese American Veterans of WWII served in every branch of the services and in every theater.  To complement that depiction, the team’s preferred reverse (back) design depicted how these distinguished men and women served on land, sea, and air during the war – particularly designs with the elements of a Sherman tank, the USS Missouri (BB63) battleship, and a P-40 fighter plane used by members of the “Flying Tigers.”  

On September 18, 2019, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) considered the portfolio of candidate designs and then recommended the CGM obverse and reverse designs preferred by the team, subject to minor modifications. 

On September 19, 2019, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) reviewed the same portfolio of candidate designs.  The CFA recommended the obverse and reverse designs preferred by the team (subject to minor requested modifications) and recommended by the CCAC. The CFA noted minor additional modifications to the designs.

In December 2019, Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin approved the final design selection. We wish to thank the staff at the US Mint for all their assistance in creating this wonderful design. We especially want to thank artist Donna Weaver and sculptors Michael Gaudioso and Renata Gordon for their exceptional work on the Congressional Gold Medal for Chinese American WWII Veterans.

Robert G.F. Lee
Major General, US Army (retired)
Chair, C.A.C.A. CGM Design Committee