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Andrew Jackson Higgins (1886 - 1952) 
http://www.higginsmemorial.com/higgins.asp

Born in Columbus, Nebraska on August 28, 1886. During the war, his company produced thousands of the famous LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) more often called the Higgins Boat. This landing craft was in on every major D-Day invasion of the war. It was at the most famous D-Day at Normandy and at North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and the island of the Pacific like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Andrew Jackson Higgins died on August 1, 1952 and is buried in Metairie Cemetery, which is located just outside the city limits of New Orleans. 

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http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.2078:
Added 07 February 2002

To authorize the President to award gold medals on behalf of the Congress to the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins and the wartime employees of Higgins Industries, in recognition of... (Introduced in the House)

HR 2078 IH 


107th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2078
To authorize the President to award gold medals on behalf of the Congress to the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins and the wartime employees of Higgins Industries, in recognition of their contributions to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 6, 2001
Mr. JEFFERSON (for himself, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. MCCRERY, Mr. BAKER, Mr. JOHN, Mr. COOKSEY, Mr. VITTER, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. OWENS, Mr. CLAY, Mr. HOLT, Mr. WALSH, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. FROST, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. GORDON, Mr. FILNER, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. WOLF, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. LEE, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. BACA, Mr. REYES, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. RIVERS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. COYNE, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. BECERRA, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. BUYER, Mr. WYNN, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. FORD, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CLYBURN, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Mr. HONDA, and Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

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A BILL
To authorize the President to award gold medals on behalf of the Congress to the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins and the wartime employees of Higgins Industries, in recognition of their contributions to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds the following:

(1) Andrew Jackson Higgins designed, engineered, and produced high speed boats and various types of amphibious military landing craft, later to become known as `Higgins boats', which were used by Allied forces during World War II.

(2) Higgins boats, constructed of wood and steel, transported fully-armed troops, light tanks, field artillery, and other mechanized equipment essential to Allied amphibious operations, including the decisive D-Day attack at Normandy, France.

(3) Andrew Jackson Higgins also designed, engineered, and constructed four major assembly line plants in New Orleans for mass production of Higgins landing craft and other vessels vital to the Allied forces' conduct of World War II.

(4) Andrew Jackson Higgins' foresight, in purchasing the materials needed to produce a large number of boats even before the United States became embroiled in World War II, contributed to the Nation's readiness when it finally did enter the war.

(5) Andrew Jackson Higgins instituted a progressive social policy in his Higgins Industries factories by employing a fully-integrated assembly line work force of more than 20,000 black and white men and women during World War II, with equal pay for equal work, decades before legal requirements for integration and racial and gender equality were instituted.

(6) Prior to November 1940, when Higgins Industries began producing Higgins boats for the United States Government, the Navy had only 18 landing craft in its fleet; by the conclusion of the war, Higgins Industries had produced 20,094 landing craft of all types and had trained more than 30,000 Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard personnel in their use.

(7) In 1964, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower said of Andrew Jackson Higgins, `He is the man who won the war for us. If Higgins had not developed and produced those landing craft, we never could have gone in over an open beach. We would have had to change the entire strategy of the war.'

(8) Together, Andrew Jackson Higgins and the employees of Higgins Industries provided a decisive and essential contribution to the United States and Allied victory in World War II while practicing racial and gender workplace equality far in advance of the norm for the time.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS.

(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED- The President is authorized to present, on behalf of the Congress--

(1) a gold medal of appropriate design to the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins in recognition of his contributions to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II;

(2) a gold medal identical to the medal referred to in paragraph (1) to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, for public display; and

(3) a gold medal of appropriate design to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, in honor of the World War II employees of Higgins Industries and in recognition of their contributions to the Nation and to the Allied victory in World War II.

(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING- For the purpose of the presentations referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the `Secretary') shall strike gold medals with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medals struck under section 2 at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the duplicate bronze medals (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses) and the cost of the gold medals.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 5. FUNDING AND PROCEEDS OF SALE.

(a) AUTHORIZATION- There is hereby authorized to be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to exceed $60,000 to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by this Act.

(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE- Amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL  
Date: 5/4/00
http://www.nocitycouncil.com/content/councilnews.asp?cmd=view&articleid=31
Added 09 February 2002

A portion of Howard Avenue, between Lee Circle and Convention Center Boulevard, will be renamed Andrew Higgins Drive, honoring the contributions of the local entrepreneur. Higgins was known for developing the "Higgins Boats," or LCVPs (Land Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), specially designed to carry infantry platoons and jeeps to
shore in World War II. The National D-Day Museum, which will be located at the corner of Howard Avenue, now Andrew Higgins Drive, and Magazine Street, will recognize his special contribution with a replica of the LCVP.

Related: Higgins Industries [Off Site] 
            Higgins Memorial Project [Off Site] 

   This information compiled by Michael James Higgins Your Webmaster  

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