Bonnie Eloise Rush Milam Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 9505 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 9505 To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Bonnie Eloise Rush Milam in recognition of her distinguished service to the United States Armed Forces through the Melody Maids and her lifelong contributions to patriotism, music education, and the leadership development of young women in the United States. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 29, 2026 Mr. Babin introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Bonnie Eloise Rush Milam in recognition of her distinguished service to the United States Armed Forces through the Melody Maids and her lifelong contributions to patriotism, music education, and the leadership development of young women in the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Bonnie Eloise Rush Milam Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. The Congress finds the following: (1) Bonnie Eloise Rush Milam, born in 1908 in Anahuac, Texas, was a music educator who founded the Melody Maids, an all-girls singing group, in Beaumont, Texas, in 1942 during World War II. (2) The Melody Maids began with a performance at a war bond rally and quickly expanded to support United States military morale, performing at bases, hospitals, and veterans' events across the United States and overseas, including four tours to Europe and the United Kingdom, seven tours to Nordic countries such as Greenland and Iceland, seven tours to Hawaii, three tours to Asia, five tours to Mexico, and tours to four locations in the Caribb