Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts was among the legislators who sustained the effort over multiple congressional sessions. The bill that eventually became law, signed by President Biden in December 2022, authorized the Congressional Gold Medal for the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, the Signal Company Special (244th), the 3132nd Signal Service Company, the 406th Engineer Combat Company, and the 3133rd Signal Service Company Special.
The specific enumeration of units in the legislation reflects the care taken to ensure that all components of the Ghost Army story received recognition. The 3133rd, as a separate unit that had served in Italy rather than with the 23rd, required specific inclusion. The legislative language was precise about the structure of the recognition to ensure that no component of the story was inadvertently excluded.
The two-year gap between authorization (2022) and presentation ceremony (2024) reflected the standard logistics of producing the medal itself and organizing a ceremony appropriate to the occasion at the Capitol. By the time the ceremony occurred, the number of living veterans had declined further. The seven survivors known to be living at the time of the ceremony were reduced to three who were able to travel to Washington and be present.
## Why This Story Had to Wait
The secrecy that kept the Ghost Army’s story from public knowledge for more than fifty years was not incidental to the story — it is part of it.
The United States government classified the 23rd’s operational history because the methods it had developed might have operational value in future conflicts. Military deception doctrine, specific techniques for visual and sonic and radio deception, the organizational structure of a dedicated deception unit — all of these were capabilities that could be used again. Revealing how the deception had worked could potentially alert future adversaries and reduce the effectiveness of similar techniques if they were employed again.