07-R278

2007 -- H 6437

Enacted 05/29/07

H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

THANKING AND HONORING THE MEMBERS OF THE BLOCK ISLAND ASSOCIATION FOR THEIR VALOROUS SERVICE TO OUR NATION DURING WORLD WAR II, THE KOREAN WAR, AND IN PEACETIME DUTIES

Introduced By: Representatives Walsh, E Coderre, and Lewiss

Date Introduced: May 23, 2007

     WHEREAS, America in 1941 was unprepared for fighting a war and found herself in an

extremely vulnerable position after this nation was attacked by the Japanese on December 7,

1941. As a result of this lack of preparation, many tankers had to be retrofitted to serve as Combat

Escort Vessels. One of those C3 tankers was Combat Vessel Escort-21, the USS Block Island;

and

     WHEREAS, Arguably no other theater in World War II was more vital and more

dangerous than the "Battle of the Atlantic" which took place on the seas between the US and

Great Britain. Arrayed to sink Allied shipping, the lifeline allowing Russia and the United

Kingdom to continue fighting, were hundreds of German Submarines or, as they called them, U-

Boats; and

     WHEREAS, In the first six months alone German U-Boats sank 397 ships and two

million tons of shipping. In the years 1942 and 1943 the Germans sank thousands of American,

Canadian and British ships carrying vital cargo. The USS Block Island CVE-21 was put to sea to

face these dauntless odds; and

     WHEREAS, Combat Vessel Escorts-21 shuttled war materials to the European Theater of

Operations, and later went on hunter-killer missions seeking out and destroying German U-Boats

that prowled the Atlantic. On May 29th 1944 the USS Block Island CVE-21 was sunk by a

German U-Boat. Six men on board perished along with four pilots in the air who, with the sinking

of the USS Block Island, had no mid-ocean landing strip. Thankfully, 951 survivors were rescued

from the sea and transported to Casablanca; and

     WHEREAS, Many of the survivors served on the second USS Block Island CVE-106.

They had onboard the first all-Marine fighter wing served to a United States Navy vessel. The

second USS Block Island aided their fellow Marines in Okinawa, and supported numerous Allied

assaults in the Pacific Theater. When hostilities ended in World War II, the USS Block Island

provided the first leg of a journey home to freedom for more than four hundred newly released

Prisoners of War hailing from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and the

Netherlands; and

     WHEREAS, After World War II the USS Block Island CVE-106 served as a training

vessel at the Naval Academy beginning in 1946. Later it was re-commissioned for active duty in

the Korean Conflict, and performed other duties including participating in anti-submarine

exercises off Block Island, before being de-commissioned in 1960; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby honors and thanks the members of the Block Island Association

for their valorous and heroic service to our nation during World War II, the Korean Conflict, and

other Cold War duties. We thank them for helping to preserve our nations' precious freedoms and

liberties for future generations; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the President of the Block Island Association.

=======

LC03078

=======