R 276 |
2019 -- H 6083 Enacted 05/08/2019 |
H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N |
COMMEMORATING THE 74TH ANNIVERSARY OF V-E DAY (VICTORY IN EUROPE) ON MAY 8, 2019, IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND |
Introduced By: Representatives Azzinaro, Shekarchi, Chippendale, Filippi, and Vella- |
Date Introduced: May 08, 2019 |
WHEREAS, World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded |
Poland. Shortly thereafter, most of the nations of Western Europe were invaded by Hitler’s |
armies, and brutalized and defeated. France, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Greece, Demark |
and the former Yugoslavia were conquered and their populations subjected to terror, murder, and |
other unspeakable crimes against humanity, while Great Britain faced daily bombings of its cities |
and military installations by the German Luftwaffe; and |
WHEREAS, On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa, and |
on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, turning World War II into a global |
catastrophe. Four days later on December 11, 1941, Nazi Germany declared war on the United |
States, and what followed for the next 42 months was warfare on a scale never seen before in the |
history of humanity. Altogether, it is estimated that 35 million Europeans were killed, including 6 |
million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis in death camps known as Auschwitz, Bergen- |
Belsen, Treblinka, Dachau and many others; and |
WHEREAS, From 1942 to May of 1945, the Allies and Nazi Germany fought in every |
kind of environment imaginable, from the air in horrific battles over England and Germany, to the |
sea in the North Atlantic as American and British destroyers and search planes fought furiously to |
stop the Nazi submarines and their brutal wolfpack tactics, to land battles in Stalingrad and Kursk |
in the East, El-Alamein in the desert of Africa, to D-Day and Omaha Beach, Anzio, and the Battle |
of the Bulge in the West, that will reverberate in history books until the end of time; and |
WHEREAS, Finally, on May 8, 1945, shortly after Hitler had committed suicide, German |
General Alfred Jodl, representing Nazi Germany, surrendered Germany’s remaining forces in |
Reims, France, to the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and France. At the same |
time, United States President Harry S. Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill |
declared that May 8th would be celebrated as V-E Day; and |
WHEREAS, As we commemorate this most important day in World and United States |
history, let us never forget that millions perished in combat and in death camps due to tyranny |
and evil, and let us also never forget that in the United States millions sacrificed much to defend |
freedom. We should always remember the brave American soldiers who endured the brutal cold |
to stop the German attack in the Battle of the Bulge in places named Bastogne and the Ardennes |
in Belgium and the heroic airmen who fought, and often perished, in the skies over Nazi Germany |
or the Prisoners of War who endured harsh conditions, and the selfless sacrifice and heroics of the |
American soldiers who landed at Omaha Beach and faced an inferno of enemy fire. We should |
also never forget the sacrifices of those on the home front, who ate less, conducted endless scrap |
drives, bought war bonds, and worried terribly about their loved ones at the front; now, therefore |
be it |
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and |
Providence Plantations hereby commemorates the 74th Anniversary of V-E Day in the State of |
Rhode Island; and be it further |
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of |
the United States, the Honorable Gina M. Raimondo, Governor of the State of Rhode Island, and |
Major General Christopher P. Callahan, the Rhode Island Adjutant General. |
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LC002598 |
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