Senate Resolution 33 - Introduced

PAG LIN





  1  1                SENATE RESOLUTION NO.    
  1  2    BY  BLACK, ANGELO, WARNSTADT, HOUSER, and KIBBIE
  1  3 A Resolution to recognize Vernon J. Baker, the only
  1  4    living World War II Medal of Honor recipient with an
  1  5    Iowa attachment.
  1  6    WHEREAS, Vernon J. Baker of St. Maries, Idaho,
  1  7 lived in the great State of Iowa while attending
  1  8 Clarinda High School, Clarinda, Iowa, where he was a
  1  9 star running back on the Clarinda High School football
  1 10 team, and was a member of the Clarinda High School
  1 11 marching band, and graduated from Clarinda High School
  1 12 with distinct honors in the year 1939; and
  1 13    WHEREAS, Vernon J. Baker, having joined the United
  1 14 States Army following high school, was later ordered
  1 15 to attend officer training school and was commissioned
  1 16 and assigned to the 370th Regiment, 92nd Infantry
  1 17 Division, the first African=American unit to go into
  1 18 combat in World War II; and
  1 19    WHEREAS, First Lieutenant Vernon J. Baker, in
  1 20 personal action against the German enemy, served his
  1 21 country in northern Italy in 1945 and was subsequently
  1 22 and appropriately selected, along with six other
  1 23 African=Americans, for decoration with the Medal of
  1 24 Honor, our nation's highest award for valor and
  1 25 intrepidity beyond the call of duty; and
  1 26    WHEREAS, First Lieutenant Vernon J. Baker was the
  1 27 only living recipient of those seven so honored with
  1 28 the Medal of Honor in ceremonies in the East Room of
  1 29 the White House on January 13, 1997, by President
  1 30 William J. Clinton, who placed the Medal of Honor
  2  1 around Baker's neck, and Vernon J. Baker today remains
  2  2 the lone living African=American serviceman from World
  2  3 War II to receive the Medal of Honor; and
  2  4    WHEREAS, Vernon J. Baker is but one of three living
  2  5 Medal of Honor recipients of the total 108 having been
  2  6 awarded to soldiers with Iowa attachments; and
  2  7    WHEREAS, it has come to the attention of the
  2  8 General Assembly of the State of Iowa that Vernon J.
  2  9 Baker, of good health virtually all of his 85 years,
  2 10 is now recovering from critical invasive surgery for
  2 11 removal of a malignant brain tumor; and
  2 12    WHEREAS, Vernon J. Baker, Medal of Honor recipient,
  2 13 can best be shown appreciation by a grateful nation by
  2 14 consideration of his medical condition and a
  2 15 resolution of his medical benefits dilemma; and
  2 16    WHEREAS, it is the desire of the citizens of the
  2 17 great State of Iowa, embodied in this Resolution
  2 18 prepared by their representatives in the Iowa Senate,
  2 19 that Vernon J. Baker be acknowledged in the eyes of
  2 20 the nation for his sacrifice and valor, and that
  2 21 appreciation be extended by virtue of actions taken at
  2 22 the national level to alleviate his burden; NOW
  2 23 THEREFORE,
  2 24    BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That this Resolution
  2 25 seeking the relief described above be immediately
  2 26 submitted to the President of the United States; to
  2 27 the congressional delegations of the State of Iowa and
  2 28 the State of Idaho; to the President of the Senate and
  2 29 the Speaker of the House of the State of Idaho; to the
  2 30 Idaho Military Historical Society; and to Vernon J.
  3  1 Baker and Heidy Baker, St. Maries, Idaho.
  3  2 LSB 3550SS 81
  3  3 jr:rj/pj/5