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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

  
 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of 
3Representatives wish to commend Nick Korompilas on his bravery 
4when his ship, the USS Mannert L. Abele, was attacked and sunk 
5off the island of Okinawa 74 years ago; and
  
 
6    WHEREAS, In the spring of 1945, Nick Korompilas, a native 
7of Lincolnwood, was part of an armada of ships supporting the 
8Allied invasion of Okinawa, the last of the battles of World 
9War II; most days, he worked in the sick bay, tending to the 
10sailor's cuts and scrapes and handing out aspirin; and
  
 
11    WHEREAS, On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, Nick 
12Korompilas waited in a makeshift sick bay as the USS Mannert L. 
13Abele came under attack near Okinawa by Japanese aircraft, 
14including kamikazes; a moment later, a Japanese suicide fighter 
15slammed into the starboard side of the ship, just above the 
16water line, engulfing it in flames; behind it came a 
17rocket-propelled bomb with a pilot squeezed into a tiny 
18cockpit; the blast tossed him 20 feet into the air; and
  
 
19    WHEREAS, Nick Korompilas got to his feet and prepared to 
20abandon the ship, but then he remembered his friend, the chief 
21commissary steward; he found the man lying on the floor of the 
22galley, drenched in scalding soup; he grabbed him by the life 
 
 
HR0321- 2 -LRB101 12140 ALS 59732 r

1jacked, carried him out of the sick bay, shoved him into the 
2water, and jumped in after him; within a minute, the entire 
3ship sank, leaving the survivors stranded in a sea of black 
4engine oil; and
  
 
5    WHEREAS, Nick Korompilas spent the next few hours treading 
6water and hauling the injured and dying to another American 
7naval ship; and
  
 
8    WHEREAS, Nick Korompilas received a naval heroism medal and 
9was given 30 days survivor leave in the United States; he spent 
10the remainder of the war working at a naval hospital in 
11Philadelphia; he married, had a son, and spent the rest of his 
12working life as a commercial real estate agent; therefore, be 
13it
  
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE 
15HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that 
16we commend Nick Korompilas on his heroic actions on the day his 
17ship, the USS Mannert L. Abele, was attacked and sunk by a 
18double kamikaze attack off the island of Okinawa; and be it 
19further
  
 
20    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
21presented to Nick Korompilas as an expression of our esteem and 
22respect.