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| | HR1528 | | LRB096 24482 GRL 44263 r |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of |
| 3 | | Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of
Ivan D. |
| 4 | | Thunder of Grayslake, who passed away on October 29, 2010; and
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| 5 | | WHEREAS, Ivan Thunder was born in Oakland, California on |
| 6 | | September 28, 1913; his parents were the late James and |
| 7 | | Gertrude Thunder; he attended Loyola Academy, graduating in |
| 8 | | 1932, and was the only one of his
siblings to attend college; |
| 9 | | during the Great Depression, he worked his way for 5 years
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| 10 | | through the 4-year program at Armour Tech (now the Illinois |
| 11 | | Institute of
Technology), graduating in 1937; he subsequently |
| 12 | | became a civil engineer; and
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| 13 | | WHEREAS, Ivan Thunder served his country with pride and |
| 14 | | distinction; when the United States entered World War II, Mr. |
| 15 | | Thunder was working at the
Panama Canal; he later joined the |
| 16 | | United States Navy and was a lieutenant junior grade
with the |
| 17 | | 133rd Naval Construction Battalion (SeaBees) of the 4th Marine
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| 18 | | Division; he landed on Iwo Jima on D-Day + 1; during World War |
| 19 | | II, Mr. Thunder was the commander of the first ship to make a |
| 20 | | successful landing at Iwo Jima and risked his life to extricate |
| 21 | | the ship from a chain that fouled the boat; and
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| 22 | | WHEREAS, Ivan Thunder was a member of the American Society |
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| | HR1528 | - 2 - | LRB096 24482 GRL 44263 r |
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| 1 | | of Engineers; as a
structural engineer, he helped to build |
| 2 | | America, constructing roads, bridges, dams, power plants, and
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| 3 | | steel-making plants; later in life, he began communicating in |
| 4 | | detail
about his war experience; he spoke to students at every |
| 5 | | level, including Navy
ROTC students at Notre Dame in April of |
| 6 | | 2007; he wrote a book about his life up to
the day he landed at |
| 7 | | Iwo Jima ("Her Last Letter" under the pseudonym Michael
Dalton) |
| 8 | | and wrote a second book about Iwo Jima and the Pacific War; and
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| 9 | | WHEREAS, Ivan Thunder was a member of St. Gilbert Catholic |
| 10 | | Church in Grayslake and Mary, Seat of Wisdom Parish in Park |
| 11 | | Ridge; and
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| 12 | | WHEREAS, Ivan Thunder was preceded in death by his |
| 13 | | cherished wife of 61 years, Rosemary; and
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| 14 | | WHEREAS, Ivan Thunder was the loving father of Rosemary |
| 15 | | (James) Schwoebel, Maureen (Dennis) Brebner, James (Ann Gerby) |
| 16 | | Thunder, Tom (Linda Craig) Thunder, Anita (Richard) |
| 17 | | Rotchstein, Diane (John) Schlosser, and Sheila (Gerard) |
| 18 | | Zygmunt; the proud grandfather of 26; and the great-grandfather |
| 19 | | of 15; therefore, be it
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| 20 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
| 21 | | NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we |
| 22 | | mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Ivan |