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HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, In accordance with the established tradition of
3the Illinois House of Representatives, it is fitting that we
4honor our brothers and sisters who have given their lives in
5service to our country as the guardians of our long-held
6freedoms; and
 
7    WHEREAS, To honor those brave souls who were sacrificed
8long ago or to pay tribute to the those brave men and women of
9today who have continued that fight for freedom, no better
10words have been written than the Gettysburg Address; let us
11now recite those words so humbly said by our 16th President,
12Abraham Lincoln: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers
13brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in
14Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
15created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
16whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
17dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield
18of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,
19as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives
20that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
21proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we
22cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this
23ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
24have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or

 

 

HR0819- 2 -LRB103 40883 JDS 73842 r

1detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what
2we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is
3for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
4unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so
5nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
6great task remaining before us, that from those honored dead
7we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave
8the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve
9that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation,
10under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
11government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall
12not perish from the earth."; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Those words from long ago still speak to the
14sacrifice of the brave men and women whom we now honor; it is
15altogether fitting and appropriate that we, with heavy hearts,
16again accept the honor of reading the roll call of those
17American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines from the State
18of Illinois who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the years
19since the previous tribute; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
21HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
22a copy of this resolution be presented to the families of the
23fallen heroes honored on May 22, 2024.