Full Text of HR1077 100th General Assembly
HR1077 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona was born on | 3 | | August 29, 1936, and during the 81 years
since that time, he | 4 | | has been a leader among his fellow Americans; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Senator McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone; | 6 | | his family was in the U.S. Navy; his
father John S. "Jack" | 7 | | McCain Jr. was an honored naval officer who would eventually | 8 | | rise to the rank
of Commander-in-Chief Pacific Command | 9 | | (CINCPAC); after growing up in a variety of locations | 10 | | throughout North America and the Pacific Ocean, he was
admitted | 11 | | to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1954; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, As a midshipman, Senator McCain turned his eyes | 13 | | towards the flying service; after his
commissioning as a naval | 14 | | ensign, he trained at Naval Air Station Pensacola and at Naval | 15 | | Air Station
Corpus Christi; as an aircraft carrier flier, he | 16 | | served during the Cuban missile crisis and, continuing
his rise | 17 | | in the service, was assigned flight-instruction duties at Naval | 18 | | Air Station Meridian
(Mississippi); and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, With the intensification of the Vietnam War, | 20 | | Senator McCain requested reassignment to combat
duty and, in | 21 | | 1967, was assigned to fly A-4E Skyhawk attack jets based on the | 22 | | carrier U.S.S.
Forrestal and then the U.S.S. Oriskany; the |
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| 1 | | Forrestal and Oriskany were assigned to Gulf of
Tonkin duties; | 2 | | and | 3 | | WHEREAS, On October 26, 1967, while engaged in combat over | 4 | | Hanoi, Senator McCain's Skyhawk was
downed by Soviet/North | 5 | | Vietnamese anti-aircraft missile fire; severely injured upon | 6 | | his ejection
from the doomed plane, he was immediately | 7 | | captured, beaten, and bayoneted by his captors,
and confined as | 8 | | a prisoner of war; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, In the "Hanoi Hilton" and other places of | 10 | | imprisonment, Senator McCain was subjected to torture and | 11 | | prolonged solitary confinement; after learning that their | 12 | | captive was the son of a high-ranking
U.S. admiral, in June of | 13 | | 1968 the North Vietnamese told McCain that he was free to | 14 | | return to the
United States; suspecting that this was a | 15 | | propaganda ploy intended to show American elitism in
action, | 16 | | and in obedience to the United States Code of Conduct to be | 17 | | followed by all members of the
U.S. Armed Forces who are | 18 | | prisoners of war, McCain stated to his captors that he would | 19 | | not leave
captivity prior to his fellow prisoners; upon making | 20 | | this statement, he was returned to solitary
confinement, which | 21 | | he would endure for a total of approximately two years; and | 22 | | WHEREAS, Although Vietnam War peace negotiations began in | 23 | | 1969, a cease-fire agreement proved
elusive, partly because of |
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| 1 | | prolonged disputes concerning the status of prisoners of war; | 2 | | during the
four-year period from 1969 into 1973, Americans | 3 | | carried the prisoners of the Vietnamese War in
their prayers | 4 | | and thoughts; the Paris Peace Accords were finally signed in | 5 | | January of 1973, and Senator McCain
was released on March 14, | 6 | | 1973, after five and a half years of captivity, returning to | 7 | | active U.S. Navy
service; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, After achieving promotion to the rank of naval | 9 | | captain and commanding a squadron of
his fellow fliers, Senator | 10 | | McCain retired from the U.S. Navy in April of 1981 with a | 11 | | determination to enter
politics; he moved to Phoenix, the home | 12 | | city of his wife, Cindy Lou Hensley, and was elected to the
| 13 | | U.S. House of Representatives as a congressman from Arizona in | 14 | | 1982, where he served for four years; he won election to the | 15 | | U.S. Senate in 1986; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, As a lawmaker, Senator McCain has specialized in | 17 | | issues of U.S. defense and national
security, rising to the | 18 | | rank of chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee; | 19 | | although he has
compiled a strongly conservative voting record | 20 | | in the U.S. Senate, he has developed ties of
friendship with | 21 | | lawmakers from both parties; and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, In September of 2008, the Republican Party | 23 | | nominated Senator McCain as their nominee for
President of the |
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| 1 | | United States; McCain won
the votes of more than 59.9 million | 2 | | Americans, which was a plurality of the vote in 22 of the
50 | 3 | | states; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, After the 2008 presidential election, Senator | 5 | | McCain returned to lawmaking and was elected to
two additional | 6 | | terms in the U.S. Senate; he served actively as a drafter of | 7 | | bills and appropriations,
and as a committee spokesman and | 8 | | chairman, until his affliction in 2017 with severe illness; the
| 9 | | story of John McCain is now familiar to all Americans; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Senator McCain is the maverick; he is truly the | 11 | | independent statesman, the patriot which we all know, and the | 12 | | hero we all honor; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 14 | | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 15 | | commend Navy Captain and United States Senator John McCain for | 16 | | his service, in war and in peace, to the United States of | 17 | | America; and be it further | 18 | | RESOLVED, That we declare the life and congressional | 19 | | service of Senator McCain to be an inspiration
to all | 20 | | Americans; and be it further
| 21 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be |
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| 1 | | presented to Senator John McCain and his family at
his home in | 2 | | Arizona and all members of the Illinois Congressional | 3 | | Delegation.
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