Full Text of HR0951 102nd General Assembly
HR0951 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | HR0951 | | LRB102 29113 ECR 41048 r |
|
| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, It is highly fitting that the Illinois General | 3 | | Assembly pays honor and respect to individuals who have given | 4 | | their lives in service to our nation; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, In late 1941, U.S. Army Air Corps Private First | 6 | | Class John L. Ferguson was a member of the 28th Materiel | 7 | | Squadron, U.S. Army Air Forces, when Japanese forces invaded | 8 | | the Philippine Islands in December; intense fighting continued | 9 | | until the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942 | 10 | | and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members | 12 | | were captured and interned at POW camps; PFC Ferguson was | 13 | | among those reported captured when U.S. forces in Bataan | 14 | | surrendered to the Japanese; the captured were subjected to | 15 | | the 65-mile Bataan Death March and then held at the Cabanatuan | 16 | | POW camp, where more than 2,500 POWs perished during the war; | 17 | | and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, According to prison camp and other historical | 19 | | records, PFC Ferguson died on December 10, 1942, and he was | 20 | | buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local | 21 | | Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 917; and
|
| | | HR0951 | - 2 - | LRB102 29113 ECR 41048 r |
|
| 1 | | WHEREAS, Following the war, American Graves Registration | 2 | | Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the | 3 | | Cabanatuan
Camp Cemetery and relocated the remains to a | 4 | | temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila; in 1947, the | 5 | | AGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them; five | 6 | | of the sets of remains from Common Grave 917 were identified, | 7 | | but the rest were declared unidentifiable; the unidentified | 8 | | remains were buried as Unknowns at the Manila American | 9 | | Cemetery and Memorial on February 15 and 16, 1950; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, In March 2018, the remains associated with Common | 11 | | Grave 917 were disinterred and sent for analysis to the | 12 | | Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) laboratory at Joint | 13 | | Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Although interred as an Unknown at the Manila | 15 | | American Cemetery and Memorial, PFC Ferguson's grave was | 16 | | meticulously cared for by the American Battle Monuments | 17 | | Commission over the past 70 years; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, PFC Ferguson will return home and be laid to rest | 19 | | in Gridley on October 1, 2022; therefore, be it
| 20 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 21 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 22 | | we honor the life and service of U.S. Army Air Corps Private |
| | | HR0951 | - 3 - | LRB102 29113 ECR 41048 r |
|
| 1 | | First Class John L. Ferguson, and we honor all who gave the | 2 | | ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation; and be it further
| 3 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 4 | | presented to the surviving members of PFC Ferguson's family, | 5 | | the Illinois Department of Veteran's Affairs, the Secretary of | 6 | | the Department of Transportation, and the American Battle | 7 | | Monuments Commission.
|
|