Full Text of HR0321 101st General Assembly
HR0321 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to commend Nick Korompilas on his bravery | 4 | | when his ship, the USS Mannert L. Abele, was attacked and sunk | 5 | | off the island of Okinawa 74 years ago; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, In the spring of 1945, Nick Korompilas, a native | 7 | | of Lincolnwood, was part of an armada of ships supporting the | 8 | | Allied invasion of Okinawa, the last of the battles of World | 9 | | War II; most days, he worked in the sick bay, tending to the | 10 | | sailor's cuts and scrapes and handing out aspirin; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, Nick | 12 | | Korompilas waited in a makeshift sick bay as the USS Mannert L. | 13 | | Abele came under attack near Okinawa by Japanese aircraft, | 14 | | including kamikazes; a moment later, a Japanese suicide fighter | 15 | | slammed into the starboard side of the ship, just above the | 16 | | water line, engulfing it in flames; behind it came a | 17 | | rocket-propelled bomb with a pilot squeezed into a tiny | 18 | | cockpit; the blast tossed him 20 feet into the air; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Nick Korompilas got to his feet and prepared to | 20 | | abandon the ship, but then he remembered his friend, the chief | 21 | | commissary steward; he found the man lying on the floor of the | 22 | | galley, drenched in scalding soup; he grabbed him by the life |
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| 1 | | jacked, carried him out of the sick bay, shoved him into the | 2 | | water, and jumped in after him; within a minute, the entire | 3 | | ship sank, leaving the survivors stranded in a sea of black | 4 | | engine oil; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Nick Korompilas spent the next few hours treading | 6 | | water and hauling the injured and dying to another American | 7 | | naval ship; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Nick Korompilas received a naval heroism medal and | 9 | | was given 30 days survivor leave in the United States; he spent | 10 | | the remainder of the war working at a naval hospital in | 11 | | Philadelphia; he married, had a son, and spent the rest of his | 12 | | working life as a commercial real estate agent; therefore, be | 13 | | it
| 14 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 15 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 16 | | we commend Nick Korompilas on his heroic actions on the day his | 17 | | ship, the USS Mannert L. Abele, was attacked and sunk by a | 18 | | double kamikaze attack off the island of Okinawa; and be it | 19 | | further
| 20 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 21 | | presented to Nick Korompilas as an expression of our esteem and | 22 | | respect.
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