State of Illinois
92nd General Assembly
Legislation

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92_HR0576

 
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 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS,  The  members   of   the   Illinois   House   of
 3    Representatives  wish  to  recognize Abner Ganet's tremendous
 4    contribution during World War  II  and  his  continuous  work
 5    educating today's young people about the ongoing struggle for
 6    freedom; and

 7        WHEREAS,  Mr.  Ganet  landed  in  the  D-Day  invasion of
 8    Normandy and fought in the lead division  across  Europe;  he
 9    was  wounded  and  then  returned to his unit to help capture
10    Aachen, the first German city taken on the Western front; his
11    entire unit  was  wiped  out  and  he  was  promoted  from  a
12    one-stripe  private  first  class  to a platoon sergeant with
13    five stripes; Mr. Ganet was a  19-year-old  American  soldier
14    when  he stepped inside the barracks guardroom of Buchenwald;
15    he held the painful memories of what he witnessed at bay  and
16    was silent on the subject for 50 years; and

17        WHEREAS,  In  1995,  Mr. Ganet met Elie Wiesel, Holocaust
18    survivor  and  author;  Mr.  Ganet's   unit   liberated   the
19    concentration  camp  the  day  that the fleeing Nazi army had
20    slated Mr. Wiesel and the other Jewish children to die in the
21    gas chamber; Mr. Wiesel told him that he must tell his story;
22    and

23        WHEREAS, After speaking with Mr. Wiesel,  Vern  Haase,  a
24    1st  Division  photographer,  offered Mr. Ganet copies of the
25    pictures he had taken during the war; later that same day,  a
26    teacher  at  York  High School asked Mr. Ganet to speak about
27    his experiences; Mr. Ganet decided  he  must  talk  to  young
28    people about what he had witnessed firsthand; and

29        WHEREAS,  Mr.  Ganet  has  been  sharing  his stories and
30    pictures of Buchenwald and World  War  II  with  Chicago-area
31    students  for  the  last  6  years;  Mr.  Ganet  conveys  the
32    atrocities  he  witnessed;  he  tells  of how prominent local
 
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 1    citizens were brought to  Buchenwald  to  witness  the  human
 2    carnage;  and  he  tells  of  Herman Goering's suicide in the
 3    Nuremberg jail where Mr. Ganet was a guard; and

 4        WHEREAS, He points out that the  students  interact  with
 5    'someone who was actually there, who cried, who threw up, who
 6    was  appalled by man's inhumanity to man'; he adds a personal
 7    level to the student's studies of  the  Holocaust;  he  feels
 8    that  talking  about  the tragedy is even more relevant after
 9    the September 11th attacks and  wants  a  new  generation  of
10    soldiers who may be facing death and horror in Afghanistan to
11    know that their experiences should not be locked away; and

12        WHEREAS,  Mr.  Ganet married, had children, and served as
13    mayor of Elmhurst; he reunited with two war  buddies  at  the
14    1st  Infantry  Division  reunion last August; speaking of his
15    experiences has  been  rewarding  and  enlightening  for  the
16    countless  number  of  young  people  Mr.  Ganet has reached;
17    therefore, be it

18        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE
19    NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
20    we recognize the contributions and commitment of Abner Ganet;
21    and be it further

22        RESOLVED,  That  a  suitable  copy  of this resolution be
23    presented to Mr. Ganet with our sincere gratitude.

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