Bill Text: PA HR559 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Remembering Christmas Eve 1944 in northwest Europe.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2009-12-15 - Adopted [HR559 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HR559-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 2987
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 559 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY STABACK, BEYER, BISHOP, BOYD, BRIGGS, COHEN, CUTLER, EVERETT, GEIST, GEORGE, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GRUCELA, HARHART, HARRIS, HELM, HORNAMAN, KILLION, KORTZ, MAHER, DeWEESE, MARKOSEK, MELIO, MILLARD, MILLER, MUNDY, MURPHY, M. O'BRIEN, O'NEILL, PALLONE, PRESTON, SCAVELLO, S. H. SMITH, SOLOBAY, STEVENSON, SWANGER, VULAKOVICH, FLECK, SIPTROTH, METZGAR, FAIRCHILD, WATSON, R. TAYLOR, D. COSTA, CALTAGIRONE, PHILLIPS, SANTONI, MANN, MILNE, YUDICHAK, DONATUCCI, GRELL, KOTIK, W. KELLER, MOUL AND LEVDANSKY, DECEMBER 9, 2009
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, DECEMBER 9, 2009
A RESOLUTION
Remembering Christmas Eve 1944 in northwest Europe.
WHEREAS, In the winter of 1944 the Germans sought to split
the Allied armies and override the Allied defense of Belgium,
Luxembourg, northern France and the Belgian-French Channel
coast; and
WHEREAS, Soldiers in the frozen Ardennes trenches and
deserted villages referred to the unquiet Christmas of 1944 as
Black Christmas; and
WHEREAS, The initial German offensive on the Ardennes Front
on December 16, 1944, surprised the Allies; and
WHEREAS, The Ardennes campaign, or the Battle of the Bulge,
was the largest and deadliest World War II land battle fought by
the Americans, with 600,000 American troops and more than 81,000
casualties and lives lost; and
WHEREAS, The short-lived German Ardennes offensive included
Christmas Eve air attacks on multiple Allied air fields and rail
yards; and
WHEREAS, Allied troops defending Bastogne, Belgium, also came
under attack on Christmas Eve; and
WHEREAS, Captain John Prior, M.D., battalion surgeon, was the
officer in charge of the 10th Armored Division field hospital
established in a Bastogne residential building; and
WHEREAS, With no electricity and limited water, food and
medical supplies, the field hospital operated around the clock
as an aid station for wounded soldiers and civilians unable to
flee the deserted city; and
WHEREAS, Christmas Eve was a day of constant shelling for the
Bastogne defenders, and German bombardment of the field hospital
that night killed 20 soldiers and Belgian nurse Renee Lemaire;
and
WHEREAS, A registered nurse from Bastogne, Renee Lemaire had
volunteered at the aid station from December 21 until her
untimely death on Christmas Eve; and
WHEREAS, Captain Prior praised Renee Lemaire's volunteer
efforts on behalf of wounded soldiers, noting that she had
worked without adequate food and rest and had inspired troop
morale; and
WHEREAS, Captain Prior returned Renee Lemaire's remains,
encased in a white silk parachute, to her parents; and
WHEREAS, A plaque on the wall of House No. 21, Rue de
Neufchateau, was later dedicated in memory of the young Belgian
nurse, the Angel of Bastogne, who gave her life helping wounded
Americans; and
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WHEREAS, When a Nazi torpedo targeted the SS Leopoldville on
Christmas Eve, 763 soldiers from the 66th Infantry Division,
more than one-third of the division, died in the frigid waters
of the English Channel less than six miles from Cherbourg,
France; and
WHEREAS, A converted Belgian luxury liner, the SS
Leopoldville was transporting more than 2,000 American
reinforcement troops; and
WHEREAS, The British destroyer HMS Brilliant and other small
craft heroically rescued hundreds of soldiers who had survived
the initial strike; and
WHEREAS, Other soldiers remained on the doomed SS
Leopoldville, the Belgian crew having abandoned ship in the
operable lifeboats; and
WHEREAS, Military censors suppressed news of the Christmas
Eve sinking of the SS Leopoldville; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives remember
Christmas Eve 1944 in northwest Europe, with reverence for the
many lives lost and for the prevailing endurance and heroism of
soldiers and civilians in combat during the last winter of World
War II.
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