HR0404 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0404 LRB097 12111 KXB 56077 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, In accordance with the established tradition of the Illinois House of Representatives, it is fitting that, in observance of Memorial Day, we honor our brothers and sisters who have given their lives in service to our country as the guardians of our long-held freedoms; and

WHEREAS, This Memorial Day, we give added reverence in marking the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War and reflect on those long-forgotten ancestors who fought so valiantly over four long years between 1861 and 1865 in that great struggle to make our country truly whole and truly free; and

WHEREAS, No better words have been written to honor those brave souls who were sacrificed long ago or pay tribute to the those brave men and women of today who have continued that fight for freedom than the Gettysburg Address; let us now recite those words so humbly said by our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln: "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who have gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in the larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from those honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."; and

WHEREAS, Those words from long ago still speak to those brave men and women of today who we now honor; it is all together fitting and appropriate that we, with heavy hearts, again accept the honor of reading the Roll Call of those American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines from the State of Illinois who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the preceding year since the previous tribute; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that a copy of this resolution and a copy of the ceremonial honor roll and program of the May 25, 2011 reading of names be presented to the families of these fallen heroes.