| R 352 |
| 2024 -- H 8341 Enacted 06/06/2024 |
| H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N |
| MEMORIALIZING AND COMMEMORATING THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE D-DAY LANDINGS IN NORMANDY, FRANCE, AND THE EVENTUAL LIBERATION OF EUROPE |
Introduced By: Representatives Vella-Wilkinson, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Chippendale, Place, Noret, Abney, Knight, Fellela, and McNamara |
| Date Introduced: June 06, 2024 |
| WHEREAS, On June 6, 1944, 156,000 courageous young American, British and |
| Canadian troops began the liberation of Europe when they landed on the beaches in Normandy, |
| France, that now live forever in history. They were code-named Gold Beach, Juno Beach, Sword |
| Beach, Utah Beach, and most famously, Omaha Beach, where American soldiers faced a |
| cauldron of withering enemy fire, deep water, choppy waves, and suffered enormous casualties |
| before eventually prevailing and breaching General Rommel’s “Atlantic Wall”; and |
| WHEREAS, Additionally, during the night before the fateful invasion, thousands of |
| heroic airborne troops, including the vaunted American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, were |
| dropped from the sky behind enemy lines across the Normandy region in order to secure vital |
| objectives. They too suffered casualties on the day we now call “The Longest Day”; and |
| WHEREAS, Before the Allied Invasion of France, Europe had suffered through the |
| darkest four-year period in its history. Hitler’s Nazi armies had conquered and enslaved Norway, |
| Belgium, France, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Denmark, Czechoslovakia and the former |
| Yugoslavia. At the same time, the Nazis were ruthlessly murdering six million Jews and countless |
| others in the death camps they ran throughout Europe; and |
| WHEREAS, The D-Day Normandy landing was also the largest amphibious assault in |
| world history, and included 5,000 ships and 11,000 aircraft sorties flown by allied pilots. It was |
| simply the most important military operation in world history and if it had failed, unimaginable |
| consequences would have followed. The war in Europe would certainly have lasted much longer |
| than its ending in May of 1945, even more people would have perished in the death camps, and |
| democracy might have permanently died in Europe either through a forced negotiated truce with |
| the Nazis or to a conquering Russian Army, instead of the liberating forces of the American, |
| British and Canadian armies that freed Western Europe in 1945; and |
| WHEREAS, On the fateful day, thousands of brave American and Allied soldiers, most |
| of them surely terrified of what might have awaited them, risked everything to free Europe from |
| the clutches of the evil Nazi regime, and to preserve and protect all the freedoms we cherish |
| today. Thanks to the efforts of these men, many of whom perished, today Europe enjoys the kind |
| of freedom and prosperity that was unimaginable 80 years ago, and America remains the most |
| free nation on Earth; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby |
| memorializes and commemorates the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings on Normandy, on |
| June 6, 2024. May we never forget the sacrifices made by so many courageous young American |
| and Allied soldiers in support of the noble causes of freedom and liberty; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Rhode Island Adjutant General, Major |
| General Christopher P. Callahan. |
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| LC006224 |
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