R 276

2019 -- H 6083 Enacted 05/08/2019

H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

COMMEMORATING THE 74TH ANNIVERSARY OF V-E DAY (VICTORY IN EUROPE) ON MAY 8, 2019, IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

Introduced By: Representatives Azzinaro, Shekarchi, Chippendale, Filippi, and Vella-

Date Introduced: May 08, 2019

WHEREAS, World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded

Poland. Shortly thereafter, most of the nations of Western Europe were invaded by Hitler’s

armies, and brutalized and defeated. France, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Greece, Demark

and the former Yugoslavia were conquered and their populations subjected to terror, murder, and

other unspeakable crimes against humanity, while Great Britain faced daily bombings of its cities

and military installations by the German Luftwaffe; and

WHEREAS, On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa, and

on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, turning World War II into a global

catastrophe. Four days later on December 11, 1941, Nazi Germany declared war on the United

States, and what followed for the next 42 months was warfare on a scale never seen before in the

history of humanity. Altogether, it is estimated that 35 million Europeans were killed, including 6

million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis in death camps known as Auschwitz, Bergen-

Belsen, Treblinka, Dachau and many others; and

WHEREAS, From 1942 to May of 1945, the Allies and Nazi Germany fought in every

kind of environment imaginable, from the air in horrific battles over England and Germany, to the

sea in the North Atlantic as American and British destroyers and search planes fought furiously to

stop the Nazi submarines and their brutal wolfpack tactics, to land battles in Stalingrad and Kursk

in the East, El-Alamein in the desert of Africa, to D-Day and Omaha Beach, Anzio, and the Battle

of the Bulge in the West, that will reverberate in history books until the end of time; and

WHEREAS, Finally, on May 8, 1945, shortly after Hitler had committed suicide, German

General Alfred Jodl, representing Nazi Germany, surrendered Germany’s remaining forces in

Reims, France, to the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and France. At the same

time, United States President Harry S. Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

declared that May 8th would be celebrated as V-E Day; and

WHEREAS, As we commemorate this most important day in World and United States

history, let us never forget that millions perished in combat and in death camps due to tyranny

and evil, and let us also never forget that in the United States millions sacrificed much to defend

freedom. We should always remember the brave American soldiers who endured the brutal cold

to stop the German attack in the Battle of the Bulge in places named Bastogne and the Ardennes

in Belgium and the heroic airmen who fought, and often perished, in the skies over Nazi Germany

or the Prisoners of War who endured harsh conditions, and the selfless sacrifice and heroics of the

American soldiers who landed at Omaha Beach and faced an inferno of enemy fire. We should

also never forget the sacrifices of those on the home front, who ate less, conducted endless scrap

drives, bought war bonds, and worried terribly about their loved ones at the front; now, therefore

be it

RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby commemorates the 74th Anniversary of V-E Day in the State of

Rhode Island; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of

the United States, the Honorable Gina M. Raimondo, Governor of the State of Rhode Island, and

Major General Christopher P. Callahan, the Rhode Island Adjutant General.

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LC002598

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