Bill Text: TX HR2192 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: In memory of U.S. Army Private First Class Herschel Mearl Riggs of Rio Grande City.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-29 - Reported enrolled [HR2192 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HR2192-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 2192 |
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WHEREAS, The family of U.S. Army Private First Class Herschel | ||
Mearl Riggs of Rio Grande City are welcoming him home, nearly 70 | ||
years after he was killed in action at the age of 18 in the Korean | ||
War; and | ||
WHEREAS, Herschel Riggs was born in Fort Ringgold on | ||
September 21, 1931, to Herschal and Lille Lund Riggs; answering his | ||
nation's call to duty, he served in the U.S. Army as a member of | ||
Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th | ||
Infantry Division; his medals and commendations included a Purple | ||
Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Korean Service Medal, | ||
the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service | ||
Medal, and the Korean War Service Medal; and | ||
WHEREAS, After the Battle of Kum River in South Korea, | ||
Private Riggs was presumed missing in action on July 16, 1950, and | ||
his unidentified remains were recovered in 1950 and buried | ||
anonymously in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in | ||
Hawaii; he was declared dead on July 31, 1953; and | ||
WHEREAS, In the decades since, the members of Private Riggs's | ||
family never gave up hope of finding him; their many years of | ||
effort, including trips to Korea and Japan, were rewarded when his | ||
remains in Hawaii were identified through DNA analysis; he is being | ||
reinterred next to his sister, Norma Riggs Saenz, in Pearsall on May | ||
25, 2019, with full military honors; and | ||
WHEREAS, A brave and dedicated soldier, Herschel Riggs made | ||
the ultimate sacrifice in behalf of his country, and his fellow | ||
citizens owe him a debt of gratitude that the passage of time can | ||
never diminish; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Private Herschel M. | ||
Riggs and extend heartfelt sympathy to his family; and, be it | ||
further | ||
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be | ||
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of | ||
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Herschel | ||
Mearl Riggs. | ||
Guillen | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 2192 was unanimously adopted by a | ||
rising vote of the House on May 27, 2019. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||