Bill Text: TX HR2711 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-05-31 - Reported enrolled [HR2711 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HR2711-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 2711 |
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WHEREAS, On November 11, 2018, this nation is commemorating | ||
the centennial of the end of World War I, one of the greatest | ||
conflicts in human history, and one in which Texans distinguished | ||
themselves through their patriotism, courage, and dedication to | ||
duty; and | ||
WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1918, the Allied Powers, ultimately | ||
composed chiefly of the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the | ||
United States, engaged in a titanic struggle against the Central | ||
Powers, whose members included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, | ||
and the Ottoman Empire; in Europe, where most of the fighting took | ||
place, combat soon devolved into the brutal stalemate of trench | ||
warfare, subjecting troops on both sides to months on end of mud and | ||
disease, as they faced each other across the blasted ground between | ||
the trenches known as "No Man's Land"; and | ||
WHEREAS, World War I was the first conflict to see the | ||
widespread use of machine guns, combat aircraft, tanks, submarines, | ||
and biological and chemical weapons; especially in the early years | ||
of the war, the deadly combination of 20th-century technology and | ||
19th-century military tactics resulted in unprecedented carnage; | ||
battles dragged on for months, with the Battle of the Somme, between | ||
July and November 1916, claiming more than 1.5 million men killed or | ||
wounded; and | ||
WHEREAS, The United States entered World War I in April 1917, | ||
and the State of Texas played a significant role in the American war | ||
effort; members of the Texas National Guard formed the core of the | ||
famed 36th Infantry Division, also known as the Texas Division, | ||
which fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in October 1918; nearly | ||
200,000 Texans took part in the war, including 450 Texas women who | ||
served as nurses, and many other Americans received their training | ||
in the Lone Star State; a number of present-day airports across | ||
Texas were originally established as training fields for World War | ||
I aviators; and | ||
WHEREAS, By the end of the war on November 11, 1918, four | ||
million Americans had served in the victorious Allied war effort, | ||
and more than 116,700 had made the ultimate sacrifice, including | ||
over 5,000 Texans; today, their service is honored by memorials | ||
across the state and by the World War I monument on the grounds of | ||
the State Capitol; a particularly special memorial is the "Merci | ||
Boxcar" at Camp Mabry in Austin, one of 49 railway cars presented to | ||
each American state and, jointly, to the District of Columbia and | ||
the territory of Hawaii, by France in 1949, in gratitude for the | ||
provision of relief supplies after World War II and for the service | ||
of Americans on French soil in World Wars I and II; such boxcars | ||
were well-known to the many American veterans of both wars who rode | ||
in them for as long as a week at a time, as they traveled to or from | ||
the battlefront; and | ||
WHEREAS, The effects of the Great War were far reaching; | ||
roughly 15 to 18 million people perished during the conflict, | ||
including as many as 8 million civilians; in addition, the defeat of | ||
the Central Powers resulted in the dismantling of the German, | ||
Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires, while the Russian Empire | ||
dissolved with the overthrow of the czar in 1917, during a | ||
revolution stoked, in part, by that country's disastrous wartime | ||
experience; the end of the war also saw the debut of the United | ||
States as a global power, one whose citizen-soldiers had answered | ||
the call to duty in defense of the principles of liberty, | ||
self-determination, and a just peace; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of | ||
World War I. | ||
Price | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 2711 was adopted by the House on May | ||
29, 2017, by a non-record vote. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||