Bill Text: VA HJR975 | 2017 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending Fort Lee.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2017-02-23 - Bill text as passed House and Senate (HJ975ER) [HJR975 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2017-HJR975-Enrolled.html
WHEREAS, for 100 years, Fort Lee has played an integral role as a training center for the members of the United States Armed Forces and has made many contributions to the Prince George County community; and
WHEREAS, after the United States joined World War I in 1917, the United States Department of War leased 9,000 acres in Prince George County for the construction of Camp Lee, one of 32 new camps to assist with mobilization of the military; and
WHEREAS, Camp Lee originally housed the 80th Infantry Division, which was made up of soldiers from Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania; the division trained at Camp Lee before deploying to France in 1918, and replacement troops continued to train there until the end of the war; and
WHEREAS, after World War I, Camp Lee served as a demobilization station, and in 1921, the camp was dismantled and the land was returned to the Commonwealth as a forest and game preserve; and
WHEREAS, Camp Lee was rebuilt in the lead-up to World War II and began its long association with the United States Army Quartermaster Corps; thousands of troops received basic and advanced training in the areas of logistics and supply at Camp Lee, which also served as a prisoner of war camp during the war; and
WHEREAS, in the late 1940s and 1950s, Camp Lee was the site of the Women's Army Corps Training Center and provided vital training in aerial delivery and petroleum and water delivery; the camp was designated as a permanent United States Army facility in 1950, becoming Fort Lee; and
WHEREAS, due to base realignments and closures, Fort Lee began a new chapter in its history as one of the United States Army's premier training centers, when the Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School, the Ordnance Munitions and Electronics Maintenance School, the United States Army Ordnance School, and the United States Army Transportation School were relocated to Fort Lee; and
WHEREAS, Fort Lee also became the headquarters of the Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), a subordinate unit of the Training and Doctrine Command, making Fort Lee the third largest training center in the United States Army, with thousands of students at any given time, contributing to a daily on-base population of more than 27,000 soldiers and civilians; and
WHEREAS, service members from all branches of the United States Armed Forces train at Fort Lee, which is also the headquarters for the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense Commissary Agency; and
WHEREAS, Fort Lee provides hundreds of jobs to the local community, and with thousands of military family members and tens of thousands of military retirees living in the area, the base accounts for an economic impact of more than $2.4 billion; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Fort Lee on the occasion of its 100th anniversary; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Fort Lee as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for Fort Lee's storied history and unique role in the defense of the nation.
