Bill Text: WV HCR27 | 2013 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: The "Army SSGT Arthur N. McMellon Memorial Bridge"
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-03-18 - To Transportation and Infrastructure [HCR27 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2013-HCR27-Comm_Sub.html
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 27
(By Delegates Stowers and Eldridge)
Requesting that bridge number 322-10-28.14 on West Virginia Route 10, crossing the Guyandotte River, currently known as the “West Hamlin Bridge” in Lincoln County, West Virginia, be named the “Army SSGT Arthur N. McMellon Memorial Bridge”.
Whereas, Staff Sergeant Arthur N. McMellon was the seventh child born to Frank and Garnett McMellon of West Hamlin, Lincoln County, and attended Guyan Valley High School; and
Whereas, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon had four brothers, Frank, Jr. of West Hamlin, Forrest of Barboursville, Gerald of Alum Creek and Jimmy of Star Route 10, near Barboursville, and three of the four also served in the military; and
Whereas, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon saw combat action in the United States Army in Korea at the age of seventeen, where he was missing in action once for 18 days but returned uninjured; and
Whereas, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon never intended to make a career of the Army, but later reenlisted because he was unable to find a job in West Virginia and was deployed to a combat area in Vietnam; and
Whereas, While serving as a mess sergeant, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon was able to scrounge up supplies for and serve a turkey feast for 71 Vietnamese children who unexpectedly visited his First Division Company on a Thanksgiving day; and
Whereas, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon’s letters home to his wife and mother described the debilitating heat and humidity endured by the troops in Vietnam, the intense fighting in the area where he was stationed near Ben Cat and his desire to be home; and
Whereas, While riding in a Jeep to secure supplies for his unit, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon was killed December 1, 1965 by a Viet Cong grenade; and
Whereas, SSGT Arthur N. McMellon was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on December 16, 1965; and
Whereas, Then Rep. Ken Hechler, D. W.Va., who arranged for the sergeant’s burial at Arlington, said of him, “He showed that human kindness and love can shine through and can never be obscured by the muck and grime of a brutal war”; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That bridge number 322-10-28.14 on West Virginia Route 10, crossing the Guyandotte River, currently known as the “West Hamlin Bridge” in Lincoln County, West Virginia, be named the “Army SSGT Arthur N. McMellon Memorial Bridge”; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Commissioner of the Division of Highways is hereby requested to erect signs at both ends of the bridge containing bold and prominent letters proclaiming the bridge the “Army SSGT Arthur N. McMellon Memorial Bridge”; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of the Division of Highways.