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H.R. No. 2309
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Created in 1861 and bestowed on 3,460 individuals
since then, the Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in
action against the enemy that can be awarded to an individual in the
armed forces of the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Texas Capitol display of Medal of Honor
recipients from Texas brings to mind this day an appropriate and
constant reminder of the price of freedom; and
WHEREAS, Learning the individual stories of the bravery and
valor of these individuals can only deepen our appreciation and
respect for them and for the freedoms we enjoy due to their actions;
and
WHEREAS, The particular stories of three individuals from
McLennan County bring to the citizens of that area a great amount of
pride and gratitude; and
WHEREAS, Before World War I in Veracruz, Mexico, in what
became known in military history annals as the Mexican Campaign,
Commander William Kelly Harrison of Waco was able to move his ship,
the USS Chester, into a key strategic point in the inner harbor
during the night and morning hours of April 21-22, 1914, without a
pilot or the use of navigational lights, and was able to use his
guns with telling effect at a critical time, thereby becoming
McLennan County's first Medal of Honor recipient; and
WHEREAS, John Riley Kane of McGregor, a colonel in the U.S.
Army Air Corps, earned his Medal of Honor in 1943 in a low-altitude
bombing raid on an Axis oil refinery; despite the refinery's
defenses being fully engaged, and keeping to the low-altitude
mission through smoke, fires, and delayed action bombs released by
others in the raid, Colonel Kane displayed courageous leadership
and superior flying skills in furthering the attack; and
WHEREAS, On May 29, 1951, 21-year-old Whitt Lloyd Moreland of
Waco, a private first class in the Marine Corps and an intelligence
scout, volunteered to accompany a rifle platoon on an assault
against a strongly defended hill and helped take the hill through
his accurate firing, upon which he observed and attempted to
neutralize an enemy bunker some 400 yards away; advancing under
fire, Pfc. Moreland deflected several live grenades before becoming
disabled near another live grenade; shouting a warning to his
colleagues, he covered the explosive device with his own body,
absorbed the full blast, and is McLennan County's only posthumous
recipient of the Medal of Honor; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Texas House of Representatives hereby
honor and remember with gratitude all recipients of the
congressional Medal of Honor; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the citizens of McLennan County be presented
with an official copy of this resolution for which to properly
memorialize these and the many other brave Americans who sacrifice
their freedoms and even their lives for ours; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That when the House of Representatives of the
79th Texas Legislature adjourns on this final day of its regular
session, it do so in honor of those Texans who have earned the
congressional Medal of Honor.
Anderson
Dunnam
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 2309 was adopted by the House on May
30, 2005, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House