| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, For thousands of members of the American armed |
|
|
forces who have served in wartime, the heat of battle has been |
|
|
followed by the hardships and challenges of life as a prisoner of |
|
|
war; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Harsh conditions and psychological duress have been |
|
|
the common condition of POWs, and often the degree of cruelty |
|
|
inflicted has reached the level of atrocity; the history of this |
|
|
country's military conflicts is replete with such infamous cases; |
|
|
among the horrors that attended the American Civil War were the |
|
|
Andersonville and Libby prison camps in the South and Elmira in the |
|
|
North where, collectively, more than 16,000 prisoners died from a |
|
|
lack of food, inadequate medical care, wretched sanitation, and |
|
|
exposure to the elements; altogether, it is estimated that 56,000 |
|
|
men perished in Civil War prisons; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In World War II, the notorious Bataan Death March |
|
|
followed on the heels of the surrender of 70,000 American and |
|
|
Filipino troops to the Japanese Army on April 9, 1942; treatment of |
|
|
those prisoners was so brutal that the Japanese officer initially |
|
|
in command was later tried as a war criminal and executed; still |
|
|
further misery awaited POWs in the Philippines; in late 1944, with |
|
|
U.S. forces poised to recapture the islands, the Japanese Army |
|
|
crammed more than 126,000 Allied prisoners into the holds of |
|
|
merchant ships for the purpose of evacuation; many of those men died |
|
|
as a result of fetid, horrifically overcrowded conditions and a |
|
|
lack of food and water; in addition, over 21,000 Americans are |
|
|
believed to have been killed or injured when the "hell ships" |
|
|
carrying them were attacked by American planes and submarines; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, American prisoner-of-war deaths during the Korean |
|
|
War officially totaled more than 2,800, for a rate of over 40 |
|
|
percent; before the creation of permanent prison camps, many of |
|
|
those captured died on death marches to temporary facilities; |
|
|
casualties were especially high in the first two years of the war, |
|
|
largely due to a lack of food, shelter, and medicine; prisoners also |
|
|
suffered physical abuse, and there were reported cases of torture; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, U.S. troops captured during the Vietnam War were |
|
|
kept in primitive conditions in South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos, |
|
|
and Cambodia; the so-called "Hanoi Hilton" prison in North Vietnam |
|
|
was the scene of repeated beatings and torture, while one out of |
|
|
every three Americans taken prisoner by the Viet Cong died from |
|
|
disease, injury, or execution; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In today's military, women are increasingly |
|
|
assuming risks on a par with men; Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, |
|
|
of El Paso, became one of the first two female POWs of Operation |
|
|
Iraqi Freedom on March 23, 2003, when her convoy was ambushed in |
|
|
Nasiriya; wounded in both ankles, she was held captive with other |
|
|
members of her group until they were rescued on April 13, 2003; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Those prisoners of war who have survived their |
|
|
ordeal have continued to lead lives of service; among the most |
|
|
prominent is Congressman Sam Johnson, of Plano, who was shot down |
|
|
during his second tour of duty as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War |
|
|
and who subsequently spent nearly seven years as a POW in North |
|
|
Vietnam; after retiring from a highly decorated 29-year career in |
|
|
the United States Air Force, Sam Johnson served in the Texas House |
|
|
of Representatives from 1985 to 1991, when he was elected to the |
|
|
U.S. Congress; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, During the Vietnam War, the plight of American |
|
|
military personnel who were listed as being either captured or |
|
|
missing in action gave rise to the creation of the POW/MIA flag; |
|
|
depicting the silhouette of a man flanked by a watchtower and a |
|
|
strand of barbed wire, the flag flies, at the direction of Congress, |
|
|
over the White House, the Capitol, and other specified sites on the |
|
|
occasion of six annual national observances, including |
|
|
Independence Day and Veterans Day; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Our nation is fortunate to have sons and daughters |
|
|
whose love of country leads them to join one of the uniformed |
|
|
branches, yet we are aware that in answering their nation's call, |
|
|
they assume enormous burdens and risks; to those who have known the |
|
|
terrible rigors of prison camps while serving in this country's |
|
|
behalf, Americans owe a profound debt and eternal tribute; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby commemorate April 9, 2011, as Former POW |
|
|
Recognition Day and honor all Texans who have experienced life as a |
|
|
prisoner of war for their immeasurable courage, commitment, and |
|
|
sacrifice. |