84R23880 BPG-D
 
  By: Button H.R. No. 2242
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         WHEREAS, The year 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the end
  of a decades-long conflict in Vietnam, during which American
  service personnel fought alongside South Vietnamese troops to
  defend the cause of freedom; and
         WHEREAS, Concerned about the threat of a Communist takeover
  in Vietnam, the United States began sending material support to the
  French forces in that country in 1950, and the flow of military aid
  and advisors continued after the French withdrew and Vietnam was
  divided in 1954; the number of advisors climbed significantly in
  the early 1960s, and in 1962, American helicopter units began to
  transport South Vietnamese soldiers in military operations; three
  years later, the first American combat troops landed on South
  Vietnamese soil; ultimately, more than 2.5 million Americans served
  in South Vietnam, with 500,000 seeing actual fighting, and over 3.4
  million served in Southeast Asia; and
         WHEREAS, During the course of the conflict, more than 58,000
  American service members lost their lives and over 150,000 were
  seriously wounded; some 2,500 were listed as missing in action,
  many of whom remain unaccounted for; losses among South Vietnamese
  forces are estimated at a quarter of a million killed and perhaps as
  many badly injured, and countless civilians perished; and
         WHEREAS, American military involvement in the war ended with
  the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973; a few U.S.
  troops remained in South Vietnam to guard the American Embassy in
  Saigon, but the last of those were withdrawn on April 30, 1975,
  hours before the North Vietnamese Army captured the city; in the
  days before Saigon fell, approximately 135,000 Vietnamese were
  evacuated stateside, most of them military personnel and urban,
  educated professionals whose previous associations made them
  targets of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese; and
         WHEREAS, Over the ensuing decade, the Communists tightened
  their grip on the country and 840,000 more people fled, according to
  the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; some crossed
  Cambodia and Laos to reach Thailand, while hundreds of thousands
  risked their lives in small, wooden boats; although a large number
  reached refugee camps in such places as Thailand, Malaysia,
  Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, over 250,000 died at sea
  as a result of storms, illness, starvation, or capture by pirates;
  and
         WHEREAS, The United States has continued to welcome
  immigrants from Vietnam; by 2012, this population had reached
  almost 1.3 million and constituted the sixth-largest foreign-born
  group in the nation; Texas is now home to well over 200,000
  Vietnamese Americans, who have made substantial contributions to
  the economy, education, public service, science, medicine, the
  arts, and many other aspects of society; and
         WHEREAS, The observance of this anniversary reminds us of the
  magnitude of the sacrifices made and hardships endured in the quest
  for freedom, and we pay tribute to those whose lives were lost and
  recognize the courage and determination of the Vietnamese people
  who came to these shores in search of a better life; now, therefore,
  be it
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas
  Legislature hereby commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of
  the war in Vietnam.