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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, During World War II, U.S. Navy Seaman First Class |
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Johnnie David Hutchins of Eagle Lake performed an extraordinary act |
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of heroism that cost him his life and earned him the Medal of Honor; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, Born in Weimar on August 4, 1922, to Johnnie Marion |
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and Callie Drue Hutchins, Johnnie David Hutchins worked with his |
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family as a sharecropper in the fields near Lissie while growing up; |
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he played on the Eagle Lake High School football team, and after |
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graduation, he found employment at the Parker Brothers shipyard in |
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Houston; and |
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WHEREAS, Answering his nation's call to duty, Mr. Hutchins |
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enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve in November 1942, and the |
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following year he became the helmsman of the USS LST-473, a landing |
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craft that was part of an amphibious force under the command of |
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General Douglas MacArthur off the coast of New Guinea; and |
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WHEREAS, On September 4, 1943, the LST-473 was one of six |
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landing craft approaching a Japanese-occupied beach under heavy |
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fire when Seaman Hutchins, at the helm, saw a Japanese torpedo |
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bearing down on his ship; before he could steer away from this |
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threat, two shells struck the landing craft, knocking him away from |
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the wheel and setting the pilot house on fire; and |
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WHEREAS, Already mortally wounded, Seaman Hutchins returned |
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to his post and steered his landing craft safely out of the path of |
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the torpedo; he died still clinging to the wheel, having devoted the |
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last moments of his life to saving the other men aboard the vessel; |
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he was exactly a month past his 21st birthday; and |
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WHEREAS, A year later, Seaman Hutchins was posthumously |
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awarded the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, |
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and his family attended the christening of a ship named in his |
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honor, the USS Johnnie Hutchins; after the war, his body was |
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returned to Texas and buried in Eagle Lake, and on the 57th |
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anniversary of his death in 2000, a crowd of 300 people, including |
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former crew members of LST-473, gathered at his graveside for a |
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solemn ceremony; and |
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WHEREAS, Johnnie Hutchins demonstrated conspicuous bravery |
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above and beyond the call of duty, making the ultimate sacrifice to |
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save the lives of his comrades, and for this heroic act, Americans |
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owe him a debt of remembrance that the passage of time can never |
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diminish; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby pay tribute to U.S. Navy Seaman Johnnie David Hutchins and |
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honor his family for keeping alive the memory of this courageous |
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service member; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for his family as an expression of high regard by the Texas |
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House of Representatives and Senate. |