| |
| |
|
|
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Marcelino Serna was one of the most decorated |
|
|
military veterans in Texas history, and his heroic actions during |
|
|
World War I make him a worthy candidate for the Congressional Medal |
|
|
of Honor, our nation's highest military award; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1896, Mr. Serna came |
|
|
to the United States as a young man and spent time in Texas, Kansas, |
|
|
and Colorado; after the United States entered World War I in 1917, |
|
|
he enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 20, and after only three |
|
|
weeks of training, he was shipped overseas with the 355th Infantry, |
|
|
89th Division; when his superior officers in France learned that he |
|
|
was not a U.S. citizen, they gave him the opportunity to return |
|
|
home, but Private Serna chose to stay and fight; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Private Serna demonstrated exceptional |
|
|
resourcefulness and courage on the battlefield; during an |
|
|
engagement near the French town of St. Mihiel, 12 members of his |
|
|
unit were hit by fire from an enemy machine gun, and Private Serna |
|
|
obtained permission from his lieutenant to scout out the gun |
|
|
emplacement on his own; moving through heavy fire, and surviving |
|
|
two rounds that were deflected by his helmet, he tossed four hand |
|
|
grenades into the machine gun nest, killing six of the enemy; he |
|
|
then took the eight survivors captive; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Shortly thereafter, during the Meuse-Argonne |
|
|
campaign, Private Serna embarked on a second lone scouting mission; |
|
|
he began by wounding a German sniper with a shot from 200 yards, |
|
|
then followed the injured man into a trench; firing and hurling |
|
|
grenades in all directions to make it seem as if he were part of a |
|
|
larger force, he shot three German soldiers immediately, then |
|
|
attacked an enemy dugout, felling 26 more and capturing 24; he |
|
|
single-handedly held the prisoners at gunpoint until other members |
|
|
of his unit arrived; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Private Serna continued to serve in combat until the |
|
|
end of the war, receiving a wound in each leg, and while he was |
|
|
recovering in a French hospital, he was presented with the |
|
|
Distinguished Service Cross, our nation's second highest military |
|
|
decoration, from the American commander in France, General John J. |
|
|
Pershing; he also earned the World War I Victory Medal with five |
|
|
stars, the Victory Medal with three campaign bars, the St. Mihiel |
|
|
Medal, the Verdun Medal, and two Purple Hearts; he was further |
|
|
decorated by the governments of France, Italy, and the United |
|
|
Kingdom, receiving two French Croix de Guerre with Palm Medals, the |
|
|
French Medaille Militaire, the French Commemorative Medal, the |
|
|
British Medal of Honor, and the Italian Cross of Merit; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, After returning to the United States, Mr. Serna |
|
|
became a U.S. citizen in 1924 and settled in El Paso, where he |
|
|
worked for the quartermaster at Fort Bliss; he was a charter member |
|
|
of VFW Post No. 2753 and volunteered with veterans advocacy groups, |
|
|
and when he died in 1992, he was buried with full military honors at |
|
|
Fort Bliss; he was the most decorated Texas veteran of World War I, |
|
|
winning every major military award short of the Congressional Medal |
|
|
of Honor, and records indicate that he was denied that supreme honor |
|
|
only because he was a Mexican American immigrant and did not know |
|
|
enough English to be promoted; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Marcelino Serna volunteered to serve our nation in |
|
|
combat before he was even a citizen, and he stayed to fight when he |
|
|
might have gone home; his courageous battlefield actions during |
|
|
World War I have been recognized with a host of illustrious |
|
|
commendations, and he truly warrants the highest honor that can be |
|
|
bestowed on a member of the armed forces of the United States; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to bestow on |
|
|
Marcelino Serna the Congressional Medal of Honor; and, be it |
|
|
further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
|
|
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
|
|
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
|
|
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
|
|
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
|
|
this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record |
|
|
as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |