By: Lopez, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Blanco, et al.) H.C.R. No. 71
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2021;
  May 12, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Veteran
  Affairs & Border Security; May 20, 2021, reported adversely, with
  favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6,
  Nays 0; May 20, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.C.R. No. 71 By:  Blanco
 
 
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 support the
  nomination of Marcelino Serna for 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, to the United States
  secretary of defense, 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.
 
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