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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Korean War has played an important part in
3American history; the veterans of the Korean War have earned
4the respect and admiration of all people; and
 
5    WHEREAS, An armed conflict that began in June of 1950 and
6ended in July of 1953, the Korean War exacted a heavy toll;
733,629 Americans were killed in action and 20,617 died of
8injuries or disease; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The Korean War began when the United Nations urged
10its members to repel the Communist aggressors in Korea; in July
11of 1950, the UN Security Council recommended that all member
12nations contributing to the defense of South Korea make their
13troops available to a unified command headed by the United
14States; and
 
15    WHEREAS, It is appropriate for us to remember the many
16sacrifices and contributions to the cause of freedom made by
17the outstanding men and women who served in the Korean War; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The date of June 25, 2010 commemorates the 60th
19anniversary of the start of the Korean War; July 17, 2013 will
20mark the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the
21conflict; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, William G. Windrich, James I. Poynter, Lester
2Hammond, John E. Kilmer, Louis J. Sebille, William F. Dean,
3Edward C. Krzyzowski, and Richard G. Wilson, all of whom hailed
4from Illinois, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroic
5actions during the Korean War; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant William Gordon Windrich was
7awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his outstanding
8heroism as a platoon sergeant during the Battle of Chosin
9Reservoir; and
 
10    WHEREAS, William Windrich was born on May 14, 1921 in
11Chicago; he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve
12on June 6, 1938, and was ordered to active duty in November of
131940; and
 
14    WHEREAS, During World War II, William Windrich spent 20
15months overseas in the south and central Pacific as a machine
16gunner with the 2nd and 5th Defense Battalions; after his
17discharge in November of 1945, he reenlisted in the United
18States Marine Corps in February of 1946; and
 
19    WHEREAS, At the outbreak of the Korean War, SSgt. Windrich
20was on military police chief duty at Camp Pendleton in
21California; he subsequently went overseas with the 1st

 

 

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1Provisional Marine Brigade and was among the first Marines to
2see action in Korea; he also participated in the Inchon landing
3and in the capture of Seoul; and
 
4    WHEREAS, SSgt. Windrich was killed in action the early
5morning of December 2, 1950, near Yudam-ni, North Korea, during
6a savage night battle with Chinese communist forces on Hill
71520; he refused to be evacuated, even after being wounded
8twice, once when a grenade fragment ripped through his helmet
9and later when he was felled by gunshot wounds in the legs;
10instead, he directed his men in setting up defensive positions
11and shouted words of encouragement until he succumbed to his
12wounds and the bitter cold; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Medal of Honor, the United States' highest
14award for valor in combat, was presented to SSgt. Windrich's
15widow by Secretary of the Navy Daniel A. Kimball during
16ceremonies on February 8, 1952; he is now buried at Arlington
17National Cemetery; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Sergeant James Irsley Poynter was born on December
191, 1916 in Bloomington; he enlisted in the United States Marine
20Corps in February of 1942; and
 
21    WHEREAS, James Poynter fought in the Pacific theatre during
22World War II and participated in the Guadalcanal, Southern

 

 

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1Solomons, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa campaigns; he was
2discharged in February of 1946; and
 
3    WHEREAS, At the beginning of the Korean War, Sgt. Poynter
4re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and joined the Marine Corps
5Reserve 13th Infantry Battalion in Los Angeles on July 19,
61950; he arrived in Korea in time to aid in the recapture of
7Seoul after the Inchon landing; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Sgt. Poynter was awarded the Bronze Star with
9Combat "V" for "outstanding leadership, ability and courageous
10aggressiveness against the enemy" as a squad leader during
11actions on September 24 to October 4, 1950; and
 
12    WHEREAS, On November 4, 1950, Sgt. Poynter served as squad
13leader of Company A of the 7th Marine Regiment; while defending
14Hill 532, south of Sudong, Korea, he was wounded in
15hand-to-hand combat; in spite of his wounds, upon seeing 3
16machine guns setting up only 25 yards away, he charged the
17enemy position with hand grenades from fallen comrades; he was
18able to take out all 3 machine gun crews by sacrificing his own
19life; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Sgt. Poynter's heroic actions enabled his
21outnumbered platoon to beat off the enemy assault and move to
22more defensible positions; he was awarded the Medal of Honor

 

 

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1for his actions on November 4, 1950, and was buried with full
2military honors in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San
3Diego, California; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Corporal Lester Hammond, Jr. was born on March 25,
51931, in Wayland, Missouri, and entered service in Quincy; he
6served as a radio operator with Company A of the United States
7Army's 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Cpl. Hammond was serving with the 187th near
9Kumhwa, Korea, on August 14, 1952; the combat team had
10penetrated about 3,500 yards into enemy-held territory when the
11small American patrol was ambushed and surrounded by a larger
12enemy force; the team fought its way up a narrow ravine in
13search of cover; Hammond was wounded during the initial
14exchange of gunfire, but remained in the open so he could call
15in artillery fire that helped repulse several enemy attacks;
16and
 
17    WHEREAS, Despite being wounded a second time, Cpl. Hammond
18continued to direct the artillery fire until a friendly platoon
19was able to reach his patrol and help them withdraw; Cpl.
20Hammond died from his injuries, but the members of his patrol
21owed him their lives for the heroic decisions he made that day;
22and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Cpl. Lester Hammond Jr. was awarded the Medal of
2Honor for valor in combat for his actions on August 14, 1952;
3after his initial burial in Quincy's Greenmount Cemetery, his
4casket was moved to Sunset Cemetery at the Illinois Veterans
5Home in Quincy in 1983; and
 
6    WHEREAS, John Edward Kilmer was born on August 15, 1930, in
7Highland Park; he enlisted in the United States Navy on August
816, 1947 as an apprentice seaman, and attended the Hospital
9Corps School in San Diego, California; after graduating in
10April of 1948, he was promoted to the rank of hospitalman
11apprentice; he was subsequently promoted to the rank of
12hospitalman on September 1, 1950; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Hospitalman Kilmer was assigned to the hospital
14ship USS Repose (AH-16) when war broke out in Korea; after his
15enlistment term expired in August of 1951, he soon rejoined the
16Navy and joined the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, Fleet Marine
17Forces after completing instruction at the Field Medical School
18at Camp Pendleton, California; and
 
19    WHEREAS, On August 12, 1952, Hospitalman Kilmer took part
20in the attack on "Bunker Hill" in Korea; he attended to the
21wounded during the battle and was himself mortally wounded
22after using his body to shield another man from enemy fire; for
23this action, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor;

 

 

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1and
 
2    WHEREAS, On June 18, 1953, Hospitalman Kilmer's mother,
3Lois Kilmer, was presented with her son's Medal of Honor by
4Secretary of the Navy Robert Bernard Anderson; he was buried in
5San Jose Burial Park, San Antonio, Texas, with full military
6honors; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Louis Joseph "Lou" Sebille was born on November
821, 1915, in Harbor Beach, Michigan; he attended Wayne State
9University in Detroit, Michigan; after his graduation, he moved
10to Chicago in the 1930s; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Louis Sebille enlisted in the United States Army
12Air Corps several days after the December 7, 1941 attack on
13Pearl Harbor; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Louis Sebille flew 68 combat missions during World
15War II as a B-26 bomber pilot; in the fall of 1948, he became
16the commanding officer of the 67th Squadron of the 18th
17Fighter-Bomber Group; after the Korean War began, his squadron
18was one of the first to be sent to Japan; and
 
19    WHEREAS, On August 5, 1950, during a close air support
20mission, anti-aircraft fire damaged Louis Sebille's F-51;
21rather than abandon his aircraft, he continued his attack under

 

 

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1heavy fire; after his aircraft was again damaged, he dove to
2his death onto the enemy gun battery; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Louis Sebille was formally awarded the Medal of
4Honor in a ceremony at March Air Force Base in Riverside
5County, California, in late August of 1951; General Hoyt
6Vandenberg, the United States Air Force Chief of Staff,
7presented the medal to Sebille's widowed wife and 19 month old
8son; Sebille was buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park
9with full military honors; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Louis Sebille was the first person in the Air
11Force to be awarded the medal since the branch's creation in
121947; only 4 Air Force personnel would win the medal for action
13during the Korean War, all of them posthumously; and
 
14    WHEREAS, William Frishe Dean, Sr. was born on August 1,
151899, in Carlyle; and
 
16    WHEREAS, William Dean graduated from the University of
17California at Berkeley in 1922; after being commissioned as a
18second lieutenant in the California National Guard in 1921, he
19was tendered a regular Army commission on October 18, 1923; he
20was subsequently promoted to brigadier general in 1942 and then
21to major general in 1943; he later served first as assistant
22division commander and later as division commander of the 44th

 

 

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1Infantry Division; and
 
2    WHEREAS, In 1944, while serving in southern Germany and
3Austria, Major General Dean's troops captured 30,000 prisoners
4and helped force the surrender of the German 19th Army; he won
5the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery during that action;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, In October of 1947, Major General Dean became the
8military governor of South Korea; in 1948, he took command of
9the 7th Infantry Division and moved it from Korea to Japan; and
 
10    WHEREAS, After serving as chief of staff of the U.S. 8th
11Army, Major General Dean took command of the 24th Infantry
12Division, then headquartered at Kokura on the southern Japanese
13island of Kyushu, in October of 1949; when the Korean War began
14in June of 1950, the 24th Infantry Division was the first
15American ground combat unit to be committed; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Major General Dean arrived in Korea on July 3,
171950, and established his headquarters at Taejon; his orders
18were to fight a delaying action against the advancing North
19Korean People's Army; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Although he planned to withdraw from Taejon, Major
21General Dean was asked by General Walton H. Walker, the

 

 

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1commander of the U.S. 8th Army, to hold that city until July
220, 1950, in order to buy time necessary for deploying other
3American units from Japan; his regiments had been decimated in
4earlier fighting, and Dean personally led tank killer teams
5armed with the newly arrived 3.5-inch rocket launchers to
6destroy the attacking North Korean T-34 tanks; he gained
7acclaim through exploits such as attacking and destroying an
8enemy tank armed with only a hand grenade and a handgun; and
 
9    WHEREAS, On July 20, 1950, as his division fell back from
10Taejon, Major General Dean became separated from his men,
11forcing him to travel alone in the woods around the countryside
12during the day and traveling at night for over a month; on
13August 25, 1950, after a hand to hand struggle with 15 North
14Koreans, he was captured; he remained a POW with the North
15Koreans until his release on September 4, 1953; and
 
16    WHEREAS, In 1951, Congress voted to bestow the Medal of
17Honor to Major General Dean for his actions during the defense
18of Taejon; on January 9, 1951, the medal was given to his wife,
19Mildred Dean, his son, William Dean Jr., and his daughter,
20Marjorie June Dean, by President Harry Truman; Major General
21Dean was still reported missing in action in Korea; and
 
22    WHEREAS, After the July 27, 1953 Armistice Agreement, Major
23General Dean remained in North Korea as a prisoner of war for

 

 

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1several more months while the armistice was finalized; he was
2returned to UN forces at Panmunjom during Operation Big Switch
3on September 4, 1953; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Three months after his return from Korea, Major
5General Dean was assigned as the Deputy Commanding General of
6the United States 6th Army at the Presidio of San Francisco in
7California; he held this post for 2 years until his retirement
8from active duty on October 31, 1955; upon retirement, he was
9awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for his front line service
10in World War II and Korea; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Major General Dean lived a quiet life in San
12Francisco after his retirement, and died on August 24, 1981, at
13the age of 82; he was buried in San Francisco National Cemetery
14in the Presidio of San Francisco, next to his wife; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Edward C. Krzyzowski was born on January 16, 1914,
16in Chicago; he served as a captain in the United States Army's
17Company B, 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, Captain Krzyzowski was awarded the Medal of Honor
20posthumously for his service near Tondul, Korea from August 31
21to September 3, 1951; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Captain Krzyzowski distinguished himself by
2conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond
3the call of duty in action against the enemy as commanding
4officer of Company B; spearheading an assault against strongly
5defended Hill 700, his company came under vicious crossfire and
6grenade attack from enemy bunkers; creeping up the fire-swept
7hill, he personally eliminated one bunker with his grenades and
8wiped out a second with carbine fire; forced to retire to more
9tenable positions for the night, his company resumed the attack
10the following day, gaining several hundred yards and inflicting
11numerous casualties; once overwhelmed by the numerically
12superior hostile force, he ordered his men to evacuate the
13wounded and move back; providing protective fire for their safe
14withdrawal, he was wounded again by grenade fragments, but
15refused evacuation and continued to direct the defense; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Captain Krzyzowski was buried with full military
17honors at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums in
18Justice; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Richard Gene Wilson was born on August 19, 1931,
20in Marion; after his junior year, he left high school to join
21the Army; he enlisted on August 19, 1948, his 17th birthday,
22and just before leaving for Korea, he married Yvonna Lea Fowler
23on August 29, 1950; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Richard Wilson served in Korea as a private first
2class with the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment; on October 21,
31950, he was attached to Company I when the unit was ambushed
4while conducting a reconnaissance in force mission near Opa-ri;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, PFC Wilson exposed himself to hostile fire in
7order to treat the many casualties; when the company began to
8withdraw, he helped evacuate the wounded; after the withdrawal
9was complete, he learned that a soldier left behind and
10believed dead had been spotted trying to crawl to safety;
11unarmed and against the advice of his comrades, he returned to
12the ambush site in an attempt to rescue the wounded man; and
 
13    WHEREAS, PFC Wilson's body was found 2 days later, lying
14next to that of the man he had tried to save; for these
15actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on
16August 2, 1951; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Several U.S. military buildings have been named in
18PFC Wilson's honor, including the Richard G. Wilson Memorial
19Gymnasium in the Kanoka Barracks near Osaka, Japan; the Richard
20G. Wilson U.S. Army Reserve Center in Marion; the PFC Richard
21G. Wilson Training Barracks at Fort Sam Houston, Texas; the
22Richard G. Wilson Consolidated Troop Medical Clinic in Fort
23Leonard Wood, Missouri; and the Wilson Theater in Fort

 

 

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1Campbell, Kentucky; among the memorials in his honor are
2"America's Medical Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen in Peace and
3War" by Eloise Engle (1967) and a memorial to Wilson in Cape
4County Park (1988); other structures named for him include the
5Richard G. Wilson Elementary School in Fort Benning, Georgia,
6and a postal distribution center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri;
7and
 
8    WHEREAS, Illinois Route 136 is an east-west road in
9northwestern Illinois; therefore, be it
 
10    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
11NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
12SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate Illinois Route 136
13as the Illinois Korean War Medal of Honor Highway in honor of
14the memory and sacrifices of William G. Windrich, James I.
15Poynter, Lester Hammond, John E. Kilmer, Louis J. Sebille,
16William F. Dean, Edward C. Krzyzowski, and Richard G. Wilson;
17and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation
19is requested to erect at suitable locations, consistent with
20State and federal regulations, appropriate plaques or signs
21giving notice of the name of the Illinois Korean War Medal of
22Honor Highway; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
2delivered to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of
3Transportation, the families of William G. Windrich, James I.
4Poynter, Lester Hammond, John E. Kilmer, Louis J. Sebille,
5William F. Dean, Edward C. Krzyzowski, and Richard G. Wilson,
6and Hershall E. Lee, KW60 Ambassador of the United States
7Department of Defense.