Full Text of HR0904 103rd General Assembly
HR0904 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | HR0904 | | LRB103 42716 MST 75953 r |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION | 2 | | WHEREAS, It is highly fitting that the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives pays honor and respect to those who have | 4 | | served our country and State and, in doing so, have made the | 5 | | ultimate sacrifice; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) | 7 | | announced that U.S. Army Private First Class Harry Jerele of | 8 | | Berkeley, who was captured and died as a prisoner of war during | 9 | | World War II, was accounted for on December 20, 2023; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, PFC Jerele was born to Leopold Jerele and Mary | 11 | | Flori-Jerele in Clinton, Iowa on February 1, 1916; he and his | 12 | | family eventually resettled in Berkeley, Illinois; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, PFC Jerele was a member of the 33rd Tank Company | 14 | | of the Illinois National Guard in Maywood; after his unit was | 15 | | called to federal service on September 1, 1940, he became a | 16 | | member of the 192nd Tank Battalion, Company B in the U.S. Army, | 17 | | which included 104 soldiers from Illinois, and was deployed to | 18 | | the Philippines; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, In the summer of 1941, PFC Jerele and the 192nd | 20 | | Tank Battalion were serving in the Philippines when Japanese | 21 | | forces invaded the country in December 1941; intense fighting |
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| 1 | | continued until the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April | 2 | | 9, 1942 and of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942, leading to | 3 | | thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members being captured | 4 | | and interned at POW camps; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, PFC Jerele was among those reported captured when | 6 | | U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese; he and | 7 | | fellow POWs were subjected to the 65-mile Bataan Death March | 8 | | and then held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp, where more than 2,500 | 9 | | POWs perished during the war; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, According to prison camp and other historical | 11 | | records, PFC Jerele died on December 28, 1942, and he was | 12 | | buried along with other deceased prisoners in Common Grave 804 | 13 | | of the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Following the war, American Graves Registration | 15 | | Service (AGRS) personnel exhumed those buried at the | 16 | | Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery and relocated the remains to a | 17 | | temporary U.S. military mausoleum near Manila; the AGRS | 18 | | examined the remains in an attempt to identify them in 1947; | 19 | | while two sets of remains from Common Grave 804 were | 20 | | identified, the remaining two were declared unidentifiable, | 21 | | which included those of PFC Jerele; the unidentified remains | 22 | | were buried as Unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and | 23 | | Memorial (MACM); and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In early 2020, the remains associated with Common | 2 | | Grave 804 were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for | 3 | | analysis; to identify PFC Jerele's remains, scientists from | 4 | | DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial | 5 | | evidence; additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces | 6 | | Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) | 7 | | analysis; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Although interred as an Unknown in MACM, PFC | 9 | | Jerele's grave was meticulously cared for by the American | 10 | | Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) for the past 70 years; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, PFC Jerele will be buried with full military | 12 | | honors at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood on | 13 | | October 4, 2024; therefore, be it | 14 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 15 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 16 | | we recognize U.S. Army Private First Class Harry Jerele for | 17 | | making the ultimate sacrifice in service to his State and | 18 | | country during World War II; and be it further | 19 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 20 | | presented to the family of PFC Jerele as an expression of our | 21 | | deepest sympathy. |
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