THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY STABACK, BEYER, BISHOP, BOYD, BRIGGS, COHEN, CUTLER, EVERETT, GEIST, GEORGE, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GRUCELA, HARHART, HARRIS, HELM, HORNAMAN, KILLION, KORTZ, MAHER, DeWEESE, MARKOSEK, MELIO, MILLARD, MILLER, MUNDY, MURPHY, M. O'BRIEN, O'NEILL, PALLONE, PRESTON, SCAVELLO, S. H. SMITH, SOLOBAY, STEVENSON, SWANGER, VULAKOVICH, FLECK, SIPTROTH, METZGAR, FAIRCHILD, WATSON, R. TAYLOR, D. COSTA, CALTAGIRONE, PHILLIPS, SANTONI, MANN, MILNE, YUDICHAK, DONATUCCI, GRELL, KOTIK, W. KELLER, MOUL AND LEVDANSKY, DECEMBER 9, 2009

INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, DECEMBER 9, 2009  

A RESOLUTION

Remembering Christmas Eve 1944 in northwest Europe.

WHEREAS, In the winter of 1944 the Germans sought to split

the Allied armies and override the Allied defense of Belgium,

Luxembourg, northern France and the Belgian-French Channel

coast; and

WHEREAS, Soldiers in the frozen Ardennes trenches and

deserted villages referred to the unquiet Christmas of 1944 as

Black Christmas; and

WHEREAS, The initial German offensive on the Ardennes Front

on December 16, 1944, surprised the Allies; and

WHEREAS, The Ardennes campaign, or the Battle of the Bulge,

was the largest and deadliest World War II land battle fought by

the Americans, with 600,000 American troops and more than 81,000

casualties and lives lost; and

WHEREAS, The short-lived German Ardennes offensive included

Christmas Eve air attacks on multiple Allied air fields and rail

yards; and

WHEREAS, Allied troops defending Bastogne, Belgium, also came

under attack on Christmas Eve; and

WHEREAS, Captain John Prior, M.D., battalion surgeon, was the

officer in charge of the 10th Armored Division field hospital

established in a Bastogne residential building; and

WHEREAS, With no electricity and limited water, food and

medical supplies, the field hospital operated around the clock

as an aid station for wounded soldiers and civilians unable to

flee the deserted city; and

WHEREAS, Christmas Eve was a day of constant shelling for the

Bastogne defenders, and German bombardment of the field hospital

that night killed 20 soldiers and Belgian nurse Renee Lemaire;

and

WHEREAS, A registered nurse from Bastogne, Renee Lemaire had

volunteered at the aid station from December 21 until her

untimely death on Christmas Eve; and

WHEREAS, Captain Prior praised Renee Lemaire's volunteer

efforts on behalf of wounded soldiers, noting that she had

worked without adequate food and rest and had inspired troop

morale; and

WHEREAS, Captain Prior returned Renee Lemaire's remains,

encased in a white silk parachute, to her parents; and

WHEREAS, A plaque on the wall of House No. 21, Rue de

Neufchateau, was later dedicated in memory of the young Belgian

nurse, the Angel of Bastogne, who gave her life helping wounded

Americans; and

WHEREAS, When a Nazi torpedo targeted the SS Leopoldville on

Christmas Eve, 763 soldiers from the 66th Infantry Division,

more than one-third of the division, died in the frigid waters

of the English Channel less than six miles from Cherbourg,

France; and

WHEREAS, A converted Belgian luxury liner, the SS 

Leopoldville was transporting more than 2,000 American

reinforcement troops; and

WHEREAS, The British destroyer HMS Brilliant and other small

craft heroically rescued hundreds of soldiers who had survived

the initial strike; and

WHEREAS, Other soldiers remained on the doomed SS 

Leopoldville, the Belgian crew having abandoned ship in the

operable lifeboats; and

WHEREAS, Military censors suppressed news of the Christmas

Eve sinking of the SS Leopoldville; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives remember

Christmas Eve 1944 in northwest Europe, with reverence for the

many lives lost and for the prevailing endurance and heroism of

soldiers and civilians in combat during the last winter of World

War II.