PRINTER'S NO. 1062
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
180
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY BARBIN, GROVE, BARRAR, SAINATO, READSHAW, BURNS,
MURT, RYAN, BIZZARRO, MILLARD, GODSHALL, KINSEY, V. BROWN,
DiGIROLAMO, KAVULICH, SONNEY, DUSH, MALONEY, HENNESSEY,
CALTAGIRONE, WARD, A. HARRIS, MARSICO, COX, SANKEY, O'NEILL,
LONGIETTI AND GOODMAN, MARCH 22, 2017
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS, MARCH 22, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Encouraging the United States Department of Defense to include
the names of the fallen sailors of the Destroyer USS Frank E.
Evans (DD 754) on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
WHEREAS, On March 29, 1969, the officers and men of the USS
Frank E. Evans (DD 754) departed Long Beach for the Western
Pacific to carry out the operational orders of their commander
in chief during a time of war with North Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, On June 3, 1969, the USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754),
while on an allied naval exercise during the Vietnam War,
collided with the Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS
Melbourne (R21) in the South China Sea, near the coast of
Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, The collision severed the ship into two sections,
with the forward section sinking in less than three minutes,
taking the lives of 74 American sailors; and
WHEREAS, Members of the United States Armed Forces who died
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during the Vietnam War have been memorialized by placing the
names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, so
long as they died within the combat zone; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Defense maintains
the men who died as a result of the sinking of the USS Frank E.
Evans (DD 754) do not meet the criteria for inclusion on the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial since the accident occurred outside
the combat zone, and continues to deny the placement of the
names of the 74 lost sailors on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial;
and
WHEREAS, The Vietnam War combat zone boundaries were ill
defined and have been changed from time to time and should not
be the defining reason to exclude the names of the lost sailors
from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; and
WHEREAS, Other members of the United States Armed Forces who
have died outside the Vietnam War combat zone have had their
names placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania encourage the United States
Department of Defense to include the names of the 74 sailors
from the USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754) on the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives fully support an
immediate favorable decision by the United States Department of
Defense to make an exception to its criteria in order to include
those names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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