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2001 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 808
Recognizing the role of America’s military and veterans in defending freedom during the Cold War and urging the Board of Education to ensure that Virginia’s schoolchildren learn about that role.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 6, 2001
Agreed to by the Senate, February 14, 2001

WHEREAS, from the end of World War II in 1945 until the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly a half-century later, America was embroiled in what was termed the “Cold War”; and

WHEREAS, during the Cold War era millions of American men and women served in the armed forces of the United States; and

WHEREAS, while it was called the Cold War, actual wars took place in Vietnam, Korea, and other spots around the globe, in which tens of thousands of American service members were either killed or wounded while defending against totalitarian aggression; and

WHEREAS, in addition to those members of the armed forces killed or injured during combat in Korea and Vietnam, many thousands of military men and women who served during the Cold War era suffered injury and death during non-combat maneuvers, training and exercises, while serving the cause of freedom; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Cold War era and their families and survivors live in Virginia; and

WHEREAS, many young Virginians are not sufficiently aware of the major events of the Cold War era and do not understand that the American triumph in the Cold War was made possible by the sacrifices, loyalty and adherence to duty of America’s military veterans; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Board of Education recognize the role of America's military and veterans in defending freedom during the Cold War and be urged to ensure that Virginia's school children learn about that role. This shall be taught in Virginia through the Standards of Learning, and Virginia’s students shall learn that American veterans who fought in wars in Vietnam, Korea and elsewhere, and who served in non-combat roles during the Cold War era were defending freedom and resisting aggression, and that the sacrifices and loyalty of America’s military veterans made possible the eventual triumph of America and its allies in the Cold War; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the Board of Education so that it may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly in this matter.