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2012 SESSION

12105548D
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 194
Offered February 23, 2012
Commending Officer Candidate Joshua Moore and Midshipman Jason Benning.
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Patron-- Wagner
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WHEREAS, Officer Candidate Joshua Moore and Midshipman Jason Benning, both mechanical engineering technology majors from Old Dominion University, used their Navy training to save a mother and child from a burning vehicle on Interstate 264 on February 1, 2012; and

WHEREAS, the Hampton Roads Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps is one of the largest officer training battalions in the nation, consisting of over 400 sailors, marines, and midshipmen; and

WHEREAS, the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program educates and trains qualified young men and women for service as commissioned officers in the Navy’s unrestricted line, the Navy Nurse Corps, and the Marine Corps; and

WHEREAS, the Hampton Roads Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps is headquartered at Old Dominion University, a school which is consistently ranked as a leading “military-friendly” institution and a national leader in technology-delivered distance learning; and

WHEREAS, Old Dominion University, located in the City of Norfolk, enrolls over 24,000 students, approximately 88 percent of whom are Virginia residents; nearly 25 percent of the University’s student population is military-affiliated; and

WHEREAS, Officer Candidate Joshua Moore and Midshipman Jason Benning were driving home separately after a class when they noticed a damaged vehicle on the shoulder of Interstate 264  facing  oncoming traffic, with flames flickering out of its twisted metal; and

WHEREAS, along with a few other motorists, Jason Benning and Joshua Moore pulled their vehicles over and ran to the car, eventually pulling the female driver, who was lying across the seat, to safety; and

WHEREAS, Jason Benning and Joshua Moore ran back to the vehicle, where they saw a baby strapped in a car seat behind the driver’s seat; each of them opened a back door and attempted to wrestle with the car seat to get the child out, struggling with the seat belts while flames were coming through the dash, until, finally, the boy was removed from the car and carried to safety; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly commend Officer Candidate Joshua Moore and Midshipman Jason Benning for exhibiting exemplary leadership in saving the lives of a mother and child at considerable risk to their own safety; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Officer Candidate Jason Benning and Midshipman Joshua Moore as an expression of the General Assembly’s gratitude for their unhesitating and selfless heroism.