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2014 SESSION

14101994D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 52
Offered January 8, 2014
Prefiled January 6, 2014
Celebrating the life of Master Sergeant Roy E. Head.
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Patron-- Kilgore
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WHEREAS, United States Army Master Sergeant Roy E. Head, who died in April 1951, while a prisoner of war in North Korea, was brought back to his family in Scott County and laid to rest with full military honors on June 5, 2010; and

WHEREAS, along with many other young men of his generation, Roy Head joined the United States Navy in December 1942; he bravely served aboard the USS Pensacola through several major battles in World War II, including the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa; and

WHEREAS, Roy Head returned to the United States in 1945 and enrolled in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; later, finding that he still held a strong desire to serve his country, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1947; and

WHEREAS, Master Sergeant Head was assigned to the Headquarters Company, 49th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division and served proudly alongside his fellow soldiers during the Korean War; and

WHEREAS, an extremely courageous soldier, Master Sergeant Head was captured by enemy forces on February 11, 1951, and taken to the Suan Bean prison camp, where he died two months later; and

WHEREAS, after the armistice in 1953, surviving POWs reported that Master Sergeant Head had died while in captivity; his wife, Ann, was notified of his death on August 15, 1954; and

WHEREAS, it took several decades of hard work and dedication by skilled diplomats, military personnel, and family members to identify and bring Master Sergeant Head’s earthly remains home for burial; and

WHEREAS, on June 5, 2010, Master Sergeant Head’s remains were finally laid to rest with full military honors at the family cemetery in Scott County; and

WHEREAS, Master Sergeant Head’s family made tremendous sacrifices and endured great distress in the nearly 60 years they waited before he was brought home for burial; and

WHEREAS, Master Sergeant Head’s sacrifice is a solemn reminder of the perils faced by the thousands of Americans who serve in our armed forces overseas and whose devotion to duty places them in harm’s way; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Master Sergeant Roy E. Head; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Master Sergeant Roy E. Head as an expression of the General Assembly’s profound respect for his memory and his and his family’s sacrifices.