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2014 SPECIAL SESSION I


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5181
Celebrating the life of Sergeant Richard Norris Bean.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, September 18, 2014
Agreed to by the Senate, September 18, 2014

 

WHEREAS, Private First Class Richard Norris Bean of Manassas, who was killed in action on July 7, 1944, while courageously facing an overwhelming enemy force, will be brought home and laid to rest with full military honors in 2014; and

WHEREAS, learning the value of hard work and responsibility at a young age, Richard Bean supported his family as a farmhand in Montgomery County and later worked on a farm in Manassas; and

WHEREAS, desirous to be of service to his country during World War II, Richard Bean enlisted in the United States Army on September 4, 1941, and deployed in March 1942, with the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, one of the first units sent into combat in the Pacific Theater; and

WHEREAS, after participating in combat operations in the Marshall Islands, Private First Class Bean landed with invasion forces on Saipan in June 1944; he made the ultimate sacrifice on July 7, 1944, courageously facing over 3,000 enemy troops in the largest banzai attack of the war; he was promoted to sergeant for the ultimate sacrifice for his country; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Bean received the Bronze Star for his gallantry in the face of overwhelming odds and was listed as missing in action until 1947, when he was declared killed in action and listed on the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, in August 2013, Sergeant Bean’s remains were uncovered by a nongovernmental organization searching for the remains of Japanese soldiers; the group began work to repatriate Sergeant Bean to the United States, and his remains were identified by the Department of Defense in August 2014; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Bean will be laid to rest at Quantico National Cemetery in October 2014; his family endured great distress in the nearly 70 years they waited until he was brought home for burial; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Bean’s sacrifice is a reminder of the perils faced by the thousands of American men and women in uniform whose dedication 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 Sergeant Richard Norris Bean; 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 Sergeant Richard Norris Bean as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for his memory and his sacrifice for his country.