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2018 SESSION

18100512D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 14
Offered January 10, 2018
Prefiled December 20, 2017
Celebrating the life of James Alexander Ransone, Jr.
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Patron-- Ware
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WHEREAS, Virginians of every generation have taken to arms to defend their liberties; and

WHEREAS, the people of Powhatan hold a particular regard for members of their fellowship who have borne arms in defense of the Commonwealth or the country; and

WHEREAS, this fundamental attribute of the faithful heart is evidenced in a memorial to The Powhatan Troop on the Courthouse Green declaring, “To honor valor is mankind’s delight”; and

WHEREAS, James Alexander Ransone, Jr., was born into this traditional community at Cartersville on July 24, 1928; and

WHEREAS, J. A. Ransone, Jr., was deployed to Korea as a corporal in the United States Army, five months after the United Nations (UN), with forces led by the United States, responded to the invasion of northern Korea by the armies of China; and

WHEREAS, on November 27, 1950, at the Chosin Reservoir, the 30,000 UN troops whose number included J. A. Ransone, Jr., were surrounded in a surprise attack by 120,000 Chinese troops; and

WHEREAS, in subfreezing temperatures, the UN and American troops fought valiantly for 17 days, and of the 3,000 American soldiers with whom J. A. Ransone, Jr., served directly, only 181 survived the initial five-day battle with the Communist forces of China and northern Korea; and

WHEREAS, J. A. Ransone, Jr., at age 80, remembered the “killing temperatures and no food,” seeing his platoon wiped out by “friendly fire,” taking five enemy rounds, running out of ammunition, and being abandoned by two officers, and surviving the crash of his evacuation flight; and

WHEREAS, J. A. Ransone, Jr., as later reports of the war recount, fled from an enemy machine-gun nest and, unarmed and alone, made his way onto the frozen expanse of the Chosin Reservoir, where he was rescued by reserve UN forces, taken to a field hospital, and, with 30 other survivors, airlifted out of the combat zone, only to endure the crash of that airplane, another rescue and a final evacuation to Japan, and, after recuperation, his return to Korea and to combat; and

WHEREAS, J. A. Ransone, Jr., was one of the fabled “Chosin Few” to have survived the battle; and

WHEREAS, after his military service, J. A. Ransone, Jr., returned to Powhatan, where he and his wife of 62 years, Mary Jane (Goodwyn) Ransone, raised a daughter and two sons--each of whom, and a total of four grandchildren, remain in the community of their birth; and

WHEREAS, for the remainder of his life, J. A. Ransone, Jr., remained true to the memory of his comrades-at-arms and their experiences together in the Korean War and served as charter commander of the Powhatan chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and as a life member of the Richmond chapter of the Disabled American Veterans; and

WHEREAS, J. A. Ransone, Jr., was a longtime agent of Peoples Security Life/Monumental Life Insurance Company, owner of Huguenot Insurance Agency, and owner, significantly, of Chosin Restaurant; he served his community as a Master Mason of Powhatan Lodge 295, on the board of directors of Huguenot Academy, and on the Goochland-Powhatan Disability Board; and

WHEREAS, on September 8, 2016, J. A. Ransone, Jr., ended his earthly pilgrimage and was buried in Cartersville Cemetery, verily in the shadow of his ancestral home, following services at Red Lane Baptist Church; 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 James Alexander Ransone, Jr., an embodiment of the citizen-soldier whose experiences and exploits will be remembered so long as Virginians remember honor; 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 James Alexander Ransone, Jr., as an expression of the General Assembly’s gratitude for his military service and respect for his exemplary life.