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               ENGROSSED SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8001

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State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Senators Hargrove, McCaslin, Snyder, Patterson and Oke

Read first time 01/16/97.  Referred to Committee on Government Operations.

Petitioning for a plaque honoring veterans dying from war-related injuries received in the southeast Asia theater of operations. 

    TO THE HONORABLE GARY LOCKE, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, AND TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL ADMINISTRATION, AND TO THE STATE=S VIETNAM VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, In 1984, legislation was enacted authorizing the design and placement of a memorial on the Capitol campus honoring Washington state residents who died or are Amissing-in-action@ in the southeast Asia theater of operations; and

    WHEREAS, This memorial, commonly known as the Vietnam memorial, was dedicated in May 1987, and was almost totally paid for from many private contributions; and

    WHEREAS, There are over eleven hundred names engraved on the memorial representing those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country; and

    WHEREAS, Joel Dean Smith, deceased spouse of Boneita Smith, who sustained massive war-related injuries that resulted in the amputation of both legs at the hip and who suffered physically and emotionally for over twenty years is representative of many thousands of Washington state residents who have died and will die from war-related injuries received in the southeast Asia theater of operations; and

    WHEREAS, The pain, suffering, and above all courage of these Washington state residents should be recognized and honored;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the Governor of the State of Washington, in consultation with the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Department of General Administration, and the state=s Vietnam veterans organizations, have placed upon the southeast Asia memorial a plaque honoring those veterans who died from war-related injuries received in the southeast Asia theater of operations.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this memorial be immediately transmitted to the honorable Gary Locke, Governor of the State of Washington, the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Department of General Administration, and the state=s Vietnam veterans organizations.

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