BILL NUMBER: SCR 72	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  AUGUST 13, 2014
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 29, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Padilla
   (Principal coauthor: Senator De León)
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bocanegra)

                        SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

   Relative to the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II
Memorial Interchange.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 72, Padilla. David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II
Memorial Interchange.
   This measure would designate the interchange of State Highway
Route 5 and State Highway Route 118 in the City of Los Angeles as the
David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial Interchange.
   The measure would request the Department of Transportation to
determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special
designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources
covering that cost, to erect those signs.



   WHEREAS, David M. Gonzales, Private First Class (PFC), United
States Army, was born on June 9, 1923, in East Los Angeles and raised
in Pacoima, California; and
   WHEREAS, David M. Gonzales joined the Army during World War II on
March 31, 1944, at Fort MacArthur, and was deployed to the
Philippines as an infantry replacement in December 1944; and
   WHEREAS, PFC Gonzales' heroic service on the Villa Verde Trail in
Luzon, Philippines, on April 25, 1945, earned him, posthumously, the
Congressional Medal of Honor; and
   WHEREAS, On April 25, 1945, PFC Gonzales and his unit, Company A,
127th Infantry, 32nd Division, were pinned down by enemy fire when a
500-pound bomb exploded in the company's perimeter, burying five men
of Company A; and
   WHEREAS, Without hesitation, PFC Gonzales seized an entrenching
tool, and, under a hail of fire, crawled 15 yards to his entombed
comrades, while his commanding officer, who also rushed forward to
help, was struck and instantly killed by machine gun fire; and
   WHEREAS, Undismayed, PFC Gonzales set to work swiftly with the
entrenching tool, and continued to dig out the five trapped men,
while enemy sniper fire and machine gun bullets struck him; and
   WHEREAS, After PFC Gonzales had successfully freed one of the men,
he stood up to be able to dig faster, despite the fact that such a
position exposed him to greater danger, and while he successfully
freed another man, PFC Gonzales was mortally wounded by enemy fire as
he finished liberating the third trapped man; and
   WHEREAS, In the words of President Harry Truman, "Private Gonzales'
valiant and intrepid conduct exemplified the highest tradition of
the military service"; and
   WHEREAS, The other two buried soldiers were later saved when the
intense enemy fire subsided; and
   WHEREAS, PFC Gonzales was killed on April 25, 1945, while serving
our country and saving the lives of his comrades on the field of
battle during World War II; and
   WHEREAS, PFC Gonzales was survived by his then 25-year-old widow,
Mrs. Steffanie Gonzales, his one-year-old son, David Gonzales, Jr.,
and his mother, Mrs. Rita Gonzales Duarte; and
   WHEREAS, It is appropriate to memorialize the sacrifice made by
PFC Gonzales and to honor his valiant and intrepid service to the
people of the United States by designating the interchange of State
Highway Route 5 and State Highway Route 118 in the City of Los
Angeles as the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial
Interchange; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the interchange of State Highway Route 5 and
State Highway Route 118 in the City of Los Angeles is hereby
designated as the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II
Memorial Interchange; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing
requirements for the state highway system, showing this special
designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources
sufficient to cover that cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author for
appropriate distribution.