Amended in Assembly August 27, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 50

Introduced by Senator Nielsen

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O’Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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April 29, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 50—Relative to World War II Remembrance Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 50, as amended, Nielsen. World War II Remembrance Month.

This measure would urge the Governor to proclaim the month of June 2015 as World War II Remembrance Month, and call upon all Californians to observe the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The Second World War, which lasted from 1939
to 1945, was the most widespread war in human history, directly
involving more than 100 million people from more than 30
different countries, which were split between two opposing military
alliances--the Allies, led by the United States of America and the
United Kingdom, and the Axis, led by Nazi Germany and the
Empire of Japan; and

WHEREAS, The Axis powers initiated military aggression and
maintained the strategic momentum until gradually slowed by
Allied resistance in late 1942 and 1943, after which the Allies
reversed the momentum and commenced operations to liberate
Axis-conquered lands; and

WHEREAS, On December 11, 1941, four days after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war
on the United States; and

WHEREAS, On June 4, 1942, the United States won a decisive
naval victory over Japan in the Battle of Midway, generally
recognized as the event that began shifting the momentum of the
Pacific Campaign in favor of the Allies; and

WHEREAS, On November 8, 1942, United States and Allied
forces commenced Operation Torch, the campaign to expel the
German forces from Axis-occupied North Africa; and

WHEREAS, Between August 1942 and February 1943, Allied
forces invaded the Japanese-held island of Guadalcanal, beginning
the celebrated Allied island-hopping campaign that forced the
Japanese from various other Pacific island chains that the Japanese
had earlier seized; and

WHEREAS, German and other Axis forces in North Africa
surrendered on May 13, 1943, leading to the successful landing in
Sicily by United States and Allied forces in July 1943; and

WHEREAS, On September 8, 1943, Axis member Italy
surrendered to United States and Allied forces; and

WHEREAS, More than 150,000 Allied soldiers landed in France
on June 6, 1944, known thereafter as “D-Day”; and

WHEREAS, On August 25, 1944, Allied forces liberated Paris;
and

WHEREAS, From mid to late December 1944, during the Battle
of the Bulge, United States troops heroically resisted a massive
German counteroffensive in Belgium and France; and

WHEREAS, Fighting continued throughout the Pacific in 1944
and early 1945, including major but costly American victories at
Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa; and

WHEREAS, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the
Western Allies at Reims on May 7, 1945, and to the Soviet Union
on May 9, 1945, in Berlin; and

WHEREAS, President of the United States Harry S. Truman
declared May 8, 1945, “V-E Day,” marking the end of World War
II in Europe, although the war with Japan continued until August
14, 1945; and

WHEREAS, During World War II, an estimated 292,000
members of the United States Armed Forces were killed in action
and more than 400,000 members of the United States Armed Forces
died; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature calls upon all Californians
to observe the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World
War, and urges them to observe the anniversary with appropriate
ceremonies and activities that honor and give thanks to the
Californians and other Americans who fought in the war, both
those who survived its horrific rigors and those who fell in the
service of freedom; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Governor to proclaim
the month of June 2015 as World War II Remembrance Month;
and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Military
Department, the California State Military Museum, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.