HR0240 LRB094 11759 HSS 43903 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, During World War II, Joseph W. Sparks answered the
3 call of his country and valiantly served as a member of the
4 477th Composite Group based at Godman Field, Kentucky; the
5 477th Composite Group, the first all-Black Bomber-Fighter air
6 squadron in U.S. history, had four squadrons of bomber and
7 fighter planes; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Mr. Sparks graduated with the first class of
9 African Americans to be qualified as aerial radio operators at
10 Scott Field Air Base in 1944; he was also in the first class of
11 African Americans to graduate from aerial gunnery school at the
12 Yuma Arizona Air Force Base in 1944; and
 
13     WHEREAS, He went on training fights as a radio operator
14 with First Lieutenant Daniel James Jr. as a member of the 617th
15 Bombardment Squadron at Godman Field, Kentucky, in 1944;
16 Lieutenant James went on to become the first African-American
17 four star general; he also served with James Y. Carter who went
18 on to serve in the Illinois General Assembly and was Vehicle
19 Commissioner for the City of Chicago, Winston A. Adkins, a
20 police sergeant at 51st and Wentworth in Chicago, A.A. Rayner,
21 a former Chicago alderman and funeral director, and Charles W.
22 Diggs, who became a U.S. Congressman from Michigan; and
 
23     WHEREAS, As a radio operator mechanic, Sergeant Sparks
24 operated airborne transmitting and receiving equipment; he
25 sent and received messages using Morse code; he performed
26 in-flight maintenance on equipment and tune adjusted his own
27 equipment; he operated at a rate of 20 words per minute; he
28 also had two 50-caliber machine guns to operate, one on each
29 side of the B-25 bomber; and
 
30     WHEREAS, The squadron was initially named the 477th
31 Bombardment Group; the name was changed in June of 1945 to the

 

 

HR0240 - 2 - LRB094 11759 HSS 43903 r

1 477th Composite Group, when leadership of the group was handed
2 over the General B.O. Davis, Sr.; it was the first and only
3 U.S. Army installation within the continental U.S. to be
4 commanded and staffed completely by African-American
5 personnel; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Mr. Sparks went on to work with the Chicago
7 Transit Authority and was honored for 31 years of public
8 service as a bus driver and for his volunteer work in the
9 Englewood Community as Chairman of the 7th Police District
10 Youth Corps; he drove streetcar #7213, Chicago's last
11 streetcar, during the mid-1950s; therefore, be it
 
12     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
13 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
14 we honor Joseph W. Sparks for his service as a member of the
15 477th Composite Group during World War II, for his many years
16 of public and community service, and for his efforts to educate
17 Americans on the 477th Composite Group; and be it further
 
18     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19 presented to Mr. Sparks as an expression of our sincerest
20 respect and esteem.