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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate Norman Wilke on the | ||||||
| 4 | occasion of being named 2016 Veteran of the Year by the Shiloh | ||||||
| 5 | Spurs; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Norman Wilke, a farm boy from the small town of | ||||||
| 7 | St. Libory, joined the United States Army on November 4, 1952 | ||||||
| 8 | at the age of 20 to serve his country during the Korean War; | ||||||
| 9 | and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, After four months of boot camp infantry training | ||||||
| 11 | at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, Norman Wilke was shipped out to | ||||||
| 12 | Camp Omiya, where he had surgery on his shoulder after being | ||||||
| 13 | knocked out of his bunk during a rough storm on the voyage; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, A chance meeting with a friend from home persuaded | ||||||
| 15 | Norman Wilke to join the 4th Platoon, where his primary duty | ||||||
| 16 | became Graves Registration, which was collecting the bodies of | ||||||
| 17 | dead soldiers and civilian American citizens, embalming their | ||||||
| 18 | bodies, and preparing them to ship home; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, Norman Wilke, along with five other platoon | ||||||
| 20 | members, once had to climb Mount Fuji on foot to retrieve the | ||||||
| 21 | bodies of American soldiers who died in a plane crash; after | ||||||
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| 1 | conditions were too foggy for the helicopter that would | ||||||
| 2 | retrieve them to land, he and his company had to stay on the | ||||||
| 3 | mountain overnight and sleep in the body bags they brought with | ||||||
| 4 | them; and | ||||||
| 5 | WHEREAS, Norman Wilke prepared an average of 20 to 30 | ||||||
| 6 | bodies a day, with many more during certain battles; the | ||||||
| 7 | hardest part of his job was preparing the body of someone he | ||||||
| 8 | knew; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, While Norman Wilke's job was sometimes | ||||||
| 10 | heart-wrenching, he felt proud to perform this important job | ||||||
| 11 | and felt he was honoring those who died for our country by | ||||||
| 12 | respectfully preparing them for their final journey home; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, After serving two years in the 31st Infantry | ||||||
| 14 | Division, 4th Platoon as the 114th Graves Registration | ||||||
| 15 | Quartermaster, Norman Wilke left the Army in 1954 to return | ||||||
| 16 | home and marry his sweetheart, Dorothy; in 1960, he founded the | ||||||
| 17 | Wilke Window and Door Company, which has since become the | ||||||
| 18 | largest window and door showroom in the Metro St. Louis area, | ||||||
| 19 | as well as Norm's Bargain Bin and Lifestyle Kitchen and Baths; | ||||||
| 20 | therefore, be it
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| 21 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 22 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
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| 1 | congratulate Norman Wilke on the occasion of being named 2016 | ||||||
| 2 | Veteran of the Year and thank him for his service; and be it | ||||||
| 3 | further
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| 4 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 5 | presented to Norman Wilke as an expression of our esteem and | ||||||
| 6 | respect.
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