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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, In accordance with the established tradition of
3the Illinois House of Representatives, it is fitting that, for
4Memorial Day, we honor our brothers and sisters who have given
5their lives in service to our country as the guardians of our
6long-held freedoms; and
 
7    WHEREAS, No better words have been written to honor those
8brave souls who were sacrificed long ago or pay tribute to the
9those brave men and women of today who have continued that
10fight for freedom than the Gettysburg Address; let us now
11recite those words so humbly said by our 16th President,
12Abraham Lincoln: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers
13brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in
14Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
15created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
16whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
17dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield
18of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,
19as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives
20that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
21proper that we should do this. But, in the larger sense, we can
22not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we cannot hallow - this
23ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
24have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or

 

 

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1detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we
2say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for
3us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
4work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
5advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
6task remaining before us - that from those honored dead we take
7increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last
8full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that
9these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation,
10under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that
11government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall
12not perish from the earth."; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Those words from long ago still speak to those
14brave men and women of today who we now honor; it is all
15together fitting and appropriate that we, with heavy hearts,
16again accept the honor of reading the Roll Call of those
17American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines from the State
18of Illinois who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the
19preceding year since the previous tribute; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
21NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that a
22copy of this resolution and a copy of the ceremonial honor roll
23and program of the May 25, 2016 reading of names be presented
24to the families of these fallen heroes.