1 HJR27
2 209509-2
3 By Representatives Drake, Shedd, Kitchens, Fincher, Pringle,
4 Treadaway, Brown (C), Baker, Simpson, Marques, Clouse,
5 Sanderford, Oliver, Faust, Shiver and McMillan
6 RFD: Rules
7 First Read: 04-FEB-21
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2 ENROLLED, House Joint Resolution,
3 EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE CONTINUING OPERATION AND
4 EXPANSION OF THE ALABAMA STATE VETERANS MEMORIAL CEMETERY AT
5 SPANISH FORT.
6
7 WHEREAS, we solemnly recognize the service and the
8 sacrifice of our veterans as they have borne the cost of
9 America's wars and have stood watch over American's peace from
10 Valley Forge to Vietnam, from Kuwait to Kandahar, and from
11 Berlin to Baghdad; and
12 WHEREAS, providing our veterans with a dignified and
13 solemn resting place is both our duty and our honor; and
14 WHEREAS, Alabama is home to approximately 400,000
15 service members and veterans; and
16 WHEREAS, on May 22, 2009, the Governor of this great
17 State of Alabama authorized the State Board of Veterans
18 Affairs to establish and operate a state-owned and
19 state-operated veterans cemetery; and
20 WHEREAS, on December 7, 2012, the Alabama State
21 Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort was dedicated to
22 the men and women who answered our nation's call, both at home
23 and around the world; assuring them the sacrifices they laid
24 upon the altar of freedom would never be diminished or
25 forgotten, and calling for visitors to be silent and
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 HJR27
1 respectful on those hallowed grounds upon which patriots rest;
2 and
3 WHEREAS, the Alabama State Veterans Memorial
4 Cemetery at Spanish Fort is one of only three active veterans
5 cemeteries in Alabama, and is the only one in south Alabama;
6 and
7 WHEREAS, the Alabama State Veterans Memorial
8 Cemetery at Spanish Fort was designed to be expanded every
9 decade to provide 100 years of interment services; and
10 WHEREAS, the first phase of the Alabama State
11 Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort's full capacity is
12 expected to be reached before 2024; and
13 WHEREAS, the expansion project qualified for federal
14 funds that would cover the entire cost of expansion; now
15 therefore,
16 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH
17 HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That the members of this body join
18 together in support of the continuing operation and expansion
19 of the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish
20 Fort in honor of those ordinary Americans who were called upon
21 to do extraordinary things.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we direct that copies
23 of this resolution be delivered to the Secretary of the United
24 States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Commissioner of
25 the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs.
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2
3
4 Speaker of the House of Representatives
5
6 President and Presiding Officer of the Senate
7 House of Representatives
8 I hereby certify that the within Act originated in
9 and was adopted by the House 11-FEB-21.
10
11 Jeff Woodard
12 Clerk
13
14
15
16 Senate 09-MAR-21 Adopted
17
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