BILL NUMBER: SCR 72CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 148 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 5, 2014 ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 13, 2014 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Senator Padilla (Principal coauthor: Senator De Len) (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bocanegra) SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 Relative to the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial Interchange. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 72, Padilla. David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial Interchange. This measure would designate the interchange of State Highway Route 5 and State Highway Route 118 in the City of Los Angeles as the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial Interchange. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs. WHEREAS, David M. Gonzales, Private First Class (PFC), United States Army, was born on June 9, 1923, in East Los Angeles and raised in Pacoima, California; and WHEREAS, David M. Gonzales joined the Army during World War II on March 31, 1944, at Fort MacArthur, and was deployed to the Philippines as an infantry replacement in December 1944; and WHEREAS, PFC Gonzales' heroic service on the Villa Verde Trail in Luzon, Philippines, on April 25, 1945, earned him, posthumously, the Congressional Medal of Honor; and WHEREAS, On April 25, 1945, PFC Gonzales and his unit, Company A, 127th Infantry, 32nd Division, were pinned down by enemy fire when a 500-pound bomb exploded in the company's perimeter, burying five men of Company A; and WHEREAS, Without hesitation, PFC Gonzales seized an entrenching tool, and, under a hail of fire, crawled 15 yards to his entombed comrades, while his commanding officer, who also rushed forward to help, was struck and instantly killed by machine gun fire; and WHEREAS, Undismayed, PFC Gonzales set to work swiftly with the entrenching tool, and continued to dig out the five trapped men, while enemy sniper fire and machine gun bullets struck him; and WHEREAS, After PFC Gonzales had successfully freed one of the men, he stood up to be able to dig faster, despite the fact that such a position exposed him to greater danger, and while he successfully freed another man, PFC Gonzales was mortally wounded by enemy fire as he finished liberating the third trapped man; and WHEREAS, In the words of President Harry Truman, "Private Gonzales' valiant and intrepid conduct exemplified the highest tradition of the military service"; and WHEREAS, The other two buried soldiers were later saved when the intense enemy fire subsided; and WHEREAS, PFC Gonzales was killed on April 25, 1945, while serving our country and saving the lives of his comrades on the field of battle during World War II; and WHEREAS, PFC Gonzales was survived by his then 25-year-old widow, Mrs. Steffanie Gonzales, his one-year-old son, David Gonzales, Jr., and his mother, Mrs. Rita Gonzales Duarte; and WHEREAS, It is appropriate to memorialize the sacrifice made by PFC Gonzales and to honor his valiant and intrepid service to the people of the United States by designating the interchange of State Highway Route 5 and State Highway Route 118 in the City of Los Angeles as the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial Interchange; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the interchange of State Highway Route 5 and State Highway Route 118 in the City of Los Angeles is hereby designated as the David M. Gonzales Medal of Honor World War II Memorial Interchange; and be it further Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover that cost, to erect those signs; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.