BILL NUMBER: SCR 50CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 161 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 ADOPTED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 2015 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 2015 INTRODUCED BY Senator Nielsen (Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chvez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernndez, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood) APRIL 29, 2015 Relative to World War II Remembrance Month. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 50, Nielsen. World War II Remembrance Month. This measure would urge the Governor to proclaim the month of June 2015 as World War II Remembrance Month, and call upon all Californians to observe the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. WHEREAS, The Second World War, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, was the most widespread war in human history, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 different countries, which were split between two opposing military alliances--the Allies, led by the United States of America and the United Kingdom, and the Axis, led by Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan; and WHEREAS, The Axis powers initiated military aggression and maintained the strategic momentum until gradually slowed by Allied resistance in late 1942 and 1943, after which the Allies reversed the momentum and commenced operations to liberate Axis-conquered lands; and WHEREAS, On December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; and WHEREAS, On June 4, 1942, the United States won a decisive naval victory over Japan in the Battle of Midway, generally recognized as the event that began shifting the momentum of the Pacific Campaign in favor of the Allies; and WHEREAS, On November 8, 1942, United States and Allied forces commenced Operation Torch, the campaign to expel the German forces from Axis-occupied North Africa; and WHEREAS, Between August 1942 and February 1943, Allied forces invaded the Japanese-held island of Guadalcanal, beginning the celebrated Allied island-hopping campaign that forced the Japanese from various other Pacific island chains that the Japanese had earlier seized; and WHEREAS, German and other Axis forces in North Africa surrendered on May 13, 1943, leading to the successful landing in Sicily by United States and Allied forces in July 1943; and WHEREAS, On September 8, 1943, Axis member Italy surrendered to United States and Allied forces; and WHEREAS, More than 150,000 Allied soldiers landed in France on June 6, 1944, known thereafter as "D-Day"; and WHEREAS, On August 25, 1944, Allied forces liberated Paris; and WHEREAS, From mid to late December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, United States troops heroically resisted a massive German counteroffensive in Belgium and France; and WHEREAS, Fighting continued throughout the Pacific in 1944 and early 1945, including major but costly American victories at Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa; and WHEREAS, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Western Allies at Reims on May 7, 1945, and to the Soviet Union on May 9, 1945, in Berlin; and WHEREAS, President of the United States Harry S. Truman declared May 8, 1945, "V-E Day," marking the end of World War II in Europe, although the war with Japan continued until August 14, 1945; and WHEREAS, During World War II, an estimated 292,000 members of the United States Armed Forces were killed in action and more than 400,000 members of the United States Armed Forces died; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature calls upon all Californians to observe the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and urges them to observe the anniversary with appropriate ceremonies and activities that honor and give thanks to the Californians and other Americans who fought in the war, both those who survived its horrific rigors and those who fell in the service of freedom; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Governor to proclaim the month of June 2015 as World War II Remembrance Month; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Military Department, the California State Military Museum, and to the author for appropriate distribution.