S.C.R. No. 22
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest
decoration for valor in combat awarded to members of the United
States armed forces; generally presented to recipients by the
president of the United States on congress's behalf, it is often
called the Congressional Medal of Honor; and
WHEREAS, First authorized in 1861 for United States Navy and
Marine Corps personnel and for United States Army soldiers the
following year, Medals of Honor are awarded sparingly and bestowed
only on those individuals performing documented acts of gallant
heroism against an enemy force; and
WHEREAS, Since congress authorized the award, 70 Medals of
Honor have been accredited to the State of Texas, yet other Texans
have similarly distinguished themselves by acts of courageous
gallantry in combat no less deserving of such recognition; one such
individual is Marcelino Serna, a native of Mexico whose unflinching
and selfless bravery and acts of uncommon valor on the battlefields
of World War I made him one of Texas' most decorated heroes; and
WHEREAS, Born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua in 1896, he
came to the United States as a young man in search of a better life,
working various jobs in Texas, Kansas, and Colorado; and
WHEREAS, In 1917, Mr. Serna was working in Colorado when the
United States, unable to remain neutral any longer while war raged
in Europe, declared war on Germany; later that year, federal
officials in Denver, Colorado, gathered a group of men and held them
until their draft status could be verified; and
WHEREAS, Included in this group, Mr. Serna chose not to wait
for such verification and instead volunteered for service in the
United States Army; after only three weeks of training, 20-year-old
Private Serna was shipped to England, where he was assigned to the
355th Infantry of the 89th Division, a unit that was to see action
in some of the most arduous campaigns of the war; and
WHEREAS, By the time the unit arrived in France, Private
Serna's status as a noncitizen had come to light, and he was
consequently offered a discharge from the army; given the
opportunity to return home, Private Serna refused the discharge,
choosing to stay with his unit as it began its advance toward the
Meuse River and Argonne Forest in northeastern France; and
WHEREAS, At Saint Mihiel, Private Serna's unit was moving
through thick brush when a German machine gunner opened fire,
killing 12 American soldiers; with his lieutenant's permission,
Private Serna, a scout, continued forward, dodging machine-gun fire
until he reached the gunner's left flank; and
WHEREAS, Having come through a hail of bullets unscathed,
despite being hit twice in the helmet, Private Serna got close
enough to lob four grenades into the machine-gun nest, killing six
enemy soldiers and taking into custody the eight survivors, who
quickly surrendered to the lone American soldier; and
WHEREAS, This encounter was followed shortly by an even more
astounding feat when, during his second scouting mission in the
Meuse-Argonne campaign, Private Serna captured 24 German soldiers
with his Enfield rifle and grenades, an episode that began when he
spied a sniper walking on a trench bank; and
WHEREAS, Although the sniper was about 200 yards away,
Private Serna shot and wounded him, then followed the wounded
German's trail into a trench, where he discovered several more
enemy soldiers; opening fire, Private Serna killed three of the
enemy and scattered the others in that initial burst; and
WHEREAS, Frequently changing positions, Private Serna fooled
the enemy into thinking they were under fire from several
Americans, keeping up the ruse until he was close enough to lob
three grenades into the German dugout; in about 45 minutes of
furious action, Private Serna managed to kill 26 German soldiers
and capture another 24, whom he held captive by himself until his
unit arrived; and
WHEREAS, Enduring several months of combat action largely
unharmed, Private Serna was shot in both legs by a sniper four days
before the Armistice; while he was convalescing in an army hospital
in France, General John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the
American Expeditionary Forces, decorated Private Serna with the
Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest American combat
medal; and
WHEREAS, Private Serna also received two French Croix de
Guerre with Palm medals, the French Medaille Militaire, the French
Commemorative Medal, the Italian Cross of Merit, the World War I
Victory Medal, the Victory Medal with three campaign bars, the
Saint Mihiel Medal, the Verdun Medal, and two Purple Hearts; and
WHEREAS, Discharged from the army in 1919, Marcelino Serna
settled in El Paso, where he became a United States citizen, entered
the civil service, and lived out his retirement years until his
death in 1992; although he lived the most ordinary of lives after
the war, Mr. Serna was, for a brief moment in time, an extraordinary
hero whose remarkable feats of bravery under fire elevated him into
the pantheon of American heroes; and
WHEREAS, In 1993, Texas Congressman Ronald D. Coleman
introduced a measure in the 103rd Congress to waive certain
statutory time limits on awarding the Medal of Honor and thus bestow
on Marcelino Serna the proper recognition he so richly deserves;
unfortunately, the measure did not receive a proper hearing,
thereby denying the legacy of Mr. Serna its proper place in history;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
reopen consideration of this case to posthumously award the Medal
of Honor to World War I hero Marcelino Serna; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 22 was adopted by the Senate
on April 9, 2009, by a viva-voce vote.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.C.R. No. 22 was adopted by the House
on May 24, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, one
present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor