HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 56

(By Delegates Statler, Stansbury, B. White, Kessinger, Rohrbach, Sobonya, Waxman, Hamrick, Summers, Ihle and Atkinson)

February 11, 2016

Requesting the Division of Highways to name Bridge Number 31-77-1.15 (31A212) (39.53532, -79.97705), locally known as Booths Creek Bridge, carrying CR 77 over Booths Creek in Monongalia county, the “U.S. Army CPL Robert Eugene Jackson Memorial Bridge”.

Whereas, Robert Eugene Jackson, a native of Monongalia County, West Virginia, was born June 25, 1921, the youngest of ten children of Herbert E. and Sarah Anna Jenkins Jackson; and

Whereas, Robert Eugene Jackson married June Elizabeth King, and they had a daughter, Barbara June Jackson, born February 25, 1943; and

Whereas, As a youth, Robert Eugene Jackson grew up on a farm along Booths Creek, near the Booth’s Creek Bridge; and

Whereas, Robert Eugene Jackson, the youngest of four brothers and six sisters, was the only one of the Jackson children to serve in the military during World War II.  His Army service number was 35396503, and by November of 1943, he had joined Battery D of the 453^rd Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion; and

Whereas, On February 11, 1944, CPL Eugene Jackson left New York City, New York, aboard the ship Dominion Monarch and arrived in England February 23,1944; and

Whereas, Robert Eugene Jackson, along with his unit, landed on Utah Beach, on the coast of Normandy, France, June 18, 1944, to provide antiaircraft protection for artillery in the Normandy campaign; and

Whereas, Robert Eugene Jackson was killed in the Battle of Periers on July 16, 1944; and

Whereas, it is the desire of the State of West Virginia that CPL Robert Eugene Jackson’s sacrifice in service to his country be honored with an appropriate memorial; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That Bridge Number 31-77-1.15 (31A212) (39.53532, -79.97705), locally known as Booths Creek Bridge, carrying CR 77 over Booths Creek in Monongalia county, be named the “U.S. Army CPL Robert Eugene Jackson Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Commissioner of the Division of Highways is hereby requested to erect signs at both ends of the bridge containing bold and prominent letters proclaiming the bridge the “U.S. Army CPL Robert Eugene Jackson Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of the Division of Highways.