SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 15

(By Senators Takubo, Lindsay, Stollings, Jeffries, and Maynard)

[Introduced January 19, 2022]

Requesting the Division of Highways name bridge numbers 20-077/00-113.44 (NB and SB) (20A232, 20A450), locally known as I-77 White Chapel Bridge, carrying Interstate 77 (NB and SB) over CR 21 in Kanawha County, the “U.S. Army PVT Shirley E. Bailey Memorial Bridge”.

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey served in World War II, and was killed in action in the Hurtgen Forest, on the Belgium/Germany border on November 29, 1944; and

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey was born on April 17, 1925, and attended schools in Sissonville, West Virginia. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade to work on a dairy farm to help support his family; and

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey was drafted by the United States Army at the age of 18 in September 1943, and was sent to France after completing basic training; and

Whereas, In France, PVT Shirley E. Bailey was injured during a battle and recuperated in a hospital, after which he received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for his bravery and efforts during battle; and

Whereas, After recuperating, PVT Shirley E. Bailey was sent to the front lines in Germany as a medic with the U.S. Army’s Company G, 8^th Infantry Regiment, 4^th Infantry Division. He provided medical support to dozens of casualties during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest; and

Whereas, During the battle, PVT Shirley E. Bailey earned the recognition of officers in his unit who recommended him for a Silver Star, with a citation that noted he “worked continually for over 14 hours under recurrent hostile artillery barrages to administer aid to the wounded and to direct litter carriers in evacuation of the seriously wounded”; and

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey went back and forth through mine fields from one point to another until all wounded were evacuated. He was not wounded on the first day of fighting east of Schevenhutte; and

Whereas, On November 29, 1944, during another battle, the 2nd Battalion lost 35 soldiers, with as many as 15 men from Company G killed or wounded and with PVT Shirley E. Bailey as one of the casualties. PVT Shirley E. Bailey was fatally wounded as he assisted other soldiers in need of medical aid, and for his bravery, he earned another Purple Heart and Silver and Bronze Stars; and

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey’s remains were left on the battlefield, found by a local German citizen three years later, and ultimately buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery, Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium where he remained for 70 years unidentified; and

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American War Cemetery and Memorial in the village of Margraten; and

Whereas, The U.S. Army in Nebraska worked to identify fallen soldiers in an effort to bring them home and identified PVT Shirley E. Bailey after extensive DNA testing, notifying his family, and returning his remains to Yeager Airport, on November 29, 2017; and

Whereas, PVT Shirley E. Bailey was given a memorial service with full military rites at Keller Funeral Home in Dunbar, West Virginia. He was laid to rest at the Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veteran’s Cemetery in Institute, West Virginia on December 2, 2017, being the first veteran killed in action to be buried there; and

Whereas, Seventy-four years after PVT Shirley E. Bailey was drafted and after having been awarded two Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, and one Bronze Star, he was finally home in West Virginia; and

Whereas, It is fitting that an enduring memorial be established to commemorate the contributions of PVT Shirley E. Bailey to our state and country; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to name bridge numbers 20-077/00-113.44 (NB and SB) (20A232, 20A450), locally known as I-77 White Chapel Bridge, carrying Interstate 77 (NB and SB) over CR 21 in Kanawha County, the “U.S. Army PVT Shirley E. Bailey Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to have made and be placed signs identifying the bridge as the “U.S. Army PVT Shirley E. Bailey Memorial Bridge”; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of the Division of Highways.