HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 28

(By Delegate Hamilton)

Requesting the Division of Highways to name the bridge on Route 32, Evergreen Road, in Upshur County, bridge number 49-32-8-16, as the "USMC Cpl Marple W. Landes and US Army PV2 Margel S. Landes Memorial Bridge".

            Whereas, Corporal Marple W. Landes was born on October 27, 1923, in Upshur County; and

            Whereas, Corporal Marple W. Landes graduated from Buckhannon-Upshur High School in 1941 and volunteered to serve in the US Marine Corps on February 4, 1943; and

            Whereas, Corporal Marple W. Landes received his training at Parris Island, South Carolina, New River, North Carolina and Camp Pendleton, California; and

            Whereas, Corporal Marple W. Landes went overseas in 1944 and was killed in action on March 10, 1945, on the Island of Iwo Jima; and

            Whereas, Private Margel S. Landes was born on November 29, 1925, in Upshur County; and

            Whereas, Private Margel S. Landes and Corporal Marple W. Landes were brothers whose parents were J. S. Landes and Maude Douglas Landes; and

            Whereas, Private Margel S. Landes was employed by Mays Cleaners in Clarksburg prior to enlisting in the US Army on February 26, 1944; and

            Whereas, Private Margel S. Landes received his basic training at Camp Stewart, Georgia and at Camp Gordon Georgia, was sent overseas in January 1945 and landed in Europe on February 15, 1945; and

            Whereas, Private Margel S. Landes died from wounds received in Germany on March 3, 1945; and

            Whereas, Private Margel S. Landes and Corporal Marple W. Landes died just one week apart, were the sixty-first and sixty-second casualties from Upshur County in the Second World War and are buried in the Waterloo Cemetery near French Creek, West Virginia; and

            Whereas, It is only fitting that this bridge be named after Private Margel S. Landes and Corporal Marple W. Landes, brothers serving in two different branches of the armed forces in two different areas of the world, both of whom having given the ultimate sacrifice in preserving freedom; therefore, be it

            Resolved by the West Virginia Legislature:

            That the Legislature hereby requests the Division of Highways to name the bridge on Route 32, Evergreen Road, in Upshur County, bridge number 49-32-8-16, as the "USMC Cpl Marple W. Landes and US Army PV2 Margel S. Landes 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 "USMC Cpl Marple W. Landes and US Army PV2 Margel S. Landes Memorial Bridge"; and, be it

            Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and to the nieces of USMC Corporal Marple W. Landes and US Army Private Margel S. Landes, Christina H. Rinehart and Mona Lee Hertz.