[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TEXAS S. CON. RES. 22

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. K. MICHAEL CONAWAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 31, 2009

  Mr. CONAWAY. Madam Speaker, at the request of the Secretary of State 
of the State of Texas, I am officially entering Senate Concurrent 
Resolution 22, as passed by the 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009 
of the State of Texas, into the Congressional Record.

                  Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 22

       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.

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