Senate Bill 2662

    Florida Senate - 1998        (NP)                      SR 2662

    By Senator Thomas





    3-1904-98

  1                    Senate Resolution No.     

  2         A resolution recognizing the life and courage

  3         of John Edward "Zeke" Bagley.

  4

  5         WHEREAS, John Edward "Zeke" Bagley was a leader and a

  6  winner from early life; born September 25, 1923, in

  7  Cottondale, Florida, the son of George E. and Margaret Jarvis

  8  Bagley, he attended high school in Cottondale, where he was an

  9  excellent student, president of the student body, a member of

10  the Beta Club and the Four-H Club, and salutatorian of his

11  graduating class, and

12         WHEREAS, John entered the University of Florida on a

13  full academic scholarship but, shortly after the bombing of

14  Pearl Harbor, he left college to volunteer as an aviation

15  cadet in the Army Air Corps and completed preflight training

16  at Maxwell Training Center in Montgomery, Alabama and finished

17  flight training as a navigator at the top of his class at

18  Selman Field in Monroe, Louisiana, and

19         WHEREAS, after serving in the Mediterranean Theater for

20  several months, he was transferred to England on special

21  assignment for missions to support the Normandy invasion, and

22         WHEREAS, on June 7, 1944, he left England in a C-47

23  aircraft on an exceedingly dangerous mission to deliver vital

24  ammunition to allied troops who had managed to advance from

25  the beach and were engaged in heavy combat, and, even though

26  the mission was so dangerous that death was more than a

27  possibility, he and the rest of the crew did their duty

28  without flinching, and

29         WHEREAS, before they could deliver their cargo, the

30  plane was hit several times by enemy fire and, after the pilot

31  ditched the aircraft, most of the crew, although wounded, were

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998        (NP)                      SR 2662
    3-1904-98




  1  able to exit the ship; however, John lost his life that day,

  2  and

  3         WHEREAS, after over 50 years, the people who had the

  4  privilege of knowing "Zeke" Bagley still remember the young

  5  man who was so gifted, so bright, so well-liked, and admired,

  6  who gave his all for his country, and it is only proper that

  7  this body recognize and remember his life and his courage,

  8  NOW, THEREFORE,

  9

10  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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12         That the members of this body celebrate the life of

13  John Edward "Zeke" Bagley and remember his ultimate sacrifice

14  for his country.

15         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution,

16  with the Seal of the Senate affixed, be transmitted to the

17  family of John Edward "Zeke" Bagley as a tangible token of the

18  sentiments expressed herein.

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