HR 9169 2003
1	House Resolution
2	A resolution designating May 30, 2003, as "United States
3	Navy Vigilante Day" in Florida.
4
5	WHEREAS, the site of operational training for naval
6	aviators, flight officers, and flight crews during World War II,
7	the Korean War, and the Vietnam Conflict, the Naval Air Station
8	Sanford trained more than half of the Navy's World War II
9	fighter pilots, only half of whom remained alive at war's end;
10	was home base to Carrier Air Group THREE, whose pilots and crews
11	saw action in major Korean War battles; and sent Vigilante
12	pilots and crews to fly from every major carrier deployed to the
13	Pacific during the Vietnam War, all of them trained at NAS
14	Sanford; and its Vigilante and accompanying reconnaissance,
15	surveillance, and intelligence processing systems were key
16	components of the Navy's carrier battle groups in the last
17	decades of the Cold War, and
18	WHEREAS, the exceptionally close and harmonious
19	relationships between the Navy and civilian communities at
20	Sanford have been recognized at the highest levels of the naval
21	establishment as being without peer anywhere in the nation, and
22	WHEREAS, in 2000, the Sanford Airport Memorial Committee
23	was formed to provide a permanent memorial to all naval
24	personnel who served or trained at NAS Sanford, and since that
25	time many members of the retired military community, the
26	memorial committee, and numerous industry consultants have
27	provided dedicated leadership, talented and innovative design
28	and workmanship, and thousands of volunteer man hours to
29	acquire, transport, restore, and display a Vigilante aircraft at
30	the entrance to the Orlando-Sanford International Airport, and
31	WHEREAS, the association of former United States Navy
32	Vigilante pilots has chosen the Naval Air Station Sanford for
33	its 2003 national reunion, NOW, THEREFORE,
34
35	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
36	Florida:
37
38	That the House of Representatives warmly welcomes the
39	pilots and naval flight officers of the Vigilante program to
40	Sanford, extends its heartiest congratulations to the Sanford
41	Airport Memorial Committee, the Sanford-Orlando International
42	Airport Authority, the City of Sanford, and the citizens of the
43	Sanford-Navy community and their guests on this occasion, and
44	proudly designates May 30, 2003, as "United States Navy
45	Vigilante Day" in Florida.
46	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
47	presented to Captain Jack Dow, USN(Ret), President, Sanford
48	Airport Memorial Committee, and to Commander Charles Templin,
49	USN(Ret), representing the Vigilante pilots and crews and the
50	volunteer restoration teams, as a tangible token of the
51	sentiments expressed herein.