HISTORY: Wyoming rededicates Spanish-American War Memorial after years in storage

 

HISTORY: Wyoming rededicates Spanish-American War Memorial after years in storage

Lex Anteinternet: More bills becoming law. 2019 Wyoming Legislature. Medal of Honor Cities.

Lex Anteinternet: More bills becoming law. 2019 Wyoming Legislature....:

More bills becoming law. 2019 Wyoming Legislature.

Another selection of bills have been signed into law by Governor Gordon.

A formal bill signing has been requested for the following bills:
Bill No.	Enrolled Act #	Bill Title
SF0109	SEA No. 0061	Educational attainment executive council.
SF0115	SEA No. 0064	Order of protection-tolling during imprisonment.
SF0040	SEA No. 0065	Operation of motorboat while intoxicated.
HB0130	HEA No. 0095	Wyoming Cowboy and Cowgirl Legacy Week.
HB0204	HEA No. 0096	Common college transcript-implementation.
HB0297	HEA No. 0098	K-3 reading assessment and intervention program.
HB0082	HEA No. 0104	Veterans' skilled nursing facility.
HB0180	HEA No. 0106	Mixed martial arts regulation.
HB0212	HEA No. 0107	Alcoholic beverages-business flexibility.
HJ0010	HEJR No. 0003	Medal of Honor cities.
The governor will act upon these bills:
Bill No.	Enrolled Act #	Bill Title
SF0099	SEA No. 0057	Voting systems and ballots.
SF0067	SEA No. 0058	Hospital cost study.
SF0088	SEA No. 0059	Firemen's retirement fund plan b-contribution.
SF0107	SEA No. 0060	Pari-mutuel fee distribution-state fair account.
SF0120	SEA No. 0062	Student expulsion hearing requirements.
SF0142	SEA No. 0063	County regulation of livestock grazing.
SF0047	SEA No. 0066	Controlled substances education and administration.
SF0046	SEA No. 0068	Opioid prescription limits.
HB0143	HEA No. 0097	Presentence investigation reports-judicial discretion.
HB0020	HEA No. 0099	Program evaluation standards.
HB0062	HEA No. 0100	Wyoming Utility Token Act-property amendments.
HB0029	HEA No. 0101	Unclaimed life insurance benefits.
HB0113	HEA No. 0102	Special electric utility agreements.
HB0125	HEA No. 0103	District court filing fees.
HB0243	HEA No. 0108	Driver's licenses.

A really interesting one in this set is the one that designates certain towns and cities as Medal of Honor cities.  It's set out below:

ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED

JOINT RESOLUTION. HJ0010

ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2019 GENERAL SESSION

A JOINT RESOLUTION to designate cities and communities in the state of Wyoming as Medal of Honor cities or communities to honor the Medal of Honor recipients connected with the cities or communities.

WHEREAS, the Medal of Honor is our nation's highest award for valor presented to veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States for acting with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the risk of one's life during combat with an enemy of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Medal of Honor medal is widely respected by the military and public alike; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming has been home to seventeen (17) Medal of Honor recipients from the United States Army, Unites States Navy and United States Marine Corps who served in five (5) wars, from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, over a period of one hundred seven (107) years; and

WHEREAS, seventeen (17) recipients who earned Medals of Honor, were born in, or laid to rest in six (6) cities and three (3) unincorporated areas in the state of Wyoming; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming's Medal of Honor recipients are not presently honored by Medal of Honor markers in their cities or other communities with which they were associated; and

WHEREAS, "Medal of Honor City or Community" markers in public places across Wyoming will preserve the legacy of service and sacrifices of Wyoming's recipients; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming deeply appreciates the service and sacrifice of its Medal of Honor recipients and the positive roles they have played in their communities for more than one hundred (100) years.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING:

Section 1.  The Wyoming legislature hereby designates Casper, Greybull, Cheyenne, Laramie, Powder River, Rock Springs and three (3) unincorporated areas, Platte River, Elkhorn Creek and Bluff Station as "Medal of Honor" cities and communities and encourages the creation of Medal of Honor markers in public places in the designated cities and communities.

Section 2.  That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution to the governing body of each Medal of Honor city or community, the Governor of the State of Wyoming, the Wyoming Veteran's Commission, the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, the Wyoming County Commissioners Association and state organizations of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

(END)

Speaker of the House			President of the Senate

	Governor
	TIME APPROVED: _________
	DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk

It's a neat idea, but it contains an error.  Little Powder River isn't an incorporated municipality.  It used to be, but ceased to be quite some time ago.

I'm amazed that there's seventeen Wyomingites associated with the Medal of Honor, but then this notes that it does go back to the Civil War.  At one time the Medal of Honor was the only medal issued by the United States military, and even civilians were eligible early on in some military circumstances.  Peace time awards were in fact common early on, and were particular common in the Navy, where more than one sailor lost his life trying to save drowning individuals.

Well, it's a neat idea.

Wyoming National Guard Museum. Signed Into Law on February 14, 2019

ORIGINAL House 

Bill No. HB0039

ENROLLED ACT NO. 4, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2019 General Session

AN ACT relating to defense forces and affairs; designating the historic Wyoming national guard armory as a museum; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 19‑14‑112 is created to read:

19‑14‑112.  Description and declaration of Wyoming national guard museum.

The lands in Laramie county, Wyoming, described as follows are hereby declared to be the Wyoming national guard museum to be managed by the military department: All of Block 8, Replat of Airport Addition to the City of Cheyenne, Wyoming, as shown by the Replat of said Airport Addition on file and of record in the office of the County Clerk and Ex-Officio Register of Deeds, in and for said Laramie County, said replat being filed on October 1, 1935, as No. 287212; LESS the Southerly ten (10) feet of said Block 8, Replat of Airport Addition quitclaimed to the City of Cheyenne by the Wyoming Army National Guard, as filed June 15, 1995, in Book 1400, Page 461, in the records of said Clerk of Laramie County, Wyoming.

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2019.

(END)

Speaker of the House			President of the Senate

	Governor
	TIME APPROVED: _________
	DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk

Wyoming Capitol Rotunda Statutes: The Casper Star Tribune reports that . . .

allegorical monuments will be going in, in Cheyenne.

The Capitol prior to reconstruction commencing.

They will not, however, be topless.  Not even partially.

The statutes, representing hope, courage, justice and truth, will be created by Delissalde Designs of Denver, after a competition on the same. They will all be female figures.

The announcement that they won was made last week.  Reports have it that they female Truth shall have a peace pipe, female Courage will have a snake wrapped around her leg, female Justice will have copies of the U.S. and Wyoming Constitutions.  I don't know what Hope will have.

Other than clothes.  There was apparently some concern that the figures were a little scantily dressed.  Senator Eli Bebout, for example, made a specific inquiry about this.

This is oddly reminiscent, FWIW, in regards to the selection of the State seal over a century ago. A legislative committee worked on that only to have a sitting Governor substitute a competing design that had a central female figure appear on the seal he liked better who was topless.  Not that this was uncommon at the time.  Nearly every allegorical character used in art has been female and, probably as they were created by male artists looking, at least subconsciously for an excuse, they were very frequently topless.  Even a century ago, however, that made some uneasy, including male legislators, and the original Wyoming seal that was chosen featured a fully clothed figure, only to have a Governor sub it out. When that was discovered, that was pulled, and treasury notes issued commemorating Wyoming for a time had a figure that had been chosen by the U.S. Mints (yes, that is plural and it was referred to that way at the time) rather than something we'd chosen ourselves.  We subsequently got around to the current design.

It's odd to think that we'd repeat that event over a century later, but perhaps its even odder, in the context of the times, to consider that allegorical figures remain principally women and that the artists submitting designs would, by default, figure that allegorical female figures might bear a closer resemblance, both in form and degree of clothing, to Kate Upton than Ruth Bader Ginsberg, but some things simply don't change much, it would seem.

Well, Hope, Justice, Courage and Truth will be on the cupola of the new Capitol rotunda, gazing down at the public.  The public, gazing back up, will have no excuse for exercising prurient interests.

Blue Star Memorial Highway, Cheyenne Wyoming

A Blue Star Memorial Highway Memorial marker outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Cheyenne Fallen Police and Fireman Memorial, Cheyenne Wyoming

Wyoming National Guard Headquaters Displays, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

F86D at Wyoming National Guard Headquarters, Cheyenne Wyoming

M7 105 Howitzer Carriage

These displays are at the Wyoming National Guard Headquarters in  Cheyenne, Wyoming. Both displays commemorate the Wyoming National Guard, Air and Army, during the 1950s.

Cheyenne Wyoming's Buffalo Soldier Monument, Vernon Baker Monument, and Military History Park

These are photographs of a small park in  Cheyenne Wyoming, just off of F. E. Warren Air Force Base, which was formerly Ft. F. E. Warren, and originally Ft. D. A. Russell.  the park memorializes various things significant to Cheyenne's military history, which has always been  a significant aspect of Wyoming's capitol.

The most notable feature of the park is an African American cavalryman, a "Buffalo Soldier".  Ft. D. A. Russell saw troops of the 9th Cavalry, one of the two all black cavalry regiments in the segregated Army, stationed at the post.

The monument includes a memorial to 1st Lt. Vernon J. Baker, a Cheyenne native, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during World War Two.

The monument also contains informational signs concerning Cheyenne's long military history.

Cheyenne, Ft. Laramie, Deadwood Trail, 1868-1887

This post is somewhat off topic here, but this is a marker for the Cheyenne, Ft. Laramie, Deadwood Trail.  The marker is on the old state  highway, but is visible in terms of its location from the present Interstate Highway.  It's north of Cheyenne.

Wyoming Army National Guard Museum

These photographs illustrate the location of the Wyoming Army National Guard Museum.  As I was taking this photo in an effort to illustrate the older, cavalry related, part of this structure, I failed to get a really good photo of the front of the museum.

The building was built in 1936, during a period of time during which cavalry was actually receiving increased attention in the American military.  The Wyoming National Guard (there was only an Army Guard at the time, as of course there was no Air Force at all, that being part of the Army) was cavalry at the time, being the 115th Cavalry Regiment.

Some may wonder about the "AL" below the AD on the corner stone.  The AL is the date used in Masonry for the creation of the earth, and many buildings of this type during this era were dedicated with the participation of Masons.

This shows the front of the building. This structure was used as a National Guard Armory from the 1930s until some time until the 1970s, but I suspect hte brick structure was a latter addition.   These small armories became very unsuitable for continued use by the 1960s, and were replaced in quite a few instances during the 1970s to contemplate the need for much larger armories.  Compounding this need was the fact that in some instances, such as in Casper and Cheyenne, the old armories were well within the city limits by the 1960s making their use for military purposes difficult.

M7 105 Gun Motor Carriage. The Wyoming Army National Guard's 300th Armored Field Artillery used these during the Korean War, during which they won a Presidential and a Congressional Unit Citation for an action in which they directly engaged attacking Communist forces.

 This is a M59 Armored Personnel Carrier, two of which are on display at this museum.  I'm not aware of any Wyoming Army National Guard unit using these, but some must have as the other items on display here were definitely used by the Wyoming Army National Guard.  Wyoming's units included the 115th Mechanized Cavalry, the descendant of the 115th Cavalry and the 115th Cavalry (Horse Mech), in the 1950s and perhaps onto the 1960s, at which point the cavalry was phased out and the 115th lineage was carried on by the 115th Artillery Regiment.  The former cavalry units became battalions of the 49th Field Artillery along with the 300th AFA.  Today, those units are smaller and are once again the 300th AFA.

This is a USS M777 155mm howitzer, which is a gun still used by the US military.

Blue Star Memorial Highway, Laramie County Wyoming

I'm not familiar with the Blue Star Highway designation, but this sign designated I25 near Cheyenne Wyoming as such a highway.  It's located at the Wyoming Department of Transportation rest stop just south of Cheyenne.

Roll of Honor, Wyoming State Capitol

This is a monument just inside the doors of the Wyoming State Capitol.

An unfortunate aspect of this memorial is that it is not specific for the war dead it commemorates. Given the number of names, and the lack of a conflict being identified, my presumption is that it commemorates those who were lost in World War One.

Spanish American War Memorial, Cheyenne, Wyoming

This Memorial is called "Taking the Oath".

Oddly enough, the bottom photographs were taken years after the first, but in both instances, snow appears on the ground.