Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 24
CHAPTER 108
Relative to the Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial Interchange.
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Filed with
Secretary of State
July 16, 2015.
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LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 24, Wolk.
Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial Interchange.
This measure would designate the interchange of Interstate Routes 80 and 505 in the County of Solano as the Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial Interchange. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
YES WHEREAS, Born on August 16, 1923, into the racially segregated community of Gurly, Alabama, James C. Warren left the region at the age of 15 years, when his mother sent him to Island Park, Illinois, where he attended high school; and
WHEREAS, Enlisting in 1943 to preflight with the Tuskegee Airmen, the all black United States Army Air Force unit that distinguished itself in combat during World War II, Lieutenant Colonel Warren was assigned to Indiana’s Freeman Field, where, after being eliminated from pilot training, he completed navigator training, through which he qualified as both a navigator and a bombardier; and
WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Warren was one of the 101 black officers at Freeman Field in 1945 who were arrested and charged with mutiny because they refused to comply with base regulations excluding black officers from a base officers’ club; and
WHEREAS, The service records of Lieutenant Colonel Warren and the other 100 officers were cleared by the Air Force in 1995, an action that was announced that year during a convention of the Tuskegee Airmen; and
WHEREAS, After serving with the 477th Bombardment Group of the Tuskegee Airmen, Lieutenant Colonel Warren spent 35 years with the United States Air Force, for which he flew 173 combat missions in Korea and Vietnam, earning such esteemed commendations and decorations as the Congressional Gold Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and Air Force Commendation Medal, among numerous others; and
WHEREAS, A University of Nebraska graduate who ultimately became the oldest individual to earn a pilot’s license at the age of 87 years, Lieutenant Colonel Warren distinguished himself through his community leadership and participation in the Nut Tree Airport’s Young Eagles program, as well as his membership with the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Foundation, the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated; and
WHEREAS, In recognition of Lieutenant Colonel Warren’s great accomplishments in support of the cause of freedom for all people, and especially in light of his contributions to his fellow citizens of California, it would be fitting to designate the interchange of Interstate Routes 80 and 505 in the County of Solano in his honor; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the interchange of Interstate Routes 80 and 505 in the County of Solano as the Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial Interchange; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the costs of erecting the appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost, to erect those signs; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.