RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, George Klein served his country with valor and great distinction as a Platoon Leader in the 46th Field Artillery Battalion of the 5th Infantry Division during World War II; and
WHEREAS, George Klein joined the Illinois National Guard in 1938 at the age of seventeen; and;
WHEREAS, In March of 1941 George Klein was assigned to Camp Forest, Tennessee, and his unit was transferred from a horse-drawn unit to a mechanized unit; and
WHEREAS, In May 1942 George Klein enrolled in Officer's Candidate School Class 25 in Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and
WHEREAS, Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, George Klein joined the 80th Infantry Division, and volunteered for duty with the 2nd Ranger Battalion in April, 1943; and
WHEREAS, George Klein was posted as Company Commander of "Fox" Company of the 2nd Rangers; and
WHEREAS, In September 1943, during training, George Klein fell off a cliff and broke his ankle; and
WHEREAS, After recovering from his injury, George Klein volunteered for overseas duty and joined the 5th Infantry Division; and
WHEREAS, George Klein was on leave in London in February, 1944, and while walking down a city street he met Colonel James Rudder of the 2nd Rangers; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Rudder asked George Klein if he would like to rejoin the Rangers and Klein proudly accepted the invitation to serve in "F" Company; and
WHEREAS, George Klein crossed the English Channel with his Ranger Battalion as part of the June 6, 1944, Allied D-Day invasion of Western Europe; and
WHEREAS, George Klein scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, along the Normandy coastline and encountered fierce German defense forces on the Pointe; and
WHEREAS, George Klein sustained a serious combat wound late on the afternoon of June 6th; and
WHEREAS, George Klein was one of only ninety men out of the 225 Army Rangers able to bear arms following the battle; and
WHEREAS, George Klein continued to fight through the Loir Valley and Metz campaigns until sustaining a second battlefield i...
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