South Carolina H 5729: Jimmie Redd 100th birthday

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5729 Text of Previous Version (Jun. 25, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5729

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A house RESOLUTION

TO CONGRATULATE 
HIRAM JULIAN "JIMMIE" REDD OF AIKEN COUNTY ON THE OCCASION OF HIS ONE HUNDREDTH 
BIRTHDAY AND TO WISH HIM A JOYOUS CELEBRATION AND MANY YEARS OF CONTINUED 
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

Whereas, the members of 
the South Carolina House of Representatives are delighted to learn that Hiram 
Julian "Jimmie" Redd will celebrate his one hundredth birthday on June 11, 2026. 
Born on June 11, 1926, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, he has 
witnessed many of the remarkable social changes, technological advancements, 
and international developments that have spanned the globe from that time into 
the first quarter of the twenty-first century; and

Whereas, a native of 
Montmorenci, Jimmie Redd grew up where farm work and skill with a rifle were 
common parts of life. He was inducted into active service in the United States 
Army on April 4, 1945, and completed training at Fort Jackson where he earned 
high marks for accuracy on the rifle range. He was put on a ship heading west 
across the Pacific when atomic bombs were dropped on Japan to end World War II; 
and

Whereas, the ship 
carrying the Aiken County farm boy had been heading for Okinawa but adjusted 
its course, and he got a sudden introduction to Japan in a non-combat 
situation. He had grown up learning how to use trucks and tractors for plow 
work, and he put those skills to use by helping to build what would become 
Naval Air Facility Atsugi in eastern Japan; and

Whereas, Mr. Redd was 
assigned to help with cleaning and preparing a runway adequate for landing a 
Boeing B-29 Superfortress, a bomber with a 141-foot wingspan and a history that 
had delivered the wonder weapons that flattened both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 
His duties included mechanically crushing rock from a nearby riverbed to create 
a runway surface with stones about the size of a piece of bubble gum with the 
help of an interpreter and fifteen Japanese workers; and

Whereas, serving in the 
Pacific Theater, he was based in Okinawa until November 28, 1946, and was honorably 
discharged at Fort Bragg. He stayed in the Army Reserves until 1949; and

Whereas, the military 
certainly had needed the airstrip, but Mr. Redd often wondered if that airbase 
were still in operation or if something more advanced had replaced it. He has 
learned from local veterans that the Atsugi facility is still in use as one of 
the Pacific's largest Navy air bases. After World War II, he worked for forty-one 
years in the textile industry for Graniteville Company, putting his maintenance 
skills to good use. Then those same talents came in handy as he was hired to be 
in charge of maintenance at Gregg Park in the late 1980s; and

Whereas, in 1952, Mr. 
and Mrs. Redd moved into the Breezy Hill house that he still occupies, tending 
the household, the garden, and surrounding acreage. Together with his beloved 
wife of seventy-three years, the late Effie Gertrude Black Redd, he reared two 
fine children, the late Hiram Redd Jr. and Donna Redd Hair. The couple's last 
names triggered laughter over the years, Black and Redd; and

Whereas, his children 
blessed him with the affection of four loving grandchildren: Jennifer Redman, 
Jodi Tyler, Brandon Hair, and Sara Hoisington. He has had the privilege of 
seeing the continuation of his family legacy in seven great-grandchildren: 
Hunter Redman, Sydney Redman, Payton Tyler, Emma Caroline Tyler, Abigail Tyler, 
Thomas Hair, and Evie Hair; and

Whereas, Mr. Redd shares 
memories with his fellow members of American Legion Post 77 and St. James 
Lutheran Church. In 2022, he was part of Graniteville's 2022 Christmas parade 
as a representative of the American Legion. The South Carolina House of 
Representatives is pleased to honor this son of South Carolina at the 
celebration of his one hundredth birthday, and the members join his family and 
friends in congratulating him on reaching this extraordinary milestone. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the 
South Carolina House of Representatives, 
by this resolution, congratulate Hiram Julian "Jimmie" Redd of Aiken County on 
the occasion of his one hundredth birthday and wish him a joyous birthday 
celebration and many years of continued health and happiness.

Be it further resolved 
that a copy of this resolution be presented to Hiram Julian "Jimmie" Redd.

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