Vermont HCR 111: House concurrent resolution congratulating the Bennington Rural Fire Department on its 70th anniversary

Bill Text

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2025

VT LEG #383196 v.1
No. R-135. House concurrent resolution designating May 18, 2025 as Grand Army of
the Republic Highway Day in Vermont.
(H.C.R.111)
Offered by Representative Boyden of Cambridge
Offered by Senator Westman
Whereas, during the American Civil War more than 34,000 Vermonters fought for the
Union and over 5,000 perished, and
Whereas, after the war, in 1866, a group of veterans established the Grand Army of
the Republic (GAR), an organization that grew to 400,000 members and was instrumental
in the creation of Memorial Day, and
Whereas, 116 GAR posts were established in Vermont, and GAR Post No. 10 in
Cambridge village had over 200 surviving veterans as members; in 1918, the Women’s
Relief Corps of the GAR erected a monument on the road through Cambridge village to
recognize the soldiers’ sacrifice, and
Whereas, in 1934, U.S. Army Major William L. Anderson Jr. proposed a national
designation of U.S. Route 6 as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, and, after
many years of incremental progress, a national dedication ceremony occurred in Long
Beach, California, on May 3, 1953, and
Whereas, in 1937 Acts and Resolves No. 338, the Vermont General Assembly
designated Route No. 15, leading from the town of Danville to the city of Burlington, as
Vermont’s GAR highway, and in 2025, Vermont remains the only state with a GAR-
designated highway that is not part of U.S. Route 6, and
Whereas, at dedication ceremonies in Morrisville on July 25, 1937, the first
automobile on the newly designated highway carried six Vermont veterans of the Civil
War, and
Whereas, on February 27, 2025, the national commander of the Sons of Union
Veterans of the Civil War (the GAR’s legal successor organization) issued General Order
#12, commemorating 2025 as the 160th anniversary of the conclusion of the Civil War,
and encouraging “our individual Brothers, Camps, and Departments to host and
participate in community events that pay homage to our hero-ancestors, their deeds, and
their sacrifices,” and
Whereas, a new roadside historical marker will be dedicated on May 18, 2025 in the
village of Cambridge across the highway from the only GAR monument now on
Vermont Route 15 to describe the GAR organization and the name of the highway, now
therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly designates May 18, 2025 as Grand Army of the Republic
Highway Day in Vermont, and be it further

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VT LEG #383196 v.1
Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
the Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and to the
Cambridge Historical Society.