Posted: | June 13, 2023 11:48 AM |
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From: | Representative Kyle Donahue |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Expanding Decoration Eligibility for Military Members of Friendly Foreign Nations |
Our current Military and Veterans Code only allows domestic military members and civilians to receive the Pennsylvania Distinguished Service Medal and the Pennsylvania Meritorious Service Medal. However, over the past 30 years, our National Guard has participated in a State Partnership Program with the military of the Republic of Lithuania. That partnership has benefited both forces as we work together to hold back the rising tide of authoritarianism around the globe. That is why I am introducing legislation to amend Title 51 (Military Affairs) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to allow the Governor to award the Pennsylvania Distinguished Service Medal and the Pennsylvania Meritorious Service Medal to military members from friendly foreign nations. Our military partners from allied nations like Lithuania deserve recognition for the supportive and mutually beneficial relationship that has built friendships as well as reenforced our strengths in the air and on the battlefield. Making this change will allow our state to better recognize the efforts and contributions of our strategic allies, especially those of Pennsylvania’s partners in Lithuania. I hope you will join me in co-sponsoring this legislation to honor our allies and to memorialize the relationships built between our Commonwealth and the Republic of Lithuania over the past three decades. |
Introduced as HB1450