Committee advances Vietnam memorial resolution, moves several agency bills; votes recorded

BISMARCK — At its Friday meeting the House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee voted unanimously to pass House Concurrent Resolution 3005 seeking inscription of 74 sailors from the USS Frank E. Evans on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., and took formal committee positions on several other measures.

House Concurrent Resolution 3005: Representative Mary Schneider of District 21 urged the committee to press Congress to add the names of the 74 lost crew members who died after the June 3, 1969 collision of USS Frank E. Evans. Schneider highlighted two North Dakotans named among the lost: Patrick Gene Glennon of Pheasanton and Robert James Seal of Grand Forks, and said the resolution seeks to "inscribe these sailors' names on the memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives because of the Vietnam War." Jim Nelson, a Navy veteran and director for the North Dakota Veterans Legislative Council, testified he was aboard a nearby ship the night of the collision and recounted the rescue and recovery effort. Senator Richard Marsley (testifying…