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.

----XX----