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House Approves Lend-Lease Monuments
HJR 27 Would Support Memorials to US-USSR Cooperation

(JUNEAU) - The Legislature expressed it support for a project to build memorials to the Lend-Lease program that saw the United States send airplanes, ships and other war materiel through Alaska to the Soviet Union in World War II, under a resolution the House passed unanimously today.

Sponsored by Rep. Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski), HJR 27 calls for the Legislature to support the Alaska-Siberia Research Project's efforts to erect bronze plaques in Fairbanks, Nome, Russia and Canada to commemorate the Lend-Lease effort.

As part of its wartime alliance with the Soviet Union against Hitler's Germany, the United States sent thousands of airplanes, hundreds of ships, and uncounted tons of ammunition and other military supplies through the Northwest U.S. and Alaska, across the Bering Straits into the Soviet Union.

"Many Alaskans worked together with Soviet citizens in this effort," said Chenault, chair of the House Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs. "The cooperation they showed through the Lend-Lease program demonstrated that two nations could compromise their different political views, cultural values and principles long enough to achieve a common, mutually beneficial goal."

The monuments would be designed by Alaska artist and sculptor Skip Wallen, and would not depend on state funding, he added.

Many members of the House took the floor to speak in favor of the resolution, including some who recalled personal memories of the men and women who contributed to the success of the Lend-Lease program.

HJR 27 moves next to the Senate for consideration.

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