TO CONGRATULATE MR. ROLAND JACK "ROCKY" GANNON OF FLORENCE UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS NINETIETH BIRTHDAY ON MARCH 8, 2015, AND TO WISH HIM A JOYOUS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND MUCH HAPPINESS IN THE YEARS TO COME.

Whereas, the members of the Senate are pleased to learn that Mr. Roland Jack "Rocky" Gannon of Florence will turn ninety years old on March 8, 2015; and

Whereas, Mr. Gannon was born in Palermo, New Jersey to the late Harry Lippencott Gannon and Loretta Rowley Gannon. He grew up in Ocean City, New Jersey; and

Whereas, at the age of seventeen, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Mr. Gannon enlisted in the Army Air Force and began pilot training. He soon graduated from high school and pilot training and became a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot. By the age of twenty, he was flying the B-29 Super Fortress; and

Whereas, for the next thirty-seven years, he flew six thousand hours in thirty-four different aircraft. He has earned fifty military awards and honors, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, ten Air Medals, four Meritorious Service Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm. He has flown missions in World War II, Korea, the Belgian Congo, and Vietnam. After World War II, he served in the occupation of Iwo Jima and Japan. In 1975, Mr. Gannon became the United States Air Force's first Master Air Traffic Controller; and

Whereas, after his retirement from the Air Force in 1980, he became an international aviation consultant, later serving as the executive director of the Florence Regional Airport in Florence. He retired from that position in 1993. In 2001, he was named the South Carolina "Aviator of the Year" and was inducted into the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame; and

Whereas, Mr. Gannon has been active in the Boy Scouts of America for seventy-six years. He became a boy scout on his twelfth birthday, on March 8, 1937, and earned his eagle scout in 1942. He now has four grandsons who are Eagle Scouts; and

Whereas, he has served the Boy Scouts organization in many capacities, including service on the Trans-Atlantic Council in Germany, the California-Nevada Council in Las Vegas, as a boy scout leader in Japan, France, Germany, California, Nevada, New Jersey, and South Carolina, as president of the Pee Dee Area Council, and as a member of the national board of the organization; and

Whereas, Mr. Gannon is a 2009 recipient of the Boy Scouts of America's highest honor, the "Distinguished Eagle Award". He has also received the Silver Beaver Award; and

Whereas, Mr. Gannon has been married to Roberta Gause Gannon for sixty-three years. They have been blessed with three grown children, ten grandchildren, and four great grandchildren; and

Whereas, the members of the Senate are pleased to honor this son of South Carolina at the celebration of his ninetieth birthday and join with his friends and family in congratulating him on reaching this extraordinary milestone. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the Senate, by this resolution, congratulate Mr. "Rocky" Gannon of Florence upon the occasion of his ninetieth birthday on March 8, 2015, and wish him a joyous birthday celebration and much happiness in the years to come.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Mr. Roland Jack "Rocky" Gannon.