AUSTIN State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, is working to pass House Bill 2083 to designate a portion of Business Interstate 20-E in Ector County as the Mac Wilson and Rex Young Medal of Honor Highway. The legislation was discussed during a public hearing of the House Committee on Defense & Veterans’ Affairs on Thursday.
“Mac Wilson and Rex Young were two valiant Odessans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country while fighting in Vietnam,” Landgraf told the committee. “The Wilson & Young legacy is very important to our community.”
House Bill 2083 would designate the portion of Business I-20 in Ector County between Loop 338 and the county line as the Mac Wilson and Rex Young Medal of Honor Highway. Landgraf filed the bill in February following conversations with veterans in Odessa who want to recognize these incredible, local heroes, who were both posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon for their gallantry and valor in Vietnam. Both men are buried a few yards away from each other in Odessa’s Sunset Memorial Garden Cemetery, located off of the portion of Business I-20 that will be renamed in their honor.
Private First Class Wilson, a graduate of Odessa High School, was awarded the Medal of Honor for not only his heroic leadership on the battlefield, but for unhesitatingly deciding to jump on top of an enemy grenade, absorbing the force of the explosion with his body to protect his fellow Marines.
Staff Sergeant Rex Young, a graduate of Permian High School, was 21 years old when several members of his platoon were killed after intense enemy fire. S/Sgt. Young assumed command and directed his platoon to withdraw to get to a better defensive position all while exposing himself to enemy fire. S/Sgt. Young fired at the Vietnamese human wave attack providing his platoon fire protection until his position was engulfed by the enemy.
“These men deserve every honor we can give them,” Landgraf said. “Veterans of the Vietnam War did not receive a warm welcome when they returned home, so it is especially important that we take opportunities now to make up for that wrong and honor heroes like Wilson and Young. I know of no other community of similar size that has two medal of honor recipients from the same war like we do here in Odessa. It makes me proud to be an Odessan and I’m working hard to honor their sacrifice and bravery by passing HB 2083 this session.”
HB 2083 must receive favorable consideration in the House Defense & Veterans’ Affairs Committee before it can go to the full House for approval. The bill would then need to pass the same hurdles in the Senate prior to being sent to Governor Abbott’s desk to be signed into law.
