Declaration by the Alaska State Legislature, February 28, 2005

*HONORING *

*THE VOLUNTEER CORPS OF THE IDITAROD SLED DOG RACE*

*WHO HAVE PROUDLY SERVED OUR COUNTRY IN THE MILITARY*

        “Fifty U.S. Army soldiers first blazed the historic Iditarod trail during the spring of 1972, which was the year before the first contemporary Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  The soldiers combined cold weather maneuvers with breaking and marking the trail from Susitna Station to McGrath.  In the true spirit of the Iditarod Trailbreakers of the past, these soldiers were able to mark the trail with tripod markers within a two-week period.

        Joe Redington Sr., the Father of The Iditarod, as the Army’s eyes in the sky, conducted aerial survey work in his airplane.  Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940 and was part of General McArthur’s Special Assault Troops in the Pacific Theater during World War II before coming to Alaska and working with the U.S. Air Force.  Lt. Paul Dunn became the first civilian volunteer by beginning the mission as an Army officer and ending with an expired commission.

        Since those early days of the race, generations of military volunteers have followed in the footsteps of the likes of Joe Redington Sr. and Lt. Paul Dunn.  They have taken to the skies loading and unloading thousands of tons of supplies and have transported the race’s two and four-legged athletes along the trail…

        ..There are mushers in this field today who have proudly sworn to protect and defend the freedoms that every man, woman and child in our nation have the privilege to exercise on this day.  There are volunteer veterans who will be manning outposts all along this trail in operations, communications, on tiny airstrips and as race veterinarians.

        To those of you who are a part of the elite veteran alumnus, the 24^th Alaska Legislature thanks you for your honored service to the great state and to these United States of America, and for your ongoing volunteer support of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.”