Honoring Reverend Dr. Julian E. Hodges On The Occasion of His 100th Birthday

WHEREAS, Julian E. Hodges was born February 5, 1923 and is a member of what has come to be known as the Greatest Generation; and

WHEREAS, As a member of the United States Navy, he served on the USS Yorktown and USS West Virginia and is a veteran of the Battle of the Coral Sea, a four-day engagement that was a strategic victory for the Allies, and the Battle of Midway, which is recognized as a major naval battle that effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific; and

WHEREAS, In the Battle of the Coral Sea, a five-hundred pound bomb was dropped on the Yorktown, crashing through three levels of the ship and killing more than fifty men.  As one of the last few surviving members of the USS Yorktown, he joined a group who returned to the battle site this summer; 

WHEREAS, In the Battle of Midway, the USS Yorktown was struck with both bombs and torpedoes, throwing Hodges more than 30 feet across the boiler room in which he was working as a fire controlman.  Before the USS Yorktown slipped below the waves shortly after dawn on June 7, 1942, two men helped pull Hodges’ arm free from between two steam pipes.  Suffering a concussion, separated shoulder, and injured knee, he bravely went over the side of the ship after orders were given to abandon ship; and 

WHEREAS, On November 1, 1945, he was medically discharged from the United States Navy.  He later  heard a call to serve in the ministry and attended Baptist Bible Institute in Lakeland, Florida for four years before embarking on a career in ministry that lasted more than sixty years.  As Pastor and Interim Pastor, Hodges has served churches in Florida, Michigan Washington DC, and Kentucky  Director of Missions for two different associations, twenty-eight years as a Chaplain for the Civil Air Patrol, and fifteen years as a Sheriff’s Chaplain; 

WHEREAS, The father of four children, Hodges relocated to Johnson City where he lives with his son and daughter-in-law after Hurricane Michael swept through the Florida Panhandle in 2018; 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, THAT:

We do hereby recognize and honor Reverend Julian E. Hodges for his service to his community and his country and call to the attention of our citizens the observance of the birthday of a member of the Greatest Generation residing in Washington County, Tennessee.

ADOPTED BY THE COUNTY LEGISLATIVE BODY, in session duly assembled, on this, the 23rd day of January, 2023.