Ray Ruth

2025-2026 Bill 5378: Ray Ruth - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5378
STATUS INFORMATION
House Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Rivers, Williams, Gilliard, Alexander, Anderson, Atkinson, Bailey, Ballentine, Bamberg, Bannister, Bauer, Beach, Bernstein, Bowers, Bradley, Brewer, Brittain, Burns, Bustos, Calhoon, Caskey, Chapman, Chumley, Clyburn, Cobb-Hunter, Collins, Cox, Crawford, Cromer, Davis, Dillard, Duncan, Edgerton, Erickson, Ford, Forrest, Frank, Gagnon, Garvin, Gatch, Gibson, Gilliam, Gilreath, Govan, Grant, Guest, Guffey, Haddon, Hager, Hardee, Harris, Hart, Hartnett, Hartz, Hayes, Henderson-Myers, Herbkersman, Hewitt, Hiott, Hixon, Holman, Hosey, Howard, Huff, J.E. Johnson, J.L. Johnson, Jones, Jordan, Kilmartin, King, Kirby, Landing, Lastinger, Lawson, Ligon, Long, Lowe, Luck, Magnuson, Martin, McCabe, McCravy, McDaniel, McGinnis, C. Mitchell, D. Mitchell, Montgomery, J. Moore, T. Moore, Morgan, Moss, Neese, B. Newton, W. Newton, Oremus, Pace, Pedalino, Pope, Rankin, Reese, Robbins, Rose, Rutherford, Sanders, Schuessler, Scott, Sessions, G.M. Smith, M.M. Smith, Spann-Wilder, Stavrinakis, Taylor, Teeple, Terribile, Vaughan, Waters, Weeks, Wetmore, White, Whitmire, Wickensimer, Willis, Wooten and Yow
Document Path: LC-0229PH-EB26.docx
Introduced in the House on March 24, 2026
Adopted by the House on March 24, 2026
Summary: Ray Ruth
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

3/24/2026

House

Introduced and adopted (
House Journal-page 24
)

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legislative information
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VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
03/24/2026

A
house
RESOLUTION

To honor and remember the supreme
sacrifice made by Army SpEcialist 4 RAy Anthony Ruth of walterboro on December
12, 1985, and to express the profound appREciation of a grAtEful state and
nation for his life, sacrifice, and service.

W
hereas, with deep appreciation, the members of the South Carolina
House of Representatives pause in their deliberations to honor and remember the
great sacrifice made by Army Specialist 4 Ray Anthony Ruth, along with 256
others, in December of 1985; and

W
hereas, on December 12, 1985, Army Specialist 4 Ray Ruth, along with
247 other soldiers were on their way home from a peacekeeping deployment in the
Sinai. The plane carrying soldiers mostly from the 101st Airborne Division's
3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, crashed shortly after taking off from a
refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland. All 248 soldiers and the plane's eight
crew members were killed. This tragedy was the largest loss of life in a single
event and day that this division has ever experienced. The United States Army
has marked the anniversary of the crash every year since it happened,
celebrating the lives and sacrifices of every brave service member aboard; and

W
hereas, Ray Anthony Ruth, a native of Walterboro, was the eldest of
five children born to Nathaniel and Sarah Joerena Ruth. He enjoyed fishing and
hunting with his father and played baseball for a local team growing up. He attended
Walterboro High School and joined the Army upon graduation. He had planned to
make the Army his career. At 24, and four years into the Army, he was an Army
Specialist 4 radio operator and had been stationed in New Jersey, Georgia,
Columbia, and West Germany before he was assigned to this six-month peacekeeping
mission in the Middle East; and

W
hereas, Army Specialist 4 Ray Anthony Ruth was laid to rest on
Friday, February 21, 1986, at Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church. His family was presented
with the United States flag, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Superior
Unit Award, the Multinational Service Medal, and the Multinational Force and
Observers Beret by Brigadier General Robert Chelberg, the deputy commander at
Fort Jackson; and

W
hereas, the South Carolina General Assembly is honored to remember
the life and sacrifice of Ray Anthony Ruth, a brave son and hero of the
Palmetto State. Now, therefore,

B
e it resolved by the
House of
Representatives
:

T
hat the members of the South Carolina
House
of Representatives
, by this resolution, honor and remember the supreme
sacrifice made by Army Specialist 4 Ray Anthony Ruth of Walterboro on December
12, 1985, and to express the profound appreciation of a grateful State and nation
for his life, sacrifice, and service.

B
e it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to
the family of Ray Anthony Ruth.

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This web page was last updated on March 24, 2026 at 1:12 PM