Title
Honoring the rich life and loving memory of Philip E. "Knute" Bonner.
Body
WHEREAS, Philip E. "Knute" Bonner was the kind of American that epitomized the term "the Greatest Generation." He was a decorated World War II veteran, Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, Philadelphia police officer, lifelong Philadelphian, and a joy to everyone he met; and
WHEREAS, Bonner was known widely as fun-loving and extremely good-hearted. Generous with his time and material possessions, he quietly led by example. Bonner was known as the type of person to literally give the coat off his back to homeless people in the streets; and
WHEREAS, Bonner was born in Philadelphia to Joseph and Bertha Bonner. He attended West Catholic and John Bartram high schools; and
WHEREAS, After signing up to serve his country as a teenager during the height of the European Theater of World War II, Bonner's outfit, landed at Utah Beach in Normandy a month after D-Day, fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the forests of Belgium, and liberated Nazi concentration camps, including Buchenwald in Germany; and
WHEREAS, Bonner, who became a Philadelphia police officer after the war and later worked for the Pennsylvania Auditor General's Office, was a proud Irishman whose tenor voice was in-demand for shows, weddings and other events; and
WHEREAS, As a police officer from 1956 to 1966, Bonner was assigned as a patrol officer to various districts, including 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue. He suffered injuries on patrol, including a broken index finger that was permanently bent over his middle finger after he put his fist through a plaster wall while trying to punch a suspect; and
WHEREAS, Bonner and his Southwest St. Patrick's Club were regular participants in the City's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. In 2001, he was grand marshal and dedicated the parade to the memory of Joe Collins; and
WHEREAS, Bonner's Irish tenor, as well as his banjo, was heard at the variety shows put...
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