State Rep. Marcia Hahn, along with local veterans, dedicate a road honoring their service. Photo by Bill Halbfoerster.
On Monday, a road in Bushkill Township was re-named to honor veterans of all wars.
A number of veterans were present as a sign along Bushkill Center Road was unveiled by PennDOT workers with its new name, Veterans Memorial Highway.
The move was made possible when State Representative Marcia Hahn introduced H.B. 2099 in the Pa. General Assembly.
She had opening remarks in Monday’s ceremony: “Today we honor the men and women who gave of themselves for our freedom,” she said. The idea for the new name came about a year ago when she and local patriot Bill Brackbill said they wanted to do something to honor veterans.
PennDOT District 5 Executive Michael W. Rebert said, “It’s a great honor to be involved.” He noted that President Dwight Eisenhower changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day and it was he who started the interstate highway system. Rebert went on to note that there are 19.6 million veterans in the United States; Governor Tom Corbett signed on to Act 176 which identifies veterans on driver licenses, and that the Pennsylvania Veterans Trust Fund comes from sale of license plates.
Bushkill Township Supervisors Chairman Brien Kocher introduced other supervisors present for the ceremony. The board formed a committee in 2012 that led to the township celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2013. Out of that grew the idea for Veterans Memorial Highway, for he said, “Veterans shaped our freedoms.”
Brackbill thanked all those who helped make the project possible in re-naming the road. Rep. Hahn added that 200 cards were sent to veterans in hospitals, and concluded, “What our veterans have done is very much appreciated and remembered.” Thanking them for their service and the families who they left behind to serve, she ended her remarks by thanking the PennDOT workers who erected the signs, one at either end of Veterans Memorial Highway.
All the veterans then assembled at the foot of the sign after it was unveiled. Rep. Hahn stood next to them, including Jeff Snyder, George Haymack, Leon Klipple, Jim Buhman, Tom Abruzzese, William Radcliffe, Elmer Yeakel and her son, Eric Hahn.
After the program on Monday, everyone went back to the Bushkill Township Office for refreshments (kiffles, coffee, and bottled water).
Editor’s Note: “As an Army veteran myself, I just took their picture with a sense of pride. And, as we remember the veterans, let us honor those now serving in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard as well. They, too, are making sacrifices in the name of freedom.”
-Bill Halbfoerster, Editor Emeritus, on photographing the highway dedication.
