The name of a Korean-American veteran who died in the Iraq War is now engraved on the bridge.
It is the second memorial bridge in the United States to be named after a Korean-American who died in a war. According to LevittownNow, a ceremony was held on April 19 to name the Trenton Road Bridge in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after the late Staff Sergeant Jae Sik Moon.
The official name of the bridge is now the Staff Sgt. Jae S. Moon Memorial Bridge.
A member of the U.S. Army, Moon grew up in the small town of Middletown Township, Bucks County, where the bridge is located. After graduating from high school in the area, he enlisted in the Army and served in the Iraq War, where he was killed on Christmas Day, 2006, when an explosive device detonated in his vehicle. He was 21 years old at the time.
“He was the only person from this area to be killed while deployed to Iraq as part of the war on terrorism,” said Joe Hogan of the 142nd Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, who introduced the legislation to name the bridge in his honor. Hogan also added, “Naming the bridge in his honor will allow the community to recognize and forever honor his service and sacrifice.”
“I still remember the last time we spoke on the phone on Christmas Eve, the day before he was killed,” Moon’s sister, Crystal Moon, said at the bridge’s renaming ceremony. “He always had a smile on his face and loved helping others, and he was loved by his family and everyone.”
Moon’s father is also a combat-wounded veteran, and it was after meeting with the families and hearing the stories of Moon and his father that Hogan decided to move forward with the bridge naming legislation, LevittownNow explained.
About 100 people attended the naming ceremony, including Hogan, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, State Sen. Frank Farry, Bucks County Veterans Affairs Director Matthew Allen, Middletown Township Supervisors Bernadette Hannah and Anna Payne, a representative from the Consulate of the Republic of Korea in Philadelphia, and a number of veteran groups.
The bridge naming legislation was previously introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate Bill 621 (SB 621) and Pennsylvania House Bill (HB 1711). The bills were later consolidated into SB 621 and passed with bipartisan support in the legislature. In 2012, a bridge in Upstate New York was named after the late Staff Sergeant Kyu Hyuk Chay, who was killed in action in Afghanistan.
BY YEOL JANG, JUNHAN PARK [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com]
