Pennsylvania Act 2011-41 — STAFF SERGEANT DAVID M. VEVERKA VETERANS MEMORIAL BRIDGE - DESIGNATION

Act text

An Act

Designating the Shenango River Bridge, which carries State Route 322 over the Shenango River in Jamestown Borough, Mercer County, as the Staff Sergeant David M. Veverka Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Staff Sergeant David M. Veverka Veterans Memorial Bridge.

(a) Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1) Staff Sergeant David M. Veverka, age 25, a native of Jamestown, Pennsylvania, was killed in action on May 6, 2006, in Iraq while serving on active duty with the Maine National Guard's B Company, 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Infantry. Sergeant Veverka was traveling with his convoy south of Baghdad when an improvised explosive device exploded and hit the vehicle he was riding in, and he died a few hours later at a military hospital in Baghdad. Sergeant Veverka was credited with helping to save the life of a fellow soldier in the truck by pulling that soldier down inside the vehicle as the roadside bomb exploded.

(2) Sergeant Veverka was posthumously awarded both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart by the United States Army. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, where he had once participated in ceremonies as a member of the United States Army's Old Guard.

(3) Born September 15, 1980, Sergeant Veverka graduated from Jamestown Area High School in 1998, and enlisted in the United States Army in 1999, serving in the Airborne Division. He was stationed at Fort Myer, Virginia, until 2002 when he was discharged. While serving at Fort Myer, he was selected to serve in the elite Old Guard (3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment), which is the oldest active infantry regiment in the Army and responsible for guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, protecting Washington, D.C., and presiding over military and state funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.

(4) After his discharge, Sergeant Veverka enrolled at the University of Maine and joined the Maine National Guard in order to pay for college. He received a posthumous magna cum laude bachelor of science degree in wildlife ecology from the University of Maine.

(5) As a member of the Maine National Guard, he was deployed to Fort Dix, New Jersey, in January of 2006 before being deployed to Kuwait in March of 2006. In April of 2006, he was deployed to Iraq.

(b) Designation.--The Shenango River Bridge, which carries State Route 322 over the Shenango River in Jamestown Borough, Mercer County, is hereby designated as the Staff Sergeant David M. Veverka Veterans Memorial Bridge.

(c) Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the bridge to traffic in both directions.

Section 2. Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 60 days.