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Bridge to be renamed after fallen U.S. Army soldier

By Jon Stevens, For The Greene County Messenger 3 min read

Richard Kowalewski was not the typical “gung-ho” recruit when he joined the U.S. Army June 1, 1992, two days after graduating from Carmichaels Area High School.

He played chess, spoke German and loved the arts.

He was born in Waynesburg and lived in Crucible until he was four or five years old, when he moved with his family to Ohio. He then moved to Texas to live with his mother before returning to Crucible to live with his grandparents.

He was voted “most mannerly” of his senior class. He read literature, especially Shakespeare, and loved acting in school plays. But perhaps most of all, Kowalewski loved his country.

Kowalewski was 20 when he was killed Oct. 3, 1993, during a search-and-rescue mission that went terribly wrong in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was a member of Weapons Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and was one of the 18 Ranger and Delta Force members who were killed in what was described then as the U.S. military’s single most costly firefight since Vietnam, later depicted in the novel and movie “Black Hawk Down.”

At 11 a.m. today, the Route 88 bridge over Muddy Creek in Cumberland Township will be officially renamed as the Army Corporal Richard W. Kowalewski, Jr. Memorial Bridge. The ceremony will take place in the Carmichaels Area High School parking lot next to the bridge.

“I was approached by people in the community and the family reached out to me in a letter,” said state Rep. Pam Snyder, who sponsored the bill to honor Kowalewski and Marine Cpl. Thomas R. Matty, a native of Denbo in Washington County and a graduate of Beth-Center High School.

Matty was 22 and serving with the 1st Marine Division when he was killed in the Quang Nam Province on Dec. 21, 1967, six weeks after arriving in Vietnam.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Matty will be remembered when the West Brownsville/Fredericktown interchange of the Mon-Fayette Expressway to Route 88 is named the Marine Corporal Thomas R. Matty Memorial Interchange.

“They both were so young and in the military for just a short time before they were killed,” Snyder said. “This is a nice way to memorialize them.”

Snyder’s legislation honoring the men passed the state House in February and was signed into law May 13 by Gov. Tom Wolf.

Snyder shared the letter she received from Robert Kowalewski of Crucible, Richard’s cousin. He wrote: “He is considered an American war hero, and should be regarded as a true Greene County hero. It is for this reason that his name should be forever immortalized on a county landmark so that future generations can be reminded of his sacrifice both for his county and his country.”

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