Apr 10, 2011 2 min read

HARRISBURG — An area state lawmaker has introduced a bill to name a Mon/Fayette Expressway bridge being built over the Monongahela River after Army Pfc. Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell, who was killed in action in Vietnam at age 20 in 1968.

House Bill 1281, which has been referred to the House Transportation Committee, would designate the bridge carrying the expressway from Alicia in Luzerne Township, Fayette County, to the Low Hill area of Washington County as the Pfc. Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell Memorial Bridge.

?State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, said he agreed wholeheartedly with constituent Denny Falsetto of Luzerne Township, a friend of Bakewell’s who came up with the idea that the bridge naming was appropriate to honor Bakewell and the military era in which he served.

“As a nation, state and region, we must never forget the gallantry and bravery of those who have worn the uniform in conflict overseas,” DeWeese said. “Although Pfc. Bakewell died nobly on the battlefield nearly 43 years ago, naming this bridge in his honor will remind people of his patriotic sacrifice for time immemorial.”

Falsetto, an Army veteran who also served in Vietnam for a year, said Bakewell was killed by hostile enemy small arms fire on Aug. 2, 1968, less than two months after arriving in Vietnam. Falsetto said the close proximity of the bridge to Bakewell’s childhood home makes it a logical fit as a monument.

“If you threw a rock over the bridge toward Brownsville, it would probably hit his house,” Falsetto said. “We’ve named roads and bridges after sports figures and political people, and I think it only fitting that we should name this bridge after a Vietnam War veteran who paid the ultimate sacrifice.”