Family honored by proposal to name bridge after soldier killed in Vietnam
?Relatives of Army Pfc. Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell of Alicia are touched that a friend has asked the state to name a new bridge over the Monongahela River after the young man who was killed 43 years ago while serving in Vietnam.
The Bakewell family lived in close proximity to the location of the bridge being built to carry the Mon/Fayette Expressway over the Monongahela River. Dennis Falsetto of Luzerne Township came up with the idea of naming the new bridge after the 20-year-old who gave his life for his country. State Rep. Bill DeWeese has introduced legislation to that effect which is now before the state House Transportation Committee.
“I’ve been trying to get that done for about a year and a half,” Falsetto said. “Smokey lived right there below where they’re building the bridge.”
“We lived in the same house down by the bridge for his 20 years eight months,” said his brother, Ken Bakewell, who now lives in Maryland.
Of course, the bridge, which is currently under construction, wasn’t there when Ken Bakewell was a boy and palled around with his brother who was older by two years and eight months.
“The bridge is about 300 yards up from our house at a place we called Big Rock. We’d go up there to hang out and go swimming there,” Ken Bakewell said.
Ken Bakewell’s cousin, Ron Bakewell of Brownsville, said naming the bridge after the cousin whose name he also bears would be fitting.
“We had a family farm in Low Hill that they bought for the highway. (The Bridge) is going to connect both places, the family house in Alicia and the family farm in Low Hill. When I read it in the paper that they were thinking of doing it, I was real honored. I hope they go through with it,” Ron Bakewell said.
Ron Bakewell said his cousin’s death is still a vivid memory.
“I was eight when he was killed, and I remember that more than anything,” Ron Bakewell said. “I remember the funeral and the military honors that were paid. It was at Kisinger’s and it was one of the largest funerals they ever had up to that time.”
Falsetto’s wife, Lois Henshaw Falsetto, went to school with Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell from kindergarten through high school graduation. Falsetto was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 1968 at the end of his enlistment in the army. Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell was also at Fort Gordon at that time, preparing for a tour in Vietnam. Since Dennis was married, he and Lois had a home off base where the young Pfc. Bakewell would spend his three-day leaves.
It wasn’t long after his days at Fort Gordon that the young soldier left from Pittsburgh for his 12-month tour of duty in Vietnam. His younger brother, Ken Bakewell said a local businessman had offered to get his brother out of the draft, but the young man refused, telling his mother that he didn’t want her to be known as the mother of a draft dodger.
Ken Bakewell said 1968 was a tough year for U.S. soldiers in Vietnam, with 30 percent of all U.S. casualties in Vietnam occurring that year, including more than 1,500 during the Tet Offensive.
Ken Bakewell said his brother never expressed any reservations to his family about serving his country, but he did confide some fears to his close friend Buddy Angelo just before shipping out.
“Buddy said ‘Smoke, I’ll see you in a year.’ Buddy said Smoke teared up a little and said ‘Buddy, I’m not coming back,'” Ken related.
The family said goodby at Pittsburgh Airport.
“He turned around, looked at us, waved and went into the airplane. I don’t know how anyone could do that if they had premonitions they weren’t coming back, but he did,” Ken Bakewell said.
Pfc. Ronald “Smokey” Bakewell was killed in action less than two months after arriving in Vietnam, fatally shot by small arms fire.
“We got his last letter about four weeks after we got word of his death. A lot of his letters before that were very positive. The last one was very negative, saying ‘You’re right, Mom, we don’t have it very good over here.’ He ended with ‘Well Mom, I’ve worried you enough,'” Ken Bakewell said.
“He signed it ‘All my love, Smoke.'”
Ken Bakewell said his brother was just a normal guy.
“There was nothing fancy about him. He was just down to earth; that’s the way my parents were,” Ken Bakewell said. “He was a quiet, typical, American male. The ’60s counter culture hadn’t hit Brownsville. He wasn’t into anything political or any drugs or anything.
“He was just a typical kid who went to Kennywood, respected his parents and took care of me,” Ken Bakewell said.
The process of naming the new bridge includes committee approvals, full house approval and approval by the state senate as well.
“Whether it happens or not, it means a lot to us that Denny (Falsetto) thought enough of my brother to do that for him,” Ken Bakewell said.