The Ohio Senate on May 14 approved Senate Bill 327 proposed by Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls) to honor two servicemen from Cuyahoga Falls killed in Iraq.
The bill, which still needs approval from the Ohio House of Representatives, would designate state Route 59 between Broad Boulevard and Howe Avenue as Sgt. Bryan W. Large Memorial Highway (northbound lanes) and Sgt. Justin T. Walsh Memorial Highway (southbound lanes).
Sgt. Walsh, 24, a January 2001 graduate of Cuyahoga Falls High School, died Oct. 11, 2006, from wounds he received while serving with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq. He was a member of the 8th Engineer Support Battalion.
Army Sgt. Large, 31, served as the lead medic of the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. He was killed in action Oct. 3, 2005, in Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle during his third tour of duty.
"It's important that we honor our fallen soldiers," Coughlin told the Falls News-Press. "It's important not only to honor their service but to remind the generations to come that we too can be called to defend the cause of freedom."
For more, please see the May 18 edition of the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press.