Upper Bucks County bridge dedicated to Vietnam solider killed in Vietnam
Fifty-four years after he was killed in the fog of war in Vietnam by "friendly fire", Victor DeWalt has had an Upper Bucks County bridge named for him, not far from where he grew up in Nockamixon.
At brief, solemn service, with DeWalt's nieces and great-nieces attending, unveiled a sign bearing his name and rank on the approach along Stouts Valley Road in rural Riegelsville.
Marine Lance Cpl. DeWalt was 21 when he died from wounds inflicted by “friendly fire” in Quang Nam Province while on patrol on
“A few weeks ago would have been Victor’s 75th birthday. He would have been, roughly, the age of all of the gentlemen behind me,” said Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, referring to the military honor guard who lined up across the bridge.
“It is our youngest generation that we send off to protect, to serve and to keep us free,” he said. “We think about the family he left behind, but we also think of the family he never had a chance to have. That’s the sacrifice that we honor.”
He was killed on Nov. 10, 1970.
“There is some small solace in knowing that Lance Cpl. DeWalt, a Marine, gave the ultimate sacrifice on what was the 195th birthday of the United States Marine Corps,” Harvie said.
Bucks soldier honored This Bucks County bridge now named for Army veteran from Sellersville killed in Vietnam
Lance Cpl. DeWalt was born and grew up in Allentown, according to news accounts of his death. As a teenager, his family moved to Revere, Bucks County. He attended Palisades High School in Nockamixon. Afterward, he worked as a painter and then as a forklift driver in Doylestown. He joined the Marines in June 1968, and had been in Vietnam for six months when he died.
He and about 15 other Marines were on a nighttime recon patrol in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. U.S. forces mistook them for enemy Vietcong.
“Six high-explosive and four white phosphorous rounds impacted on the patrol's position, killing two and wounding eleven,” according to an account from that time. DeWalt succumbed to severe wounds to his head, neck and limbs.
This is the 14th county-owned bridge named for soldiers who died in Vietnam under the county’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge Program. The program honors the 136 young Bucks Countians who died in that war. It’s a joint venture between Bucks and the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, spearheaded by its chairman, Ed Preston.
The county's next bridge-naming service will be in Perkasie, at a date to be announced soon.
JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County soldier died in 'Nam. Now a bridge bears his name
