SP4 Michael A Pastorino Memorial Bridge (Credit: Bucks County)
On May 13, Bucks County dedicated County-owned Bridge #293 in memory of SP4 Michael Anthony Pastorino, a U.S. Army radio specialist from Lower Moreland who was killed in action during the Vietnam War.
Pastorino, 20, was fatally wounded Nov. 17, 1969, while part of a combat patrol. He had been drafted in January 1969, a six months later was assigned to U.S. Army Company A, First Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.
His death came just weeks before he was meant to spend Christmas at home on furlough. Pastorino left behind a fiancée, friends and family including four siblings.
“It is older men who make decisions about going to war, but it is the young men and women who have to pay the sacrifice,” said Commissioner Chair Bob Harvie. “So as we remember Michael and the other veterans that we’ve honored through this program, and the veterans we will continue to honor, let’s hope and pray that we don’t have reason to do many more of these in the future beyond honoring those we’ve lost already.”
The bridge named for Pastorino, who attended Bishop McDevitt High School, crosses Mill Creek along Gravel Hill Road in Upper Southampton Township. It is the fourteenth County-owned bridge since 2022 to be named for a local soldier lost in the Vietnam War.
The dedications are part of the County’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge Program, which honors the 136 Bucks County residents lost in the Vietnam War. The County administers the program in partnership with Bucks County-based veterans’ advocate Ed Preston, who chairs the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (PAVVMF).
See more photos of the dedication ceremony on the County of Bucks Flickr page.
To learn more about the program and the men it is meant to honor, visit BucksCounty.gov/MemorialBridges.
