Route 711 bridge to be named for 2 Ligonier-area Medal of Honor recipients

Two Ligonier-area soldiers from different centuries received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in battle, and both will be recognized again when a local bridge is named for them.

Officials will gather at 11 a.m. Saturday in Ligonier Township to dedicate the span that carries Route 711 over Loyalhanna Creek as the Sgt. Alvin P. Carey and Pvt. John C. Ewing Medal of Honor Memorial Bridge.

Local attorney Mark Sorice founded the Ligonier Medal of Honor Project, an effort to additionally memorialize the soldiers in downtown Ligonier. He’ll serve as master of ceremonies for Saturday’s program at the nearby chapel of Ligonier Valley Cemetery, where the men are buried.

“It’s rare for a community to have one Medal of Honor recipient, and here we have two,” said Sorice. “I’m hoping this will raise awareness so we are able to raise money to place statues at the Diamond in Ligonier.”

A Civil War veteran, Ewing was born in 1843 in Donegal Township. He volunteered for service with the 211th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in September 1864.

On April 2, 1865, his regiment took part in the final assaults on Confederate positions at Petersburg, Va. Engaging in hand-to-hand combat, Ewing captured the enemy flags at the Battle of Five Forks.

The Union victory in that battle deprived Confederate forces of their rail supply line and led to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia a week later.

World War II hero

A 1935 graduate of Ligonier High School, Carey enlisted in the Army shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. On June 7, 1944, he landed at Utah Beach in Normandy with the Second Infantry Division.

Initially wounded in action and awarded the Purple Heart, he returned to the front lines to engage the Germans at Brest, France. He was fatally shot there when he crawled up a fire-riddled hill and took on a German pillbox with grenades, allowing Allied soldiers to capture it.

Sorice was able to learn about the site of Carey’s sacrifice on behalf of his squad. “The pillbox was destroyed, but the rest of the defenses still exist, although they’re overgrown with trees,” Sorice said.

The Route 711 bridge, located just south of Route 30 and near the cemetery, was constructed in 1969 and was reconstructed in 2004. It’s slated to undergo preservation work this summer.

Saturday’s ceremony will include remarks from Ewing and Carey family members, PennDOT District Executive Rachel Duda and state Rep. Leslie Rossi.

Scholarship, golf outing

Also included in the program will be Lt. Col. Craig Minnick, U.S. Army (retired), founder of a scholarship named in honor of Carey and Ewing. The scholarship toward qualifying post-secondary education is awarded to at least one graduating high school senior who resides in the Ligonier Valley, Greater Latrobe or Mt. Pleasant Area school districts and who has committed to military service or whose parent, sibling or grandparent is a veteran or active service member. Visit careyscholarship.org for details.

Sorice has formed a nonprofit to pursue creation of a downtown Ligonier memorial and a documentary about the two Medal of Honor recipients. A golf outing fundraiser is set for May 24 at Ligonier Country Club, with registration at 9 a.m. and a shotgun start at 10:30 a.m. The cost is $175 per person or $700 for a foursome. To participate, contact Sorice at mark@sorice-law.com or 724-238-2610.