Feb 11, 2015 2 min read

The state House of Representatives Wednesday unanimously approved bills sponsored by State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, that would honor two members of America’s armed forces from Southwestern Pennsylvania killed in action in Vietnam and Somalia.

Snyder said H.B. 178 would name the Exit 28 Mon-Fayette Expressway Interchange with state routes 43 and 88 in Centervill, as the Marine Cpl. Thomas R. Matty Memorial Interchange.

H.B. 179 would designate the Route 88 bridge over Muddy Creek in Cumberland Township, Greene County, as the Army Cpl. Richard W. Kowalewski Jr. Memorial Bridge.

“Cpl. Matty was but 22 years old when he was killed in the Quang Nam Province region on Dec. 21, 1967, six weeks after arriving in Vietnam,” said Snyder, who noted Bethlehem-Center High School still honors the Denbo native with an award presented annually to a graduating senior.

Matty served with the 1st Marine Division and was one of 2,633 military deaths from Pennsylvania during the Vietnam War. Matty also is honored with an inscription on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Kowalewski, who was born in Waynesburg and later lived in Crucible, was killed Oct. 3, 1993, during a search-and-rescue mission that went wrong in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was a member of, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and was deployed to Somalia in August 1993 as part of a United Nations peace-keeping operation.

“Cpl. Kowalewski joined the Army just two days after graduating from Carmichaels Area High School in 1992,” said Snyder, noting he was one of the 18 Ranger and Delta Force members killed in what was described as the U.S. military’s single most costly firefight since Vietnam.

The horrific street battle – and Kowalewski’s role in the convoy sent to rescue downed helicopter pilots – was depicted in the novel and movie “Black Hawk Down.”

Both measures now go to the state Senate for consideration.