WWII veteran to be honored by Burns at Friday ceremony
Thomas A. Cooney Memorial Bridge to be dedicated Aug. 19
Rep. Frank Burns August 16, 2016 | 3:37 PM
EBENSBURG, Aug. 16 – In a ceremony organized by state Rep. Frank Burns, the family of a World War II Silver Star winner who died while serving with the U.S. Army in France will help dedicate the PFC Thomas A. Cooney Memorial Bridge at 11 a.m. Friday at Cresson American Legion Post 238.
Burns sponsored H.B. 1260 to rename a bridge on a portion of Cooney Road spanning Route 22 in Munster Township in honor of Cooney, who was born April 28, 1917 and raised on a farm outside Lilly with his three brothers.
While serving in the European Theater of Operation on Oct. 20, 1944, Cooney volunteered for a mine removal mission and continued in the face of enemy observation and direct hostile fire. He and his fellow Army engineers encountered heavy sniper and machine gun fire as they cleared mines along a strategically important road in France.
Cooney was later killed in action along with three other engineers when a delayed-action mine detonated.
Burns said his House bill to name the Cooney bridge was amended into a Senate bill (S.B. 1153) – a relatively common procedural occurrence – and was signed into law as Act 46 of 2016.
The Cooney family includes his siblings Margaret, Charles, Edna, Thomas, James and Paul (and his wife Marcelle); nieces Joi, Patty, Cindy (deceased) and Joan Barret Garahan; nephew Tom Barret; and close family friend Carol Noon.
Earlier this summer, Burns dedicated a bridge spanning U.S. 219 on Tower Road in Croyle Township as the Trooper Herbert A. Wirfel Memorial Bridge, in honor of a Pennsylvania state trooper who lost his life Feb. 7, 1982 while on duty.
Burns sponsored the Wirfel bridge-naming bill as well.