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Four Tracy streets to be named for fallen veterans

May-14-2005 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

Tracy, CA is planning to honor four fallen servicemen by naming local streets after them. Two are soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID - SSG Steven Bridges, and PFC Jessie Martinez.

Brenda Huang, Tracy Press
Published May 10, 2005, in the Tracy Press.

A lot has changed since U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Bridges was killed in a Stryker vehicle accident in Iraq. One grandfather passed away, the oldest stepdaughter had a third baby, and wife Debra has become an activist pushing a bill through Congress for more benefits for military families.

But one thing remains unchanged: When his parents travel from Tracy to Federal Way, Wash., twice a year to visit his family and his grave, it still hurts.

“We still miss him daily,” said Loretta Bridges of her son, a Tracy High School graduate who died at age 33.

The city, too, remembers Bridges, who had two tours in Korea and participated in Operation Desert Storm during his 15 years in the U.S. Army.

City officials have requested that developers name streets in new subdivisions after the four Tracy servicemen killed in the Iraqi war: U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa and Bridges, who died in 2003, and U.S. National Guard Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey and Army Pfc. Jessie Martinez, who died a year later.

One name will be on a street sign in the Yosemite Vista subdivision east of MacArthur Drive. It will be erected in about two months, said Chris Mina, senior civic engineer of the Department of Development and Engineering Services.

Where other names will go has not been finalized, but the city has sent letters to the developers of the Meadowwood subdivision on West Lowell Avenue and the South Gate project at the west end of Schulte Road, Mina said.

“We'd be more than happy” to do something the city requests, said Phil Bodem, president of Morrison Homes, which is building Meadowwood.

The city's tradition of honoring those killed in military service officially started in 1987, when the City Council passed a resolution to make it a policy. Such street signs are blue and have yellow lettering, while the average street name is printed in white on a green sign.

One veteran is beaming with satisfaction at the city's action.

Douglas Booke, a retired corrections officer and served in the Marines from 1972 to 1978, wrote two letters to city officials asking to honor these four soldiers with street names. In January he received a letter from the then-Interim City Manager Zane Johnston with a positive reply.

“It's wonderful of them to honor the veterans,” Booke said. “There's a reason why we are free.”

Loretta Bridges said she was excited to hear her son's name would be on a street sign.

“It just means they honor and acknowledge what all our sons did, not just for the country, but for the city, too,” Loretta Bridges said, referring to the four families, which have formed a bond since the war.


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