The Route 340 bridge over Compton Creek in Page County was dedicated Wednesday as the United States Marine Corps Sergeant Richard T. Brumback Memorial Bridge.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board passed a resolution last year naming the bridge in honor of Brumback, who was killed in action during World War II. This resolution followed a resolution passed by the Page County Board of Supervisors earlier in the year requesting the bridge naming.
Brumback was born Feb. 7, 1918 in Rileyville, where he grew up on the family farm immediately between the southwest side of this bridge and Island Ford Road. He was killed in action in the line of duty on Nov. 1, 1943, on the island of Bougainville in the South Pacific.
“Richard was killed by a sniper while trying to scout out a good position for his platoon in the jungle of Bougainville, on the first day of the Marines’ invasion of that island,” said Teresa Brumback, Sgt. Brumback’s niece. “I didn’t come to know him until I visited his ship, the USS North Carolina. Our service members risk and sacrifice their lives every day while the rest of us take it for granted that we can live without fear, raise our kids, take them to ballgames, work, go to church, picnics and the like.”
A fact sheet on USMC Sgt. Richard T. Brumback can be found in this link: http://www.virginiadot.org/news/resources/staunton/Brumback_Fact_Sheet.pdf
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