HB 2658

                                                 PRINTER'S NO.     3669
                THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
                     HOUSE BILL
                     No. 2658
                                           Session of
                                             2026
INTRODUCED BY RIGBY, JUNE 22, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, JUNE 22, 2026
                                AN ACT
1 Designating a bridge, identified as Bridge Key 8546, carrying
2    State Route 1001 over RJ Corman Railroad in Allegheny
3    Township, Cambria County, as the Technician 5th Grade Bernard
4    C. Strohmier Memorial Bridge.
5    The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6 hereby enacts as follows:
7 Section 1.     Technician 5th Grade Bernard C. Strohmier Memorial
8Bridge.
9    (a)     Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as
10 follows:
11(1)   Bernard C. Strohmier was born April 9, 1924, in
12    Loretto. He was raised on a farm between Chest Springs and
13    Loretto.
14(2)   Technician 5th Grade Strohmier attended St. Monica
15    Catholic School before joining the army, serving as a
16    Technician 5th Grade with the 589th Field Artillery
17    Battalion, which served as support for the infantry.
18(3)   After entering the Army on March 13, 1943, at Fort
19    Jackson, South Carolina, he was assigned to Germany in
1    October 1944.
2(4)   While defending Parker's Crossroads during the
3    Battle of the Bulge, Technician 5th Grade Strohmier was taken
4    prisoner on December 24, 1944. He was processed through
5    several German camps, including Prum, Gerolstein and Trier.
6    During this time, he experienced extreme malnutrition,
7    dehydration, dysentery and exposure to cold.
8(5)   Technician 5th Grade Strohmier was liberated by the
9    Ninth Armored Division after an Allied air attack. He
10    received blood transfusion, plasma and intravenous
11    transfusion of liquids in England and was then flown to the
12    United States to receive rehabilitation before being
13    discharged in July 1946. Technician 5th Grade Strohmier spent
14    over one year in treatment and had lost 75 pounds during his
15    internment, weighing 90 pounds on liberation.
16(6)   After returning from service, he worked as a Guard
17    at the Cambria County Prison and then as a rural mail
18    carrier, retiring in 1979.
19(7)   Technician 5th Grade Bernard C. Strohmier passed
20    away at home in Loretto on January 10, 2021.
21    (b)   Designation.--The bridge, identified as Bridge Key 8546,
22 carrying State Route 1001 over RJ Corman Railroad in Allegheny
23 Township, Cambria County, is designated as the Technician 5th
24 Grade Bernard C. Strohmier Memorial Bridge.
25    (c)   Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and
26 maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the bridge to
27 traffic in both directions on the bridge.
28 Section 2.     Effective date.
29    This act shall take effect in 60 days.
20260HB2658PN3669  - 2 -