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CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. - The recently-completed Route 120 bridge officially was renamed the Staff Sergeant Kyu Hyuk Chay Memorial Bridge to honor the Chappaqua military veteran who was killed in Afghanistan in 2006.
The bill was signed Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, nearly a month after it unanimously passed the state Assembly and Senate. Also dedicated in the bill was a portion of Route 120 in Harrison, which was named the Specialist Anthony N. Kalladeen Memorial Highway.
"As New Yorkers come together to celebrate our country's birthday, we must pause to honor the countless American heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could live free today," Cuomo said in a statement. "Both Specialist Kalladeen and Staff Sergeant Chay will have the lasting memorials they deserve in Westchester County with this renamed highway and bridge."
Chay was born in South Korea and grew up in Chappaqua, where his family opened a local cleaning business near the Chappaqua train station. Chay was three credits shy of graduation with a law degree from Brooklyn Law School when he was killed.
The Route 120 bridge overlooks the family business, New Castle Cleaners, as well as the war memorial at the Chappaqua train station, where there is a plaque dedicated in his honor.
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