thedrifter
03-06-09, 06:35 AM
Part of I-37 will bear name of hero
By Tracy Idell Hamilton - Express-News
San Antonio's first native son to receive the Medal of Honor will now have a section of local highway named after him.
Interstate 37 between I-35 and I-10 will be named for William James Bordelon, a Central Catholic High School graduate and hero of the Nov. 20, 1943, invasion of Tarawa.
Bordelon, born on Christmas Day 1920, destroyed three enemy machine gun positions and rescued two wounded Marines, ignoring his own injuries, on the first day of the three-day invasion of the Pacific island.
The staff sergeant was killed in a burst of enemy fire just as his last explosive destroyed a fourth machine gun position, according to official reports.
Initially buried on Tarawa just a few yards from where he fell near the beach, Bordelon's remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu soon after.
His brother, Robert Bordelon, formally asked to have his brother's body transferred to Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, and in 1995, 52 years after his death, his remains were returned.
Before burial, Bordelon's remains lay in state at the Alamo. He was just the fifth person so honored, and the last. More than 2,500 people came to pay their respects, according to news reports at the time.
Bordelon has been honored in other ways. In 1945, the U.S. Navy named a destroyer after him, and the Marine Corps and Navy named a VFW post in his honor. In 1947, Central Catholic named its award-winning junior ROTC rifle team the Bordelon Rifles.
But for fellow World War II veteran Angelo DiPasquale, there was still something missing.
Knowing that three other Medal of Honor recipients who survived the war and were not natives of San Antonio have sections of Highway 90 named for them, DiPasquale got to work.
He and former City Councilwoman Helen Dutmer headed a committee that worked with City Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos to draft an ordinance, which the council approved Thursday.
“We had to get him recognized,” said DiPasquale.
He and Dutmer were joined by Robert Bordelon to thank the council for its consideration. Bordelon's youngest brother called the honor “long overdue.”
A photoengraving of the Medal of Honor will be erected with the signs, said DiPasquale.
The committee's next effort, he said, will be to secure a similar honor for San Antonio's other native Medal of Honor recipient, Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole, killed in France in 1944.
Ellie
By Tracy Idell Hamilton - Express-News
San Antonio's first native son to receive the Medal of Honor will now have a section of local highway named after him.
Interstate 37 between I-35 and I-10 will be named for William James Bordelon, a Central Catholic High School graduate and hero of the Nov. 20, 1943, invasion of Tarawa.
Bordelon, born on Christmas Day 1920, destroyed three enemy machine gun positions and rescued two wounded Marines, ignoring his own injuries, on the first day of the three-day invasion of the Pacific island.
The staff sergeant was killed in a burst of enemy fire just as his last explosive destroyed a fourth machine gun position, according to official reports.
Initially buried on Tarawa just a few yards from where he fell near the beach, Bordelon's remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu soon after.
His brother, Robert Bordelon, formally asked to have his brother's body transferred to Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, and in 1995, 52 years after his death, his remains were returned.
Before burial, Bordelon's remains lay in state at the Alamo. He was just the fifth person so honored, and the last. More than 2,500 people came to pay their respects, according to news reports at the time.
Bordelon has been honored in other ways. In 1945, the U.S. Navy named a destroyer after him, and the Marine Corps and Navy named a VFW post in his honor. In 1947, Central Catholic named its award-winning junior ROTC rifle team the Bordelon Rifles.
But for fellow World War II veteran Angelo DiPasquale, there was still something missing.
Knowing that three other Medal of Honor recipients who survived the war and were not natives of San Antonio have sections of Highway 90 named for them, DiPasquale got to work.
He and former City Councilwoman Helen Dutmer headed a committee that worked with City Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos to draft an ordinance, which the council approved Thursday.
“We had to get him recognized,” said DiPasquale.
He and Dutmer were joined by Robert Bordelon to thank the council for its consideration. Bordelon's youngest brother called the honor “long overdue.”
A photoengraving of the Medal of Honor will be erected with the signs, said DiPasquale.
The committee's next effort, he said, will be to secure a similar honor for San Antonio's other native Medal of Honor recipient, Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole, killed in France in 1944.
Ellie