Greensburg bridge ceremony honors Richard Cullen, who was killed in Vietnam

Richard Cullen would have turned 75 on Thursday.

But the Greensburg native never got to see his 21st birthday.

Cullen was killed in action May 23, 1968, while serving as an Army infantryman in Vietnam. That sacrifice was recognized Thursday in a ceremony renaming the railroad bridge on Greensburg’s North Main Street in his honor.

Signs displaying the span’s new name, the Sgt. Richard Ivory Cullen Memorial Bridge, serve as “a remembrance of what people who served in any of the armed forces have faced as a possibility, and what they gave up to do that,” said David Cullen of Greensburg, who was born two years after his late brother, affectionately known as “Dickie.”

The eldest of six siblings, Richard Cullen “didn’t get to live and have a family,” his brother said. “For anyone who loses someone at war, that’s something you never get over. The first couple of years afterward were very difficult for both my parents.”

A wrestler in high school, Richard Cullen was drafted into the Army in 1967, two years after graduating from Greensburg Salem High. Assigned to the American Division, 1st Squadron, 1st Calvary Regiment, B Troop, he was killed in action by small arms fire while serving in South Vietnam’s Quang Tin Province.

His family was told he was targeted by a sniper, according to David Cullen.

Before he was drafted, Richard Cullen held local jobs at Harry’s Pizza and the Robertshaw plant.

“He was a fun person,” his brother said. “He loved to work on cars, and he had a motorcycle he bought right after high school.”

He believes his brother would be “quite honored and surprised” to have a bridge bearing his name.

Niece Kelley Ozog led the way in seeking state approval of the bridge designation for her uncle. Ozog oversees constituent relations in the Johnstown area office of state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., who chairs the transportation committee.

Born in 1974, Ozog never met her uncle. But, she said, “My grandmother and aunt always kept him alive with all the stories and the pictures of him they had. It made you feel that he was there.

“It’s always been very important for our family to remember him and all those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we’ve been given.”

The legislation designating the Cullen Memorial Bridge was co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward of Hempfield and Langerholc, a fellow Republican.

More than 100 people attended Thursday’s ceremony, including Langerholc, Ward, State Rep. Eric Nelson, Greensburg Mayor Robert Bell and Westmoreland County Commissioner Sean Kertes. The VFW Post 33 Honor Guard presented the colors and led the pledge of allegiance before Langerholc and Ward spoke.

It was the best-attended bridge dedication he’s ever been to, Langerholc said.

“These things are so important, that we never lose sight of the sacrifices made by those brave men and women who served our country,” Langerholc said.

Naming the bridge for Cullen ensures his sacrifice will “never been forgotten,” Ward said.

“(The memorial to Cullen) is a humble reminder that we have been given the American way of life because of the soldiers who fought for it with their blood,” Ward said.

The bridge-naming effort is the latest way Cullen has been remembered by his community, family and friends. His name and image are on one of a series of Hometown Hero banners seasonally displayed along streets in downtown Greensburg.

While he is laid to rest in Greensburg Catholic Cemetery, east of town, family members honor his memory during annual Memorial Day services at Westmoreland County Memorial Park, west of town.

Before her death in 2002, his mother, Rosemary, participated in the Memorial Day ceremonies and was a former president of the local chapter of Gold Star Mothers, an organization for women who have lost a child in the service of their country.

For a number of years, a golf outing was held at Greensburg’s Mt. Odin course, in memory of Cullen and Vincent Piscar Jr., a fellow Greensburg native who was killed in action in July 1968 while serving in the Marine Corps. The event raised money for the Greensburg Gold Star Mothers chapter.

Cullen’s military decorations include the Purple Heart and the Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation.

Tribune-Review Staff Writer Maddie Aiken contributed to this story.