Pittsylvania County held a dedication ceremony today for two bridges that have been renamed after fallen Virginia State Troopers. The U.S. 29 North Bridge in Hurt has been renamed the “Trooper Henry Murray Brooks, Jr. Memorial Bridge” and the Route 57 Bridge east of Chatham has been renamed the “Trooper Henry Noel Harmon Memorial Bridge.”
“It is important that we honor the law enforcement and police officers that protect us today, those that have served us in the past, and especially those who lost their lives in the line of duty,” said Vic Ingram, Chairman of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors. “Renaming these bridges is just one simple way to commemorate these officers, who made such significant sacrifices while protecting this County.”
Chairman Vic Ingram gave opening remarks at the ceremony and then Lindsay Brooks, the granddaughter of Trooper Brooks, spoke and the son of Trooper Harmon, Buzz Harmon, spoke.
Trooper Brooks was stationed in Gretna beginning in 1953. In June of 1956, Brooks was investigating a crash on U.S. Highway 29 about three miles south of Altavista when another car crashed into the parked vehicle, Brooks, and three others. Brooks was taken to the hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Trooper Henry Harmon was a Virginia State Trooper stationed out of Chatham. While arresting a drunk driver on Route 761 near Long Island in January of 1960, Harmon was shot in the back of the neck, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down for the remainder of his life. He died in 1995 as result of the gunshot wound he suffered 35 years prior.
After Lindsay Brooks and Buzz Harmon spoke, Bill Carrico, President of the Virginia State Police Association, gave some remarks and then Colonel Gary Settle, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police served as the keynote speaker for the event.
This event came about after the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed two resolutions in support of renaming the two bridges in May. Bridges and roads are often named after important political figures that deserve to be remembered, but it seems more than fitting to name them after those that drove over them, more than anyone, to keep them safe for all those that travel them and made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.
The county posted this video feed of the event on Facebook.
-Mike Swanson
