Bills honor 2 local fallen soldiers
One soldier died in combat last year; the other died in March.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS — A state lawmaker from Warren has introduced separate bills honoring two Trumbull County soldiers who were killed while serving in Iraq.
State Rep. Tom Letson, D-64th, presented House Bills 276 and 277 on Wednesday to members of the Ohio House’s Infrastructure, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Committee. It was the first committee hearing for both pieces of legislation.
HB 276 would designate the interchange at U.S. Route 422 and state Route 82 in Warren as the Sgt. Marco Miller Memorial Interchange.
Miller, a former football player at Warren G. Harding High School, enlisted in the Army in 1990, then re-enlisted in the Florida National Guard after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Letson said.
Miller was fatally injured last December when the military vehicle in which he was riding was hit by a bomb. He was 36.
HB 277 would designate the interchange of state routes 45 and 82 in Champion Township as the Sgt. Robert M. Carr Memorial Interchange.
Carr enlisted in the Army after Sept. 11, 2001. He was a junior at Champion High School at the time, Letson said.
He was serving his second combat tour in Iraq when an improvised explosive device detonated beneath the weight of his military vehicle. He died in March, at the age of 22.
Carr’s father, Jeff, and stepmother, Cathy, and other family members were on hand for the committee meeting at the Statehouse.
mkovac@dixcom.com