CLARINGTON – A bridge spans a gap across a river, a gorge and, sometimes, a loss.
That was the case Friday when the Route 899 bridge crossing the Clarion River at Clarington was named for Patrick Thomas Cassatt, a private first class who was reported as killed in action in 1953 in the Korean War.
His body was never recovered.
Cassatt was one of six boys in the Cassatt family raised in Clarington. He and four of his brothers served in World War II.
Cassatt lied about his age and at 16 joined the U.S. Army. He was sent to Germany at the end of the war.
When he returned he went to Erie with one of his brothers to work for General Electric. He joined the Army Reserves, and in the summer of 1950 his unit was called to go to Korea.
According to the Department of the Army’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Cassatt was serving with the 1st Cavalry Division near the North Korean city of Unsan in October 1950 when it was attacked by units of the Chinese Communist army.
On Nov. 1, 1950, his unit came under heavy enemy fire and lost 600 of the 800 men assigned to it. Cassatt was listed as missing in action.
On Dec. 31, 1953, the U.S. Army pronounced him killed in action.
Cassatt’s nephew, Vietnam veteran Terry Cassatt, led the movement to have the bridge named for his missing uncle. He said that in 1998 his father, Patrick’s brother, was contacted by the Department of Defense because it was trying to identify the remains of American soldiers reported as MIAs.
Officials from the Defense Department explained that they needed DNA from the family for some unidentified remains that had been brought to the Center for Remains in Hawaii. Patrick Cassatt was not among those returned.
“We are here today to celebrate a young man and to celebrate the freedoms he helped preserve for us,” said Deborah Pontzer, who represented U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson.
In the letter read by Pontzer, Thompson noted that a marker has been placed at Arlington National Cemetery for Cassatt.
“The legacy of Private Cassatt will live on with this bridge,” Thompson said in the letter.
“Every time I cross this bridge from now on it will be with a heavy heart and also with a joyful heart that Patrick will never be forgotten, ever,” said Clarington native Bill Littlefield, commander of American Legion Post 102 in Brookville. “And, if his remains are ever brought back, I will be here to celebrate that also.”
Other speakers at Friday’s ceremony were state Sen. Scott Hutchinson and State Rep. Cris Dush. A letter from State Rep. Donna Oberlander was read.
The ceremony at the bridge followed a service held at Clarington United Methodist Church.