County Bridge Dedication For Fallen Bensalem Soldier

BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — A Bucks County bridge is getting renamed and dedicated in honor of a former township soldier.

Bucks Country Bridge #34 on Century Lane — a bridge that spans the Poquessing Creek and connects Philadelphia with Bensalem — was expected to be dedicated on Tuesday to U.S. Corp. Hugh William Elmore.

Elmore, an orphan who grew up in Philadelphia and Eddington in Bensalem, enlisted in the Army on Jan. 26, 1965, at the age of 17.

Following basic training at Fort Jackson, SC, he reported to Vietnam on Aug. 20, 1965, and was assigned to Mortar Platoon, Company C, 1 ^st Battalion, 8^th Cavalry Regiment, 1 ^st Brigade, 1 ^st Cavalry Division as a mortarman.

He was the youngest man in his unit. In one of his last letters, he wrote, "They can never say that Hughie Elmore did not do his part for his country."

On March 25, 1966, Elmore and another soldier were conducting a fire support mission in Binh Duong Province when a mortar round prematurely detonated while still in the tube. Both men were evacuated to a field hospital, but their injuries were fatal.

Elmore was 18, just a few weeks away from his 19^th birthday. He was posthumously promoted to corporal.

Born April 6, 1947, Elmore lived at St. John’s Orphan Asylum and St. Vincent’s Orphan’s Asylum in Philadelphia, and spent the seven years before he joined the Army at St. Francis Vocational School in Eddington.

He was recalled as "a happy-go-lucky guy who had a lot of friends" and as a friendly boy who enjoyed group activities and was well liked by both fellow students and the workmen with whom he often helped on maintenance projects. He was especially proficient at welding, the trade he was learning when he left for the service.

Elmore spent many weekends, holidays and part of each summer vacation with John J. and Eleanor Quinn, who heard about the boy without a family and welcomed him into their home. “Hughie” became kind of an adopted son for the couple.

He looked forward to making his first real home with them after his discharge.

Elmore is buried in the Saint Francis De Sales Cemetery in Eddington.

The dedication comes from the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the Bucks County government.

The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is working with Bucks County on the dedication of bridges in honor of Bucks County servicemen and women who died in the Vietnam War.

The PAVVMF previously created and in 2021 dedicated the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Veterans Memorial to Lower Bucks County victims of the Vietnam War; many of its members also were instrumental in bringing the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to Bucks County in 2017.

For more information visit lbcvvm.org.