Airman Shot Down In Vietnam Remembered At Bucks Co. Bridge Dedication

RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, PA — An Upper Bucks County bridge now bears the name of a Vietnam veteran lost in 1967 when his plane was struck by ground fire and crashed into the sea.

Bucks County on Thursday renamed county-owned Bridge No. 356 in Richland Township for U.S. Air Force Maj. Donald Richard Kemmerer, an Upper Bucks airman who was lost with his plane during the Vietnam War.

A member of the 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Kemmerer was flying an attack mission on Aug. 6, 1967, in the Quang Binh Province of Vietnam when his F-4C Phantom II aircraft was struck by ground fire and crashed into the sea. The 26-year-old's remains were never recovered, and he was declared missing in action.

(Courtesy of Bucks County)

“On behalf of my fellow commissioners, we are honored to dedicate our first bridge of 2024 to Quakertown native Maj. Kemmerer, who went MIA in 1967,” said Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “It is our hope, through these solemn dedications to the Bucks County men we lost in the Vietnam War, that their sacrifices will never be forgotten, and their legacies will live on forever in the places they called home.”

The bridge named for Kemmerer crosses Tohickon Creek along Erie Road just outside Quakertown Borough.

Kemmerer, a native of Quakertown, graduated from Quakertown High School in 1959 before attending Pennsylvania State University where he participated in the ROTC program. He graduated college in 1963 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force.

The Air Force promoted Kemmerer to major after he was declared missing. Kemmerer left behind a wife and son.

The bridge named for Kemmerer crosses Tohickon Creek along Erie Road just outside Quakertown Borough. (Courtesy of Bucks County)

The bridge in Richland Township is the seventh county-owned bridge since 2022 to be named for a local soldier lost in the Vietnam War. The dedications are part of the County’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge Program, which honors the 136 Bucks County residents lost in the Vietnam War.

The county administers the program in partnership with Bucks County-based veterans’ advocate Ed Preston and the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (PAVVMF).

To learn more about the program and the men it is meant to honor, visit BucksCounty.gov/MemorialBridges.

(Courtesy of Bucks County)