CB Graduate To Be Remembered With Bridge Dedication In Chalfont

CHALFONT, PA – The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will join Bucks County in honoring United States Army Specialist 4th Class Ronald Anthony Longfellow by dedicating a bridge in his memory on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

Longfellow and his service to his country will be memorialized during ceremonies at a bridge spanning the Neshaminy Creek on Creek Road, between North Limekiln Pike and Callowhill Road, in Chalfont. The dedication will be livestreamed at facebook.com/PAVVM.

Born Sept. 22, 1951, to Charles and Ruth Longfellow, Ronald was one of 10 children and was described by his brother Jerry as someone who would make time to help anyone, never feeling burdened – whether it was giving Chalfont neighborhood kids rides on his motorcycle or calling bingo for the church.

Jerry said his brother “loved people and loved giving of his time.” He enjoyed drawing, bowling and Mountain Dew.

After graduating from Central Bucks High School in Doylestown, Longfellow worked in the service parts department of the Trailmobile Division of Pullman, Inc. He was drafted into the Army in April 1971; six months later he was sent to Vietnam, where he served as an infantryman with the Air Cavalry Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (11th ACR), the "Blackhorse Regiment."

The Blackhorse Memorial records that Longfellow was serving as point man of a dismounted patrol when a booby trap detonated on December 28, 1971, in Bien Hoa province in South Vietnam. He subsequently died from those wounds on January 19, 1972.

Longfellow was awarded the Bronze Star for “Meritorious achievement in ground operations against hostile forces in Vietnam from September 6, 1971 to December 28, 1971.” He also was awarded the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm unit citation. He is buried in Whitemarsh Memorial Park in Ambler.

The 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam & Cambodia established scholarships in memory of fallen Blackhorse troopers. In 2008, one of those scholarships was specifically dedicated to: SP/4 Ronald Anthony Longfellow. The scholarship recipient, Daniel J. Herman, was the son of an 11th Cavalry veteran.

The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (PAVVMF) 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 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.