Section 7. Andrew A. Pompey and Durando J. Pompey Memorial Bridge.
(a) Declaration of policy.--The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) Andrew A. Pompey was the oldest son of Louis and Regina Parlanti Pompey, born on May 1, 1917, in Minooka.
(2) He volunteered for service in the United States Army days after Pearl Harbor and was inducted on February 7, 1942.
(3) After basic training, he volunteered for a new branch of the service, the parachute infantry.
(4) He became part of the first parachute division in United States Army history, the 82nd Airborne, and was assigned to its first regiment, 504th PIR, nicknamed the "devils in baggy pants" from a German officer's diary.
(5) After parachute training, he and the rest of the 82nd Airborne were shipped to North Africa.
(6) He participated in two combat jumps in active combat, first in Sicily, Italy, where his plane was hit by friendly fire, and next at Salerno, Italy, where he assisted in saving the Allied beachhead, and he was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.
(7) On January 26, 1944, Staff Sergeant Andrew A. Pompey led his squad on an assault of a bridge spanning the Mussolini Canal near Sassano, Italy, and was killed by artillery.
(8) Initially, he was buried at the American Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy.
(9) Later, he was exhumed and reinterred at the Italian-American Cemetery adjacent to Davis Street, Scranton, near the Davis Street Bridge.
(10) Durando J. Pompey was born on September 1, 1921, to Louis and Regina Parlanti Pompey in Minooka.
(11) He also volunteered for the United States Army and was inducted on September 7, 1942.
(12) After basic training, he married Helen Rovinski on May 3, 1943.
(13) In February 1944, he was shipped to England in anticipation of the invasion of Europe.
(14) He landed with his division on June 8, 1944, on Omaha Beach.
(15) Shortly after landing on Omaha Beach, the division went on attack through the French hedgerows toward Pont Hebert and St. Lo.
(16) On July 13, 1944, the Germans preceded a counterattack with a concentrated artillery barrage, and Private First Class Durando J. Pompey was killed in that barrage.
(17) He was initially buried in Le Combe Cemetery in France and later exhumed at the request of his wife and reinterred in the American Cemetery in Long Island, New York.
(b) Redesignation.--The Davis Street Bridge, over Interstate 81 at Exit 182, Moosic Borough, Lackawanna County, is redesignated as the Andrew A. Pompey and Durando J. Pompey Memorial Bridge.
(c) Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and maintain appropriate road signs displaying the name of the bridge to traffic in both directions on the bridge.