‘Nate Is Smiling Down’: Community Honors Fallen Soldier With Bridge Dedication

A Falls Township bridge now bears the name of a fallen hometown hero.

Family members, active duty service members, veterans, police and firefighters, and local officials gathered last Wednesday to dedicate the Alden Avenue bridge as the PFC Nathaniel E. DeTample Memorial Bridge.

The bridge is located just a few blocks away from DeTample’s childhood home on Independence Drive.

DeTample, a 2004 Pennsbury High School graduate and Eagle Scout, was killed on Aug. 6, 2005, while serving with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in Iraq. A criminal justice student at Shippensburg University and a member of the ROTC, DeTample was deployed during his freshman year.

DeTample died alongside five other service members after their convoy was attacked as they investigated while investigating rocket-propelled grenade fire in Bayji, Iraq.

“At just 19 years old, he laid down his life in service to us all,” said Brig. Gen. Frank McGovern, assistant adjutant general for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. “Today, we ensure that his sacrifice is never forgotten.”

The ceremony featured a military color guard and a performance by the Men of Harmony.

Representatives from the offices of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and State Sen. Steve Santarsiero presented DeTample’s mother, Kim DeTample Cunningham, with a flag flown in Washington, D.C., and a Pennsylvania Senate citation.

Nate’s mother, Kim DeTample Cunningham, said the bridge is not just for her son, but for all service members who have died.

“Today, I am here as a Gold Star mom, Nate’s nom,” said Cunningham. She added that her other son, Staten, just retired from the U.S. Army and her son-in-law is in the U.S. Coast Guard.

“I know, without a doubt, that Nate is smiling down from heaven,” she said.

Cunningham thanked everyone who came out and those who remember her son and his service to the nation.

Ed Preston, who spearheaded the effort to rename the bridge, reminded the crowd of the ongoing debt owed to “Gold Star” families.

“A gold star family lives every day in a club they didn’t want to be a member of,” Preston said. “We as a community have to remember and support that family. Nate and his brothers and sisters served for us … We need to repay him in kind to make sure that his sacrifice, their sacrifice, wasn’t in vain.”

Cunningham unveiled one of the two green-and-white memorial signs during the event.

The fallen soldier’s mother said the memorial serves as a tribute to all fallen service members.

“I know, without a doubt, that Nate is smiling down from heaven,” Cunningham said.

DeTample was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge.