JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Legislation is in the works to honor a recently fallen U.S. Army pilot via U.S. Highway 36 in Northwest Missouri.
A bill from a King City Republican would name a portion of Highway 36, from Cameron, Mo., to Osborn, Mo., after Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Kelley.
Mr. Kelley, of Osborn, died Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash in northern Iraq. Mr. Kelley, a 30-year-old who served in the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, and three other American troops died in the collision. The Army recently released that enemy fire caused the crash and that Mr. Kelley is set to receive the Purple Heart posthumously.
Mr. Kelley’s funeral in Cameron drew an outpouring of mourners like no other in Mr. Guest’s memory, which is why he said he decided to pursue the memorial.
HB 867, which Mr. Guest proposed to a House committee this week, would designate the roughly six miles of highway between the two cities the “CW2 Matthew G. Kelley Memorial Highway.”
“Cool,” was the pilot’s father’s response after learning of Mr. Guest’s effort Wednesday. Col. Stephen Kelley, a retired Army veteran, said he was unaware of the legislator’s plans, but fully supported them.
“It would be entirely appropriate for the state of Missouri to erect signs in honor of any fallen soldier,” he said. “It would remind all of us that there are people out there who lay their lives on the line for us every day.”
The Legislature in 2008 authorized two other area highway namings after fallen law enforcement officers, which prompted some debate among lawmakers over whether the practice had become too common.
“What happens when an officer dies on a stretch of road where an officer has already died?” Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee’s Summit, asked during last year’s debate on the designation of a section of the North Belt Highway after Buchanan County Deputy Charlie Cook, who died in a 2007 traffic crash.
A section of U.S. Highway 169 near King City, Mo., also was designated for Missouri State Highway Patrol Corp. Henry Bruns, who died during a traffic crash 20 years earlier.
As in those cases, the Missouri Department of Transportation would use private donations to erect and maintain the signs needed to label Highway 36, under Mr. Guest’s bill for Mr. Kelley.
The Patriot Guard Riders will assist with fundraising efforts for the signs, said Mike Gibbs, Missouri state captain for the nationwide organization of motorcyclists. More than 200 of the riders appeared at the Cameron funeral in support of Mr. Kelley’s family.
“There’s nothing we can do to let people know about these heroes that is too much,” Mr. Gibbs said.
A House transportation committee will consider the bill at a later date. Approval is needed from both the House and Senate.
Alyson E. Raletz can be reached
at alysonraletz@npgco.com.