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Fahey’s family members joined with Sen. Bob Duff, Rep. Bruce Morris and Mayor Harry Rilling Tuesday to unveil signs dedicating the bridge in his memory. Fahey was killed on Feb. 28, 2011, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, from wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by insurgents using an improvised explosive device.
“It’s an incredible honor that he’s being remembered this way and that it will be forever,” said Caroline Ettinger, Fahey’s aunt. “We don’t want him to fade to black, we want people to realize what the families go through, what they go through, the loss, and kind of pay it forward as well. You don’t need to lose somebody to know what our veterans and our military go through.”
“It means so much that he’s going to be remembered for his sacrifice. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him,” said Mike Standeiner, Fahey’s uncle.
The effort to re-name the bridge was led by Duff, who said that people should remember the sacrifices that military men and women make for their country.
“Today marks a good day for us in the sense that we are able to remember and honor one of our own who has fallen,” Duff said. “For the thousands of people who drive up and down I-95, this will serve as a permanent reminder of his sacrifice.”
“He made the decision to enter and help people who were oppressed,” Rilling said. “That is a true, true hero.”
Morris also thanked Fahey for his sacrifice.
“This is a befitting honor for someone who honored us so well,” he said.
Fahey was born in 1987 in Norwalk and attended Fox Run Elementary School and Ponus Ridge Middle School. He enlisted in 2007, and was assigned to the 170th Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. His unit was deployed to Afghanistan in June 2010.
Ettinger said that Fahey loved hot rods and fast cars, and that he was a snowboarder and a prankster.
He was the recipient of the Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, and Drivers and Mechanics Badge.
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