By CHAD UMBLE, Staff
Ed Davis is known by many Lancaster County residents.
Soon, he'll be known by many more.
Today, the state House of Representatives was expected to approve a measure naming the Dillerville Road bridge for Davis, a former Navy captain and Millersville resident who spent 7½ years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. He died in 2006.
"I just thought the world of him. Everybody did," said Rep. Katie True, an East Hempfield Republican who sponsored the bill to rename the bridge.
Under the bill, the bridge along Dillerville Road nearest Manheim Pike would become the Edward Anthony Davis Memorial Bridge.
State Sen. Gibson Armstrong, a Refton Republican, sponsored the version of the bridge bill that was approved in the Senate last fall.
"I just think it is a nice way for the people of Lancaster to remember him," Armstrong said today.
Born in Philadelphia, Davis lived in Millersville after 1984 and was well-known as a motivational speaker. He also served many years on the Penn Manor School Board, and on the Lancaster Airport Authority.
As a Vietnam War fighter pilot, he flew 57 combat missions before being shot down in August 1965. He was captured and led on a 19-day march to Hanoi, then held in the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, sarcastically known to American prisoners as the "Hanoi Hilton." U.S. Sen. John McCain was also held at the prison.
Following Davis' release on Feb. 12, 1973, he garnered media attention for keeping a puppy, Ma-Co, with him in prison, then smuggling it back to the United States.
Davis received three Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts, among other citations, while serving in the Navy.
Davis died Nov. 7, 2006, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Last August, Dillerville Road, between Manheim and Harrisburg Pikes reopened following a four-month, $7.6-million project that replaced one bridge and repaired three others along the half-mile stretch.
True, who said she expected approval of her bill today, also estimated that a sign designating the replaced bridge's new name would be erected in the next several months.
