By Alberto Suris
From now on, crossing the new bridge built over the Spicket River connecting Marston with Canal Street will have a special meaning. You won’t be crossing just another bridge. You will be crossing the Staff Sergeant Alex R. Jimenez Bridge: Our Hero’s Bridge.
On Friday, November 15, 2013, State and City Officials, veterans and several Jimenez’s closest relatives gathered at the bridge to dedicate a plaque which will be visibly attached to remind future generations of this young soldier’s sacrifice.
According to Lawrence City Council President Frank Moran, several veterans approached him with the idea of dedicating a bridge to Alex; he then presented the proposal to the full council, and it was approved on September 19, unanimously.
Jimenez, a 25-year-old Army Specialist of Lawrence, Massachusetts, assigned to the 4th Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y., was captured on May 12, 2007 by enemy forces in Jurf Al Sakhar, Iraq, when his unit was attacked by insurgents using automatic fire and explosives. His remains were recovered more than a year later on July 8, 2008.
Also killed were Spc. Byron J. Fouty, 19, of Michigan and Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack, Jr., 20, of Torrance, California; Sgt. 1st Class James D. Connell Jr., Pfc. Daniel W. Courneya; Cpl. Christopher E. Murphy and Sgt. Anthony J. Schober. Ten days later, the body of Anzack was pulled out from the Euphrates River.
Jimenez was buried on August 2, 2008 at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y. He was born in New York and his mother Maria Duran, lives in nearby Queens.
