Highway 20 to get special patriotic designation
LAUREL — A group of veterans has come together to make sure America’s heroes are not forgotten.
There efforts prompted Gov. Pete Ricketts to sign papers Jan. 31 to formally name Nebraska’s section of U.S. Highway 20 as the “Nebraska Medal of Honor Highway.”
The signing took place on Veterans Legislative Day, an annual event at the State Capitol for veterans and veteran service organizations to learn about veteran- and military-related legislation.
“Naming US-20 as the ‘Nebraska Medal of Honor Highway’ pays homage to our nation’s most heroic soldiers,” said Gov. Ricketts. “It’s a fitting way for Nebraska to show respect and appreciation to our veterans for their sacrifices to keep us safe.”
The Nebraska Medal of Honor Foundation applied for the naming of US-20, which the Nebraska Highway Commission then recommended in December.
Nebraska Department of Transportation Director Kyle Schneweis signed the recommendation before submitting the name change to the Governor for approval.
Veterans Ken Hanel of West Point, the late Bob Maxwell of Bend, Oregon; Daryl Harrison of Thurston and Gene Twiford of Laurel all played key roles in making this happen.
A special 12-day walk across the state along Highway 20 has been established to better publicize the new designation.
It could be coincidence or specific divine intervention, no one will know for certain yet the beginning of the 12-day walk has landed on the anniversary of a veteran’s passing, May 11.
“We didn’t even set out to intend to have that begin on this date. After the date was set, we came to realize this was the date that Bob Maxwell, a medal of honor recipient who began this project, passed away,’’ said Daryl Harrison, one of the Nebraska veteran organizers who have banded together like brothers to see this designation become a reality. “The project belongs to all patriotic Nebraskans.’’
The walk is the vehicle for gaining attention for a project started to bring about the naming of Nebraska’s Medal of Honor Highway and eventually a national designation.
Their fallen “brother’’ in arms who was one of the core group that began the project was Bob Maxwell, a medal of honor recipient.
Maxwell and a group of his “brothers’’ in arms veterans were working on a national medal of honor highway. Even though the medal of honor designation was attained in all the states west of Nebraska, the project lost momentum when it reached Nebraska. Veteran Gene Twiford read about the project and relit the effort. The nationwide medal of honor highway would run from Newport, Oregon to Boston. The project must be authorized by every community along the highway in 12 counties of Nebraska.
“As Twiford worked his way across Nebraska organizing the highway designation with each community, he ran into a glitch at Chadron,’’ Harrison said. That stretch of highway is named Crazy Horse Memorial Highway.
Twiford had to work on a way to reassure them that the designation of Crazy Horse Memorial Highway would not be disturbed.
He took the problem to Hanel and Harrison.
“I found a way that the highway designations could coexist,’’ Harrison said. “The designations are in layers upon the highway. One layer is Crazy Horse Memorial Highway and another layer is Nebraska’s Medal of Honor Highway. In a way the layers are transparent.’’
Twiford came to the American Legion for funding for signage.
“The project is more than just the American Legion, it is Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), American Veterans (AM-Vets) and the Marine Corps,’’ Harrison said. “Even the Boy Scouts are getting involved and will be a part of the walk. The walk will be in 72 segments and each sixmile segment is dedicated to a medal of honor recipient, except for the first segment which is dedicated to two recipients. The plan is to walk 36 miles a day for 12 days.’’ Harrison and Hanel will each walk half of the journey.
Nebraska has 73 Medal of Honor recipients.
By designating US-20 as the Nebraska Medal of Honor Highway, Nebraska joins a national effort to name US-20, which runs 3,365 miles from Boston, MA to Newport, OR. Nebraska is home to 432 miles of US-20 and is the fifth state to formally adopt the Medal of Honor name.
Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have already named their sections, and efforts are underway in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts to name their portions as well.
“I’m proud of Nebraska for taking this step to link arms with our neighbors and fellow Americans and be part of a national tribute to our heroes,” said Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs (NDVA) Director John Hilgert. “This highway runs from coast to coast, crossing widely different terrains and connecting very different people, yet we remain united in our desire to pay tribute to our heroes. That is a powerful message.”
Since the Medal of Honor was first presented during the Civil War, 3,508 awards have been issued with every state represented. As of Dec. 21, 2019, there were only 71 Medal of Honor recipients living in the United States of America. To earn the Medal of Honor, a member of the U.S. Armed Forces must act with “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty during combat at the risk of one’s life against an enemy of the United States.”
“This is a means of paying tribute to all Nebraska Medal of Honor recipients and is a gift to them and treasure to Nebraska by all Nebraska veterans and patriots,” said Nebraska Medal of Honor Foundation President Daryl Harrison. “Now the Nebraska Medal of Honor Foundation has the work before it to ensure signage along the Nebraska Medal of Honor Highway properly pays tribute to Nebraska’s greatest warriors.”
“I will start the walk at the Wyoming-Nebraska border,” Hanel said.
When the walk reaches Valentine, it will meet up with the VFW Highway and cross it. Other noted crossings will be the American Legion Memorial Highway at O’Neill and the Siouxland Freedom Park in South Sioux City. This point will be the center of Highway 20 from coast to coast.
“We plan to pass the baton on to Iowa for this project,’’ Twiford said.
“The idea is to ignite Iowa so they declare this an important project and it all starts to proceed east and eventually we will ask the U.S. Senators to declare Highway 20 a National Medal of Honor Highway to honor everyone that served in the U.S. Armed Forces and especially all medal of honor recipients,’’ Hanel said. “First, all the states have to have the designation. Its become very personal to me. It’s wonderful. I have had good responses from all over. Twiford did a lot of legwork for this project.’’
The National American Legion Commander will meet up with the project at South Sioux City for a ceremony on May 22. At this point, Nebraskans will hand off a flag for the late Bob Maxwell. Each state will have a streamer attached to it. This will include one for Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
“We are planning to hand the flag and the project to Iowa. We plan to help them as they move the project across Iowa and onto the other states to the East Coast,’’ Harrison said. “This is a new Nebraska treasure.’’
Born in Wayne, Harrison grew up in Omaha. He taught school in west Berlin and then moved back to the U.S. He spent a year in special forces training and was six weeks away from graduation when he had to take a medical discharge.
Harrison and Hanel work with the Nebraska Medal of Honor Foundation. Hanel said he was involved with the Buzz Cut Challenge in South Sioux City where he got a haircut live to raise money for the American Legion for a child welfare program to help families with food and rent. The group also helped when a tornado struck.
Hanel said that a special coin has been created for the highway project and costs $20.
“Daryl Harrison and Ken Hanel have been great helpers,’’ Twiford said. “After I read about the project I decided that we should get it going here. I talked to Bob Maxwell first and now we have had 31 towns join the effort along Highway 20.”