House votes to honor soldiers’ sacrifice with highway designations

House lawmakers voted Tuesday to rename two stretches of Minnesota highway after fallen soldiers.

HF326, passed on a unanimous 134-0 vote, would rename a segment of state Highway 23 in Paynesville the “Medal of Honor Recipient Kenneth L. Olson Highway,” after a Paynesville native who was killed in action in 1968 while fighting in Vietnam.

Olson gave up his life to protect those of his fellow soldiers and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Under the bill, the Department of Transportation would be required to develop signage and all funding would have to come from non-state sources.

“I believe dedicating this section of Highway 23 is the least we can do to recognize Ken Olson for his sacrifice,” said Rep. Jeff Howe (R-Rockville), the bill’s sponsor. It now heads to the Senate, where Senate President Michelle Fischbach is the sponsor.

Rep. Anna Wills (R-Rosemount) sponsors HF745, a bill that also passed by a 134-0 vote and would designate a bridge over U.S. Highway 52 in the city of Coates the “Corporal Benjamin S. Kopp Bridge.”

The designation would honor Kopp, an Army Ranger from Coates who died from wounds suffered in battle in Afghanistan in July 2009 at the age of 21.

It’s important, Wills said, “just to remember the sacrifice that Ben made and that he was such an instrumental part in our community.”

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Greg Clausen (DFL-Apple Valley) is the sponsor.

Both bills were included in the omnibus transportation finance agreement struck last week by House and Senate conference committee negotiators.