Mother in Peoria watches bridge dedication honoring her son
Dedication coincides with her 100-year birthday celebration
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Posted 3/20/23
Nothing can bring her son back after losing him in the Vietnam War, but on Winnie Ortals’ 100th birthday, March 18, she watched her son being recognized for his service and sacrifice for his …
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Mother in Peoria watches bridge dedication honoring her son
Dedication coincides with her 100-year birthday celebration
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Nothing can bring her son back after losing him in the Vietnam War, but on Winnifred Ortals’ 100th birthday, March 18, she watched her son being recognized for his service and sacrifice for his country.
David John Ortals, a U.S. Marine Corps corporal who was killed in action during the Vietnam War was honored for his service with a bridge dedicted to his honor in Pennsylvania.
Bucks County dedicated county bridge No. 15 in David's name on March 18.
David, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967, served as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Mechanic with Headquarters 8 Maintenance Squadron 11, Marine Air Group 11, 1st Marine Air
Wing.
He died on May 22, 1970, in Da Nang, Vietnam.
The bridge was dedicated on the same day that David's mother, Winifred, turned 100 years old. She celebrated the dedication and her birthday with friends and family at her home at MorningStar Senior Living at Golden Ridge in Peoria.
She watched the ceremony via livestream, and a Marine Corps honor guard presented her with a flag flown over the United States Capitol.
The bridge is adjacent to the Levittown community in which David grew up.
The bridge is on Frosty Hollow Road in Levittown, between the Upper Orchard and Snowball Gate communities. David grew up in Upper Orchard and attended Bishop Egan High School before transferring to and graduating from Neshaminy High School. He was on the varsity basketball teams of both schools.
Winifred was born in Cornwall, England, arriving to the United States on the Queen Mary in 1946 with her American husband. Though they continued to travel extensively through their 36-year marriage, the Ortals settled in Levittown, Pennsylvania, raising four children: Marilyn, Larry, John
and David.
A school teacher and homemaker in middle age, Winifred now enjoys knitting, painting, reading, playing the slot machines and bingo.
The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund worked with Bucks County on the dedication of bridges in honor of Bucks County servicemen and women who died in the Vietnam War.
