Posted on 08/18/2015 4:37:58 PM PDT by rey
A one-mile elevated section of the bypass under construction on Highway 101 in Mendocino County is to carry the name of a Willits serviceman who died four years ago while in Afghanistan.
U.S. Navy SEAL Jesse Pittman, 27, of Willits, was killed when the helicopter he was in was shot down by Taliban insurgents over the Wardack province Aug. 6, 2011. Thirty U.S. servicemen died in the attack.
A retired high school librarian who knew him, Mikela Cameron, and Pittman’s uncle, Mike Pittman, initiated the effort to immortalize his name on a bridge. The cause gained the support of Caltrans and county officials and Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, who authored the resolution that made the name change for the Willits bypass effective last week.
“Jesse Pittman made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Naming this bridge in his memory will remind us of his life and his service, we are forever grateful,” Wood said. cut “He didn’t have to be there,” Navy Commander Michael McAbee, the commanding officer of Pittman’s SEAL team, noted in a letter in support of the bypass resolution. “But he wanted to continue to serve in combat and take the fight to the enemy. That’s who he was and that’s why he should be honored publicly and permanently through this highway project,” McAbee wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at pressdemocrat.com ...
I believe this is the Extortion 17 incident. We still don’t know the truth about that.
What is the Extortion 17 incident?
I take it Willis is quite unlike the majority of California, as they will honor one of their own who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Code name for an operation to rescue the seal team that included Marcus Lutrell, of Lone Survivor fame. Almost the entire Seal Team 6 was killed when a Chinook carrrying them was shot down. There are many questions surrounding the episode.
Actually, much of Willits is completely the opposite.
Obviously, there are some very good people as those who initiated this action and got the by-pass named after him. There are are others who spend all their time trying to obstruct. Activists were able to get the largest employer in Willits, Remco Hydraulics, to shut their doors over alleged environmental harm. There are tree sitters who wasted large resources suing and tree sitting trying to block this by pass.
My general impression of Willits is years ago it was a cowboy/logger town now it is old hippies, environmentalists, and drug growers/manufacturers. If you go there, stay on the main roads.
I’ve been through there a million times, I got the impression that 101 going through town was good for the local economy. I’ve been away for about 15 years, though. Sounds like it’s changed.
I know his aunt and also the uncle they mention in the article. Met his dad at his cousin’s wedding to a good buddy of mine. The aunt I know came from Willits and they have a bunch of family down there. They were there before the change you’re talking about. The ones I know were loggers.
You know less about California than you think.
PS The town is Willits.
The Waldo tunnel should bear his name instead of Robin Williams.
Dittos to that...
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