Upper Bucks Bridge Named for Airman Killed in Vietnam War

The County of Bucks on Tuesday dedicated County-owned Bridge #241 in memory of U.S. Air Force Capt. Fred Rost Tice, a Bucks County airman who was killed in a plane crash during the Vietnam War.

Tice, 33, was aboard a C-130A Hercules cargo plane on Sept. 18, 1965, that crashed while attempting to land at Qui Nhon Airfield during a rainstorm.

One of four killed in the crash, Tice was nearing the end of his combat deployment and was set to become an instructor training other airmen.

"I am in awe that in 1965, when the rest of the country was not supporting what was going on in Vietnam, he found the strength to go over," said Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. "Now we are all intertwined with Capt. Tice, and I believe that we will all remember - people who cross the bridge forever - will always remember him."

The bridge named for Tice, a 1961 graduate of Hilltown High School, crosses Pleasant Spring Creek along Orchard Road in Hilltown Township. It is the thirteenth County-owned bridge since 2022 to be named for a local soldier lost in the Vietnam War.

The dedications are part of the County's Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge Program, which honors the 136 Bucks County residents lost in the Vietnam War. The County administers the program in partnership with Bucks County-based veterans' advocate Ed Preston, who chairs the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (PAVVMF).

View more photos from this event and others on the County's Flickr page.

To learn more about the program and the men it is meant to honor, visit BucksCounty.gov/MemorialBridges.

Media Contact: James O'Malley, 215-348-6414, [email protected]