VA Community Living Center honors fallen GI
BUTLER TWP — The naming ceremony for the Sgt. Joseph George Kusick VA Community Living Center was held Monday.
Among speakers at the VA Butler Healthcare event was U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd.
Kusick was a Vietnam War soldier from Bruin. He died on Nov. 8, 1967, while serving as a radio operator with an Army Green Beret special forces reconnaissance team in Laos. The team came under attack and Kusick was wounded in the ambush, but refused to evacuate and directed helicopter landings to evacuate other soldiers. Kusick managed to board the final helicopter, but was killed when it was shot down by Viet Cong forces.
A memorial shadow box honoring Kusick, who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for personal valor in combat, will be displayed at the center. The shadow box was donated by a military veterans advocacy group.
