MONTEREY, Tenn. – A bridge on Interstate 40 in north-central Tennessee has been named for a soldier who died in Afghanistan in 2007.
Family and friends gathered Friday to dedicate the bridge in Monterey to Sgt. Alex van Aalten. The Cookeville Herald Citizen reported that van Aalten, 21, April 20, 2007, from wounds suffered during a rescue mission of Dutch troops in Sangin, Afghanistan. He was serving with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The Army awarded van Aalten a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and was posthumously awarded the Netherlands’ Gold Medal of Merit of the Minister of Defense.
Tennessee lawmakers passed Senate Joint Resolution 335 designating the I-40 bridge that spans U.S. Highway 70N between Exit 300 and Exit 301 at Monterey for van Aalten.