Portion of Latta Road to be dedicated to Sgt. Gary Beikirch

GREECE, N.Y. — A local war hero will be remembered Tuesday at a highway dedication in Greece.

Latta Road, between Long Pond Road and Route 390, will be known as Sgt. Gary Beikirch Memorial Highway.

Beikirch won the Medal of Honor for his heroics as a combat medic who rescued and treated the wounded during the Vietnam War. The Greece native ran through gunfire and got hit by shrapnel while rescuing wounded soldiers during an attack on Dak Seang Camp in 1970. As Beikirch was carrying a wounded soldier for medical help, he heard an incoming rocket and threw himself on top of the soldier to save him.

A sign will be unveiled at Tuesday’s ceremony, which begins at 6 p.m. at First Bible Baptist Church, The Cove, 990 Manitou Road.

Beikirch died of pancreatic cancer in December 2021 at the age of 74. News10NBC spoke with Beikirch’s friends and family at his memorial service.