Portion of Route 64 to be named after Chief Warrant Officer Christian Koch

MENDON, N.Y. (WHEC)— A portion of the New York State highway system will be renamed in honor of one the National Guard soldiers killed in a helicopter crash earlier this year.

An area of Route 64 will be designated as the "Chief Warrant Officer 4 Christian J. Koch Memorial Highway."

Koch, and fellow guardsmen, Steven Skoda, and Daniel Prial were killed when their helicopter went down in a field in Mendon on Jan. 20. All three were honored with funeral services near their hometowns in the following week.

Koch lived near the highway soon to be named in his honor. He grew up in Livingston County and went to school in York. He was also a 2010 graduate of SUNY Brockport.

Koch served in the war in Afghanistan in 2012 and 2013 and the war in Iraq in 2008 and 2009. He joined the Army after 9/11.