For Immediate Release
July 15, 2021
Contact: Angel Matson
Public Information Coordinator
(207) 992-4268
angel.matson@bangormaine.gov
City officials to rededicate Willard C. Orr Pedestrian Bridge
BANGOR, MAINE- The City of Bangor will hold a short ceremony and ribbon cutting to officially rededicate the newly constructed Willard C. Orr Pedestrian Bridge on Tuesday, July 20th.
The event will begin at 11am.
Please access the bridge from the Exchange Street side as the walkway leading to the bridge runs adjacent to Camden National Bank.
Historical background:
PFC “Carleton” Orr (as he was known to family) was the only City resident who was killed during the December 7, 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor. He was 21 years old. Orr was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. He is considered “Missing in Action” and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Orr, the fourth of six children born to George Willard Orr and Eva Helen Fitz, graduated with honors from Bangor High School in 1939. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in December 1940, and following basic training was assigned to Mitchel Field, Long Island. In March of 1941, PFC Orr was transferred to Hickam Field in Hawaii where he served as one of the head cooks.
The pedestrian bridge spans the Kenduskeag Stream between Pickering Square and Exchange Street and was originally built around 1980. The new bridge was put in place earlier this summer, and remains a tribute to the life and sacrifice of the young Bangor serviceman.
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The City of Bangor, Maine is a service center community of 33,039 residents and is the county seat of Penobscot County. Bangor is the major commercial and cultural center for much of northern and eastern Maine. The City is an Equal Opportunity Employer and service provider. For more information on City projects and news, see bangormaine.gov.