Town to rename road for soldier killed in Iraq helicopter crash
Technical Sgt. Dashan J. Briggs of Port Jefferson Station was among the New York Air National Guardsmen who died in a helicopter crash in Iraq on March 15. Credit: New York Air National Guard
Riverhead plans to rename a roadway this month to honor a town native and member of the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing who died in a March helicopter crash in Iraq.
The Riverhead Town Board voted 5-0 at its May 1 meeting to designate Lewis Street as “Dashan J. Briggs Way.”
Briggs, 30, graduated from Riverhead High School in 2007 and was a tech sergeant in the Westhampton Beach-based National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing. He was one of seven military personnel who died in the March 15 crash of an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter in western Iraq near the Syrian border.
Riverhead Town Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said the town had received requests from several of Briggs’ friends, including former high school companions and mentors, to honor his service and sacrifice. After several ideas were discussed, the board agreed to designate Lewis Street after Briggs as an “appropriate way to honor his service,” Jens-Smith said.
The town is to hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. May 26 at Lewis Street, when the name change will be made official
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