SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — A bridge dedication was held Friday afternoon for a local veteran who was killed in action during World War II.

Seaman 1st Class Raymond Kozik, of Cairnbrook, was aboard the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945, when torpedoes from a Japanese submarine struck and sank the ship, distress calls going unanswered for four days, killing about 900 people. men.

Unbeknownst to the crew, the ship was carrying parts of an atomic bomb when it sank.

Kozik died just one day before the remaining people were to be rescued.

Family and friends gathered at the ceremony to share stories from his life and honor his memory.

“All those men who died, there were no bodies, no burials, they didn’t know if they went down with the ship or if the sharks took them, or dehydration,” says Sandy Wojcik, president of Shade-Central City Historical. Society and Museum.

“He never came home, he was lost at sea, so this dedication brings back his memory,” says Kozik’s cousin, Maggie Ference.

The bridge is located on McGregor Avenue over Dark Shade Creek in Cairnbrook.