Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill on Tuesday designating a segment of U.S. Hwy 287 in Midlothian as the “Chris Kyle Memorial Highway.” Chris Kyle was a Navy SEAL and author of the New York Times bestseller American Sniper.
Kyle is reported to have achieved 150 kills as a Navy SEAL sniper, the most of any sniper in U.S. military history.
Midlothian is 25 miles southwest of Dallas, Texas.
After the ceremony, Governor Abbott tweeted from his personal Twitter account, “Today I signed a law dedicating part of Hwy. 287 in Midlothian as #ChrisKyle Memorial Hwy. We honor our military heroes.”
Representative John Wray (R-Waxahachie) and Senator Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) attended the ceremonial bill signing, held at the heliport of the Dallas Convention Center. Representative Wray was the author of the bill in the House, while Senator Birdwell served as the sponsor in the Texas Senate.
On February 2, 2013, Kyle was shot at point-blank range and killed at a Texas gun range. His friend, Chad Littlefield, was also shot and killed.
The veteran who shot them, Eddie Ray Routh, was found guilty of capital murder in February of this year. Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the gun range because Routh’s mother asked Kyle to help her son, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Thousands attended Kyle’s memorial service held in Dallas at Cowboys Stadium. The crowd was estimated to have been between 6,500 and 7,000 attendees.
SEAL Team 3 Chief Chris Kyle served four combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and elsewhere.
Following his combat deployments, he became chief instructor for training Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams, and he authored the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine, the first Navy SEAL sniper manual.
Kyle was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation.
He also received the Grateful Nation Award, given by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
Earlier this year, Governor Greg Abbott declared it Chris Kyle Day in Texas on February 2, 2015.
Other authors of House Bill 1187 were Texas State House Representatives Kenneth Sheets (R-Dallas), Rick Miller (R-Sugarland), and Wayne Smith (R-Baytown).
There were 46 state representatives who co-authored the House bill.
Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) served as cosponsor in the Texas Senate.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.