LIBBY, Mont. – On January 16, 2025, the first bill of the 69th session of the Montana
Legislature, Senate Bill 59, was signed into law by Governor Gianforte in the State
Capitol Building in Helena, Montana. Senate Bill 59 was introduced by Senator Mike
Cuffe, the representative of Lincoln County.
Senate Bill 59 declared, and was made into law, that the bridge spanning the Kootenai
River on Highway 37 in Libby be named and dedicated to honor Staff Sergeant Arthur J
Rambo, a Libby native who was killed in Vietnam on Thanksgiving Day 1969. Staff
Sergeant Rambo was returned home and buried the day before his 25th birthday.
Staff Sergeant Rambo was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, a
Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Presidential Citation for his actions in the mortar
attack that his unit came under that day. Besides his immediate family, extended family
and many friends, he left behind his wife Helen Ryan Rambo and his two daughters
Kerry and Amy, both under the age of two when their father was killed in action.
The bridge will be formally dedicated during a ceremony that is being held on Sunday,
May 25th, at 1:00 p.m., the day before Memorial Day. It will take place in Libby,
Montana at Riverfront Park. The Memorial plaque will be installed in view of the bridge.
The public, near and far, is invited to join in for the dedication ceremony. The Rambo
family extends a special invitation to the students who have been awarded the Arthur J
Rambo Memorial Scholarship over the past 56 years.
For more information, please contact Patty Rambo at (406) 293-4306.
Jim Atkins