In the final hours of the 2024 Legislative Session, Assembly bill #A.7956, sponsored by Assemblyman David DiPietro (R,C-East Aurora), was passed. The bill designates a portion of State Route 19 from Eddy Road in the Town of Gainesville as the “T Sgt. Walter W. Shearing Memorial Highway”. T Sgt. Walter W. Shearing served in World War II in General Patton’s 7th Army before paying the ultimate sacrifice in 1945 at the age of 27. For his service, T Sgt. Shearing received two Bronze Star Medals with one oak leaf cluster each, the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantry Badge.

“I am proud to help honor Walter Shearing, a local hero who enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor despite being eligible for a farm deferment. Walter served in Patton’s 7th Army, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in an effort to liberate Nazi-occupied France and was killed in action in 1945 at age 27. Although our debt to this brave American can never be repaid, we can ensure his legacy is remembered and appreciated in his hometown,” said DiPietro.