MADISON COUNTY, Alabama -- The brown highway signs might have missed your eyes the first time or two you passed them since they went up a couple months ago on Alabama 53.

Alabama 53 from Research Park Boulevard to Ardmore is now called the Paul Luther Bolden Memorial Highway. (Paul Huggins/phuggins@al.com)

But if you noticed the Paul Luther Bolden Memorial Highway and wondered what he did to deserve a highway named for him, you need to travel back to World War II. He was the most decorated soldier from Madison County to survive the massive conflict.

President Harry Truman awarded Bolden the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, for his bravery in the Battle of the Bulge as a Sergeant in Company E of the 120th Infantry. Bolden single handedly killed 35 German SS troopers while commanding an American fighting unit.

The man who pushed to get the memorial highway designation, Charles Keathley, said Bolden's sacrifice played a valuable role in the history of freedom, and he's thankful the memorial will mean Bolden won't be forgotten.

"If it weren't for people like him, we wouldn't be living in the country where we're free today. If Hitler had had his way, we would be living under a dictatorship," he said.

Bolden was wounded in the shoulder, chest and stomach in the middle of his attack on the German strongpoint, but summoned his remaining strength to continue his attack until running out of ammunition.

President Harry Truman pinning the Medal of Honor on Paul Bolden. (Contributed by Veterans Memorial Museum.

Click here the read the full description from Bolden's Medal of Honor citation.



In addition to the Medal of Honor, Bolden received the Silver Star and Bronze Star with three oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, Good Conduct Medal with two loops, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze service stars, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal (Germany), Combat Infantryman Badge, Belgium Croix De Guerre with palm.

Bolden got to return to the White House in 1963 to meet President John F. Kennedy, who invited Bolden and his wife, Violet, to Washington for an event honoring all living Medal of Honor winners.

Keathley recalled that Bolden didn't earn enough money from his job with procurement packaging at Redstone Arsenal to make the trip to Washington. However, the owners of Bill's Men's Wear, Hilding Homberg and P.S. Dunnavant, quietly took care of all Bolden's traveling expenses so he and Violet could make the trip, he said.

Bolden's name is also commemorated in Veteran's Memorial Park in downtown Madison and in Madison County Courthouse's Hall of Heroes. The military building at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville also bears his name.

On May 18, the highway signs were unveiled dedicating an 18-mile stretch of Alabama 53 south of Ardmore as the Paul Luther Bolden Memorial Highway. Bolden, who was born on Hobbs Island, died from brain cancer in 1979 at age 57. He had lived on a farm near Ardmore and traveled that portion of the highway daily.

Charles and Doris Keathley, Randy Withrow, State Sen. Paul Sanford and Bolden's daughter, Jean and her husband, Terry Demonbreun, during the May 18 unveiling of the sign dedicating Highway 53, Ardmore Highway as the Paul Luther Bolden Memorial Highway. (Courtesy photo)

Randy Withrow, director of the Veterans' Memorial Museum, approached Sen. Paul Sanford with the idea for the dedication, which was then made possible by legislative action initiated by Sanford.

Keathley knew Bolden from working in the same of the same buildings with him on Redstone Arsenal, Buildings 5678 and 4722.

Though Bolden truly epitomized war hero, he said his friend was a quiet man in general, and talked even less about his experiences in the war.

Bolden wouldn't have liked the attention of having a highway named for him, Keathley added, but the history of freedom's sacrifices must be kept alive.