Portion of road to be named after fallen Marine

A month after the Nelson County Board of Supervisors adopted policies for naming county-owned public facilities and state-maintained roads, highways and bridges, they approved the first such request –– to name a half-mile portion of Virginia 151 after a Nelson County Marine who died in Iraq.

Robert and Sybil Martino, of Nellysford, submitted the request to name a portion of Va. 151 near Monacan Drive after their son, Maj. Michael Martino. The supervisors approved the request at their Nov. 10 meeting.

Martino was killed in November 2005 when the helicopter he was flying was shot down by surface-to-air missiles near Ar Ramadi, Iraq. He received a Purple Heart and an Air Medal for Valor and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a letter from his parents to the supervisors stated.

Central District Supervisor Connie Brennan said Martino considered Nelson County his home and was registered to vote here.

“I think this is a small tribute to our men and women fighting overseas,” West District Supervisor Thomas Bruguiere said.

East District Supervisor Allen Hale said he would like to see a section of highway dedicated to all who lost their lives fighting for the United States in war rather than a single individual.

The Martinos said they wanted to thank Brennan and the Board of Supervisors for approving the resolution.

“I think it means a lot as a mother of a fallen solider,” Sybil Martino said. “One of the things that mean the most to us is that people don’t forget.”

Martino was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1996 after graduating from the University of California. He then went on to fly helicopters and was first deployed to Iraq in September 2004 and received the Combat Action Ribbon and the Bronze Star with Valor.

“Your son was the very definition of selfless,” his superior officer wrote in a letter to his parents two days after Martino was killed. “He understood the concept of being a member of a team.

“Mike was a warrior.”