ANDRADE

BRISTOL — More than three years have passed since 28-year-old Michael Andrade was killed in Iraq.

He hasn’t been forgotten in his hometown.

On Friday, the latest memorial to Bristol’s only casualty of the Iraq war was dedicated. A service road that cuts behind the new Walgreen’s pharmacy at Gooding and Metacom avenues has been named Michael Andrade Way.

Town officials were joined at a brief ceremony to unveil the street sign by members of Andrade’s family, his former colleagues in the Rhode Island National Guard’s 115th Military Police Company and members of Bristol’s volunteer Fire Department with whom he’d served.

Town Councilman David Barboza directed the ceremony.

“There is an old Haitian saying that says, ‘God gives, but he doesn’t share,’ ” he told those in attendance. “Simply put, it means that it is up to us to share what we have.”

“Michael Andrade, son, brother, husband, firefighter and soldier exemplified this to the fullest, ultimately giving his life in service to his country, and for that we will never forget. He will always remain in our hearts and in our minds.”

Specialist Andrade was one of the first Rhode Island National Guardsmen killed in Iraq. On Sept. 24, 2003, a Humvee he was riding in collided with a 5,000-gallon fuel truck on a road north of Baghdad during a thick dust storm. He had been in Iraq for less than five months.

A Bristol native, he grew up in a Portuguese family on Shaws Lane and graduated from Mt. Hope High School in 1995. He was known around town as “Flea” because of his small stature. He left behind a wife and stepson, his parents, a sister and two brothers.

Shortly after his death, Roger Williams University established a four-year scholarship in his honor. And in 2004, a small stone memorial for Andrade was placed at High and Church streets, in front of the Dreadnaught Fire Station, where he volunteered.

Last year, then-council chairman Richard Ruggiero approached Philip Martelly, the owner of the Walgreen’s property, about creating a more visible way of remembering Andrade.

Ruggiero asked Martelly about naming the short road that runs north to the Stop & Shop plaza in Andrade’s honor. Martelly readily agreed.

“I told him it might be nice to dedicate that street in Michael’s name because he made the ultimate sacrifice,” Ruggiero said. “I thought it would be a good tribute for his family.”

akuffner@projo.com