Part of SH 21 named after Gary Job Corps graduate and veteran killed in combat

A portion of SH 21 will soon be dedicated as Private First Class Kristian Menchaca Memorial Highway.

Menchaca, originally from Brownsville, entered the service from Gary Job Corps Center, where he earned a GED and completed the security officer program. He was killed following an insurgent attack south of Baghdad, Iraq, on June 16, 2006, and was the first person from Hays County to be killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I really appreciate what you have done,” Randolph Goodman, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War who was Gary’s business liaison at the time of Menchaca’s death, told the Hays County Commissioners Court following their vote.