Feb. 23—SIDMAN, Pa. — Only once did Vance Stephan Keslar tell his grandson, Vance “Chip” Keslar, about his experiences surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor.

And that only occurred because the younger Keslar wanted some information for a school project.

“He recounted to me on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, he was returning to base,” Vance “Chip” Keslar said. “As he returned to base and was making his way back to the barracks, the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. He would gather a group of men. They would go to the armory and try to acquire weapons to go and defend the airstrip that was beside the Schofield Barracks.”

But even though Vance Stephan Keslar, a Beaverdale resident who joined the Army at 17, did not talk much about the event that drew the United States into World War II, it was obviously an important moment in his life. He earned a Bronze Star for his service on that day.

And, on Friday, he received another honor — this one posthumously — when a span that carries state Route 869 over a Little Conemaugh River tributary in Adams Township was officially named the Sergeant Vance Stephan Keslar Memorial Bridge, an act supported by state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Richland Township. A dedication, held at St. Michael’s Sportsman Club, included speeches, military ceremonies and the unveiling of a replica Pennsylvania Department of Transportation road sign on which his name was inadvertently misspelled.

Both Vance “Chip” Keslar and Vance Stephan Keslar’s daughter, Vanessa Baran, agreed he would not have wanted such a big deal made about his wartime contributions.

“He was an ordinary, decent man,” Baran said. “He did not think he was extraordinary. He would have been, as my nephew mentioned, extremely embarrassed and chagrined if he was here today. He wouldn’t have been here today. He didn’t like the spotlight. He was very, very reserved. He was very serious. But he had a good sense of humor.”

Baran recalled her father’s life outside of the military.

She described a man who “loved language,” including the works of Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe and the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” about the mental and physical affects felt by the protagonist, Paul Bäumer, a German soldier, when serving in World War I.

Baran said her father likely felt “a great kinship” to the character.

When in the military, Keslar needed surgery to remove almost all of his stomach, which left him in pain throughout his life that ended in 2003.

“When all this happened that my father’s being honored for, he was 19 years old,” Baran said. “He was a corporal. He was promoted to sergeant. He was put in charge of a group of men. And he suffered the rest of his life for the things that he sacrificed for his country. That’s just the way it was. It wasn’t anything he ever acknowledged.”