Schuylkill County on Friday honored two of its own, fine young soldiers who died in battle more than four decades and almost 3,000 miles apart.

Officials unveiled signs in Orwigsburg naming a portion of Route 61 as the Capt. Jason B. Jones Memorial highway, and a portion of Route 443 as the Cpl. David F. Heiser Memorial Highway.Jones, the son of Jay Jones of Pottsville and Suzy Jones of Orwigsburg, died in a small-arms fight on June 2, 2014 near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. A Green Beret, he was 29 years old.Heiser, 22, a 1965 Blue Mountain High School graduate, was killed when his platoon was ambushed in Binh Duong Vietnam on Feb. 2, 1969. He had been in Vietnam less than four months when he was killed. The ceremony was held just one month after Heiser, a medical corpsman who was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with Valor, would have turned 68.Heiser's sign was unveiled at 1 p.m.; Jones' at 2 p.m."We've all heard the saying, freedom isn't free. That saying takes on a whole new meaning when we're reminded that not only is freedom not free, but even more than that, the cost is not one that can be paid with money," said state Rep. Jerry Knowles."It was a true honor to work with Jason's family to make this dedication happen today," he said. "His service to our country will forever be remembered."Jones, a 2003 Blue Mountain honors graduate, majored in nuclear engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and graduated sixth in the Class of 2007.Known for his modesty, Jones was awarded a Bronze Star, the medal that marks heroic or meritorious achievement, for his service in Iraq. His mother said at his memorial service that he had never mentioned it; he never pinned the medal, the fourth highest the military awards, to his dress uniform.Knowles, R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill, introduced the legislation to dedicate the highways to the two Orwigsburg natives who were killed in the line of duty while defending their country.Included in the ceremony were state Rep. Neal P. Goodman, D-Schuylkill; Christine Verdier, chief of staff for Sen. David G. Argall; Schuylkill County Commissioners Frank J. Staudenmeier, George F. Halcovage Jr., and Gary J. Hess; Bob Carl, executive director of the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce; borough Mayor Barry Berger; borough veterans, Orwigsburg Borough Manager Robert Williams, and the Jones and Heiser families.