{"id":44054,"date":"2026-08-11T16:56:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=44054"},"modified":"2026-08-11T16:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:56:17","slug":"ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>(ST. SEN. STEVE McCLURE ADDRESSES THE CROWD AS CITY COMMISSIONER LIBBY MOELLER LOOKS ON)<\/p>\n<p>Last-minute work led to a successful effort to get signage named on local roadways for two fallen soldiers from our area. That effort was celebrated in a ceremony at the Workman Sports and Wellness Complex Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>The signage celebrates Sgt. Timothy Sayne and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Christopher Donaldson, both Effingham County residents and both members of the US Army, both of whom were killed in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Effingham City Commissioner Libby Moeller and local resident Travis Traub started to work on the naming process. Moeller contacted the legislative aide for St. Senator Steve McClure, Matthew Kuhns, and Kuhns&#8217; effort, along with those by Sen. McClure and St. Reps. Blaine Wilhour and Adam Niemerg, beat the legislative deadline by a day!<\/p>\n<p>The measures passed out of both chambers unanimously which, these days, is a miracle according to the legislators.<\/p>\n<p>Wilhour said, &#8220;It&#8217;s been a long time coming on this.&#8221; He added of Donaldson and Sayne, &#8220;They knew what they were going into&#8221; when they began their combat duty, &#8220;but they went anyway.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Sayne and Donaldson families were in attendance for the ceremony and Evie Sayne sang the National Anthem for the occasion.<\/p>\n<p>Not only are the signs in memory of the two soldiers displayed on the overpasses, but McClure and the other legislators presented additional copies of the signs, produced by IDOT, to the families of the fallen soldiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(ST. SEN. STEVE McCLURE ADDRESSES THE CROWD AS CITY COMMISSIONER LIBBY MOELLER LOOKS ON) Last-minute work led to a successful effort to get signage named on local roadways for two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":44055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-11T21:56:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\\\/Memorial Overpasses\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-11T21:56:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":256,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\\\/Memorial Overpasses - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-11T21:56:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\\\/Memorial Overpasses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-08-11T21:56:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses","datePublished":"2026-08-11T21:56:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/"},"wordCount":256,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/","name":"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-11T21:56:17+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mcclure-and-moeller-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44054-ceremony-held-to-honor-fallen-soldiers-donaldson-and-sayne-w-memorial-overpasses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ceremony Held to Honor Fallen Soldiers Donaldson and Sayne w\/Memorial Overpasses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44056,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44054\/revisions\/44056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}