MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- A Georgia community has renamed one of its streets for a hometown hero -- a National Guard soldier who was killed two years ago in Afghanistan.

Family and friends of Staff Sgt. Alex French gathered Friday for a ceremony to dedicate Alex French Drive. It's the street where the citizen-soldier grew up in a neighborhood on the outskirts of
Milledgeville.

The Telegraph newspaper of Macon reports (http://bit.ly/wOvjRv ) that French was 31 years old when he was killed by a roadside bomb
in Afghanistan. He had deployed overseas with the 48th Infantry
Brigade of the Georgia National Guard.

David Neal, who served with French in Afghanistan, said he was
glad to see the community do something to memorialize his friend
forever.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)