Part of I-680 renamed for "Doc" Powell, local hero

AUSTINTOWn

The Navy’s Richard “Doc” Powell is a hero to the Marines he was taking care of when he lost his life on Hill 55, an area known as Dodge City, just south of Da Nang, Vietnam, on Aug. 29, 1968.

Now, with a section of Interstate 680 newly named the Richard “Doc” Powell Memorial Highway in honor of the local Navy Cross recipient, when people drive down the highway, “those who knew him will say: ‘Yes, he was a hero.’ And those who didn’t know him will say: ‘He must have been someone special,’” said his sister, Pattie Powell Scoville of West Middlesex, Pa.

Scoville, along with Powell’s aunt, Rosemary Berger of Youngstown, were among some 100 veterans, classmates and friends who attended the ceremony Friday at the Veterans Memorial Park on Wickliffe Circle to unveil and dedicate the sign erected along I-680 in Powell’s honor.

Read more about this Valley hero in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.