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Section of I-680 named for Valley Vietnam War hero
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
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 in Wickliffe Circle to unveil and dedicate the sign erected along I-680 in Powell’s honor.
“The ceremony was beautiful. It is such an honor to have my brother honored so he won’t be forgotten,” Scoville said.
The section of the highway renamed in “Doc” Powell’s honor starts at the intersection of state Route 711 extending northwest to the intersection with state Route 11 in Mahoning County.
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd, said the process of renaming the highway began with a phone call from one of Powell’s classmates at Chaney High School, Bob Cruickshank, who suggested the honor. Schiavoni introduced the amendment to House Bill 27 enabling the renaming.
“We had an outpouring response from constituents, classmates and area veterans regarding “Doc” Powell’s heroic service to our country,” Schiavoni said.
“Doc” Powell, a 1965 Chaney graduate, received the Navy Cross for valor in combat for his actions on Hill 55, while serving as a corpsman with Co. “L,” 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He was recently inducted into the Ohio Hall of Fame for Valor.
Navy hospitalmen serving with Marine units are called corpsmen and referred to as “Doc.”
According to his Navy Cross citation, read by former state senator Harry Meshel, Powell’s unit maneuvered across a large field in an attack on the enemy’s flank when the Marines came under heavy automatic weapons fire from three sides and sustained numerous casualties.
“With complete disregard for his own safety,” the citation said, Hospitalman Powell, even after being wounded in the left arm, continue to render life-sustaining first aid to his fallen comrades.”
Two men who witnessed and testified to Powell’s bravery were George Adams of Cortland, who was a squad leader with Lima Co. 2nd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, and Byron Weber, Powell’s platoon commander.
“I tried to stop him from putting his life in harm’s way, as did other marines. I told him he was too valuable and we would bring the wounded to him” Adams said.
But he continued to take care of people while under fire. In the last minutes of his life, his objective was to save lives, and he did not care about his own.
“He did his job and did it well. He was highly respected by us marines,” Adams said.
Weber, who was with Powell at the time of his death, said in a letter that the “corpsman was a man whose bravery under fire leaves us all of in awe.”
“I loved Corpsman Powell. He was quiet but carried a permanent smile on his boyish face. The model he left for us all should be revisited and retained,” Weber wrote.
“This is the culmination of my brother’s legacy. He will now be remembered for all time as a great local hero. Our parents would be so proud,” his sister said.