The Missouri Department of Transportation recently built four more highway signs to honor Montgomery County residents who were killed in action in the Vietnam War.

The residents were Bryon Brown, Richard Rutherford, Keo Keshner and Steven Bezold. The Rutherford highway sign is located on Highway 161, just miles south of Middletown. The Keshner sign was built on Highway F, about two miles south of Bellflower. The Brown sign was constructed on Highway A, which is about a mile west of Middletown. The Bezold sign was put up on Highway 19, near Loutre Shore Golf Club in Hermann.

There are now five highway signs in the county that are named after residents who died in Vietnam. In November 2024, the Sgt. Norbert Overkamp, Jr. Memorial Highway sign was constructed on the north end of Montgomery City. It is placed near the intersection of Highway 19 and Highway B. There is another Overkamp sign on Kimmich Road, which is located south of Montgomery County High School.

The Overkamp signs were named after the resident who went to Vietnam on Sept. 9, 1966 and was 22 years old when he was killed on Aug. 24, 1967, becoming the first county casualty in the Vietnam War. He would have returned to the United States in September 1967.

Paul Johnson,  a member of the VFW Post 4436, worked for several months to help get signs constructed in honor of Rutherford, Keshner, Brown and Bezold. 

“As far as we know, everybody in Montgomery County who gave their lives in Vietnam has a memorial,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the new signs were put up probably around Dec. 8. The signs were part of the MoDOT’s Memorial Designation Program, which allows individuals, organizations, places or events to be memorialized along the state’s roadway system. 

“MoDOT, specifically the lady who runs that program, told me that they didn’t let you know when they were putting them up because they didn’t want anybody around for safety reasons, talking with them and slowing them down,” Johnson said. “She was always going to let me know when they were all up.”

In the summer of 2024, Wayne Watson of Brighton, Ill., Ron Overkamp of Hermann and Richard Penn of Middletown (who passed away on Dec. 24, 2024) started a petition to have 100 people sign to have Highway 19 named after Overkamp. 

Johnson said the construction of the Overkamp highway sign inspired him to work on highway signs of the other fallen soldiers from the county. 

“I’m glad Wayne Watson contacted me about Norville Overkamp,” Johnson said. “Well, I’ll just get off of my butt and get something done for the rest of them.”

Brown, who was from Wellsville, died on Feb. 9, 1968 at age 20. He was a Private First Class for the Marine Corps.

Keshner, who was from New Florence, died on June 8, 1969 at age 21. He died from injuries from a grenade that exploded on him. A graduate from MCHS, Keshner attended Chaminade College in Hawaii before entering the Marine Corps. He was named after a Hawaiian swimmer who visited the Keshners with a boys swimming team. Keshner once practiced with the U.S. Olympic swimming team in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964.

Rutherford died a month shy of his 24th birthday on June 4, 1970. He was a 1964 Wellsville-Middletown graduate. He later graduated from Northeast Missouri State College (now Truman State University) in Kirksville. He was engaged to a New Hartford woman while he was in Vietnam.

Bezold, who was from McKittrick, was a pilot. Johnson said his body was never found, which was why his highway sign was designated POW-MIA. 

Johnson said he also worked on having a highway sign named after William Colegate of Jonesburg, but he found out that Colegate moved to Illinois after graduating from high school and became a resident of that state when he enlisted. So there will be no highway sign named after him in Missouri.