During the summer, a petition was created to have a portion of Highway 19 to be named after a Montgomery County resident who was killed in the Vietnam War.

In November, 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.

Now, the VFW Post 4436 is looking to help get signs constructed in honor of three more fallen county soldiers – Richard Rutherford, Bryon Brown and Keo Keshner. Rutherford and Brown were from Wellsville and Keshner was from New Florence. The Rutherford Memorial sign has been approved by MoDOT and will be built outside of Wellsville on Highway 161.

“Everybody says, ‘We’re glad you’re doing it.’ I consider it an honor,” said Paul Johnson, who is a VFW member. “I served in Vietnam myself and I was lucky enough to come home and I didn’t get injured.”

Overkamp 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.

During a meeting with VFW Post 4436 members at Sugar and Spice Laura’s Delights on July 30, three Vietnam veterans – Richard Penn of Middletown, Ron Overkamp of Hermann and Wayne Watson of Brighton, Ill. – talked about getting 100 people to sign a petition to have the highway named after Norbert Overkamp, Jr.

“When Wayne Watson got the one started for Norbert Overkamp, it just happened to be during the Old Settlers weekend,” Johnson said. “I’m from New Florence. Either half of the people out in the area are either related to him or knew who he was. I got all kinds of signatures.”

Johnson said Mindy Grapes-Bess, who works at the Highway Safety and Traffic division of MoDOT, was helpful in starting the process of getting the Norbert Overkamp, Jr. Memorial Highway sign built.

“You pick out a two-mile section and then you call (Grapes-Bess) and she gets on her map and she looks for curves and hills, making sure there aren’t any safety issues,” Johnson said. “She doesn’t put it right in front of somebody’s yard. She takes the bull by the horn. She would call back and say, ‘We’ll give you this section.’ Then I call the relatives and they say that it will be fantastic. It’s a good thing. It should have been done a long time ago, but it’s getting done now.”

The project was part of the MoDOT’s Memorial Designation Program, which allows individuals, organizations, places or events to be memorialized along the state’s roadway system. Grapes-Bess said there were 900 memorial signs built last year.

“For every memorial, each route designation receives a total of two signs and it is marked at the beginning and end of the designation,” Grapes-Bess said. “MoDOT is the one who determines the sign location.”

Grapes-Bess said that in order to get a memorial highway sign built, the person must get family approval.

“We have had this before where a comrade basically assisted and wanted to designate a roadway in honor of their buddy who he served with in the military,” Grapes-Bess said. “But the family was unaware of it and was heartbroken enough for them to lose their loved one and drive by and see the sign.”

On Dec. 4, Johnson was informed by Grapes-Bess via email that State Rep. Bruce Sassmann filed legislation to have memorial highways for Rutherford, Brown and Keshner. Rutherford, who was from Wellsville, was killed just a month shy of his 24th birthday on June 4, 1970. Brown, who was also from Wellsville, died in 1968. Keshner died in 1969.

A memorial sign for Overkamp will be built on the south end of Montgomery City at a later date.

“When both signs are up, MoDOT will take a picture of both signs and send them to the lady who is in charge,” Johnson said. “Then, they’ll let the families know that they can take a picture of them.”

Steven Bezold of McKittrick and William Colegate of Jonesburg were the other county residents who were killed in action during the Vietnam War.

“There are six names on the board at the Montgomery County Courthouse who died in Vietnam,” Johnson said. “I said let’s get them all while we can. So we got one half done, another one coming and two more. So I have two more to work on. But we’re going to try and do them all.”