Wenatchee veteran spearheads U.S. 97 naming campaign in Douglas County

BRIDGEPORT – A Douglas County veteran has picked up the gauntlet of a dual-state campaign to have the Washington portion of U.S. Highway 97 named World War II Veterans Memorial Highway. Dave Schwab, 75, a former commander of Wenatchee Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3617, and member of American Legion Post 10 brought his support to name Highway 97 within the boundaries of Douglas County for WWII vets to the Bridgeport city council last August.
Schwab, a Vietnam-era veteran is also a member of the Douglas County Veterans Advisory Board and has been a Wenatchee resident for 44 years.
“I am interested in soliciting community support so the portion of Highway 97 within the boundaries of Douglas County would have signage recognizing the Veterans of World War II for their sacrifice and service to our nation,” Schwab told the council. “Signs would be posted at the Odebasian interchange where Highway 97 goes north, at Beebe Bridge traveling south on Highway 97 and at the intersection of Highway 2 at Orondo, with signs at the intersection.”
U.S. 97 is a 663-mile north-south highway that starts in Weed, California, and ends at in Oroville, Washington, at the U.S.-Canada border, becoming British Columbia Highway 97 at Osoyoos, B.C.
The Highway 97-WWII campaign was initiated in Oregon the early 2000’s by the Bend Heroes Foundation, a Bend, OR non-profit group that worked with its state legislature to name several Oregon highways after U.S. war vets. Those include:
• U.S. 395 – WWI Veterans Memorial Highway.
• U.S. 97-State Route 126 – WWII Veterans Historic Highway.
• Interstate 5 – Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway & Purple Heart Trail.
• Interstate 84 – Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway.
• U.S. 101 – Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans Memorial Highway.
Oregon has 18 markers for WWII veterans along highways 84 and 97.
A group from Klickitat County that borders Oregon in south central Washington took up the campaign from milepost 0 where U.S. 97 begins at the state line to milepost 33.52 at the Klickitat/Yakima County line.
U.S. Army veteran John Miller, who served two Vietnam tours of duty during his more than 31 years of military service, spearheaded the Klickitat campaign. Miller sponsored a request to the Klickitat County Board of Commissioners which forwarded a formal request to the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) to name U.S. 97 from the Oregon border to the Yakima County line World War II Veterans Memorial Highway.
Miller next contacted other County Veterans Advisory Boards that have U.S. 97 within their boundaries to help continue the naming campaign. That is where Schwab entered the picture.
Schwab has a family history rich in military service. His father-in-law was a member of the First Special Service Force and a prisoner for 14 months in three Italian and three German POW camps. An uncle in the U.S. Army was captured on Corregidor and spent more than six months in 1942 as a POW in the Philippines. Another uncle survived the 1942 Bataan Death March. Two more were both Navy vets of WWII.
“How better can we both visually and permanently honor, in memory, all those who served in World War II,” said Miller, “and especially those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure a better future for our country and our citizens,”
And “honor in memory” is the case for the majority of estimated 217,840 Washington State veterans who served in WWII, 98 percent of whom are now deceased. Some additional statistics:
• 3,941Army/Air Force soldiers, 17 from Douglas County died in WWII.
• 1,505 Navy/Marines/Coast Guard, two from Douglas County died in WWII.
• 113 serving in the Merchant Marines perished in WWII.
• An estimated 8,200 Washington State veterans were wounded.
• 1,085 prisoners of war (POW’S) were from Washington State. 849 of those returned.
• 1,365 state veterans were Missing in Action (MIA). 1,337 remain unaccounted for. Remains of 28 MIA’s were recovered.
The above numbers come from the National Archives Research Administration (NARA), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
Schwab told The Quad that he hopes a veteran like himself will work on behalf of naming the remaining Okanogan County portion of Highway 97 to honor WWII vets.
A section of WSTC policy and procedure outlines the steps necessary for the non-legislative naming process. It reads:
To initiate the naming process without a legislative Joint Memorial being enacted, an interested party must contact the Commission to establish their interest in seeking a naming. The requesting party shall provide sufficient evidence to the Commission indicating community support and acceptance of the proposal. Evidence of support and acceptance may include things such as:
    •    Letters of support from state and federal legislators representing area of the facility.
    •    Resolutions passed by local, publicly elected bodies in the area of the facility;
    •    Department support;
    •    Supportive action by letter from local organizations such as local chambers of commerce or service clubs.
Douglas County residents may contact Schwab by email at david.schwab1946@charter.net to support his U.S. 97 naming campaign in the county.