Weathersfield Trustee Rich Harkins, right, presents a proclamation to Cheryl Johnston Pallante of Austintown and other relatives of Dennis Neil Johnston, a McDonald native who was honored Sunday at Memorial Day services in McDonald. Johnston had a section of McDonald Avenue, which runs through both McDonald and Weathersfield, dedicated as the “Dennis Neil Johnston Memorial Boulevard.” Staff photo / Bob Coupland

McDONALD — Officials from McDonald and Weathersfield came together Sunday to remember a local U.S. Navy veteran who gave his life serving his country during the Vietnam War.

The village’s early Memorial Day service on Sunday at the war memorial in Woodland Park included the official dedication of a section of McDonald Avenue that travels through both communities as the “Dennis Neil Johnston Memorial Boulevard.”

Raymond Bishop of Niles, who grew up in McDonald and knew Johnston as a child before Johnston left for Vietnam, spearheaded the idea to get the road named in his memory.

“Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, I go to the cemetery in Niles, and I always visit his grave,” Bishop said.

Bishop said he was visiting Johnston’s grave in Niles City Cemetery when he met Cheryl Johnston Pallante of Austintown, a sister of Johnston, and told her he wanted to do something for people to remember Johnston and his service to the country.

“I got with the Disabled American Veterans in Warren and they funded the signage program. We pitched the idea to Weathersfield and the village, and that’s why we’re here today,” Bishop said.

Two signs were posted Sunday at each end of the section of McDonald Avenue between Ohltown McDonald Road at West Second Street south to Watson Marshall Road.

Bishop said the new generation of village residents will now know who Dennis Johnston was and what he did for his country.

“This is humbling. I’m so honored to be his sister. I knew how many people loved him and what a great guy he was,” Pallante said, indicating it is important to remember all the men and women who have given their lives for freedom.

Johnston, who served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy, was killed in action April 16, 1968. He graduated from McDonald High School in 1966.

Pallante was the younger sister of Johnston and said walking along McDonald Avenue brings back memories of the siblings walking to school and home off Owsley Road.

“It is so important that we do not let his sacrifice be forgotten, or any veteran’s sacrifice,” Bishop said.

He said many of the young men serving in the war were young and just out of high school.

“They believed that death for them was a long way off. Vietnam quickly taught them otherwise. The inevitability of death was forced upon them,” Bishop said.

Bishop said Johnston had wanted to get trained to be an X-ray technician to help people.

Proclamations from both the village and township and an American flag from U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, were presented to Johnston’s relatives.

During the memorial service, flags were placed at the war memorial to remember veterans who lost their lives serving their country.

Retired Pastor James Walker said Memorial Day is a time to come together and show respect for those killed.

“We honor those who gave the full measure of their lives so we have the freedoms today that too easily are taken for granted,” he said.