Post office dedicated to soldier killed in Vietnam

Spencer Byrd Powers Jr.

By Monica Land

CARY – More than 40 years after his death, a Mississippi soldier has received a special honor in his hometown in Sharkey County. The ultimate sacrifice of Spencer Byrd Powers Jr. will live on forever as state officials renamed the local post office in his memory in March.

Powers was serving as an Army second lieutenant when he was killed in action in Quang Nam Province in South Vietnam in February 1968.

Powers was just four days shy of his 23rd birthday.

Congressman Bennie G. Thompson introduced legislation, H.R. 5728 during the 111th Congress, to officially designate the post office at 95 Dogwood Street in Cary the `Spencer Byrd Powers, Jr. Post Office’.

Thompson and Army Brig. Gen. Augustus Collins were both scheduled to speak at the dedication ceremony.

Powers’ family has called Cary “home” for nearly 100 years and they, and the Cary community, still see Powers as a hero, officials said.

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