U.S. Board on Geographic Names approves naming of Riley Cove

July 27, 2022 3:30 pm
The United States Board on Geographic Names has approved the name Riley Cove for a bay on the northern coast of Mercer Island. Courtesy of the Mercer Island Historical Society
The United States Board on Geographic Names has approved the name Riley Cove for a bay on the northern coast of Mercer Island. Courtesy of the Mercer Island Historical Society

First it was the Washington State Board of Natural Resources, and now it is the United States Board on Geographic Names.

Both organizations have now approved the naming of Riley Cove — an approximately 60-acre bay on the northern coast of Mercer Island — after decorated World War II veteran Huston “Hu” Riley. The lifelong Island resident, who died at the age of 90 in 2011, was immortalized as “the soldier in the surf” in Robert Capa’s Life magazine cover photo of the D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944 at Omaha Beach.

According to the Mercer Island Historical Society, the geographic names board gave the nod to Riley Cove at its July 14 meeting.

The name will soon be entered into the Geographic Names Information System, the nation’s official geographic names repository, available online at https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names.

A Riley Cove celebration is slated for next spring at Lincoln Landing.