Arizona XVI

Just up the hill from Clifton, where the Mares Bluff memorial is, lies the Morenci High school. You may recall from an earlier post, here, that the first dog-tags at Mares Bluff belonged to the Morenci 9.

I had read, over the years, about a group of high school students who joined the Marine Corp together, but I never really thought that I would get to their town, their school, their memorial.

Morenci lies nearly 200 miles east of Tucson, practically in New Mexico, and I feared it was just too far to make the trip and put it off on other occasions. This trip, however, provided a day with nothing else on my schedule so I jumped at the chance. The drive revealed to me that Arizona has a diverse and beautiful landscape that I never anticipated. I saw snow capped mountains, fertile crop filled valleys and some of the most striking rock formations I have ever encountered.

I arrived at the school and checked in with them, I met the Principal and Vice Principal who showed me the permanent indoor display to the Morenci 9 and the memorial out side the building. the indoor memorial which greets students every morning contains drawings of the men done be students at the school, a folded flag and an open copy of their story as told by Time magazine.

Interestingly, they also pointed off in the near distance to the copper mines with their hundreds and hundreds of trucks and continuous work. It is the second largest copper mine in the world and the largest in the U.S.

 Eight  friends went down to the Marine recruiter and signed up, and one returned from college to join them, they all ended up in 'Nam and six came home in caskets. Morenci, in the 2010 census, had fewer that 1500 citizens. Some poking around in Census files showed that in 1960 the population was 2431 and the 1970 records are incomplete, but it is still obvious that Morenci is a small town and to lose 6 young Marines places it, if not at the top, near the top for losses per population.

You can see here on the memorial that nine names with indicators for the lost.

Joe Sorrelman, the only remaining of the nine, says that they were all classmates, but not really all friends. Several were White a couple Latino and Sorrelman a Navajo and the mining town, at the time, was somewhat segregated, but their experience seemed to erase those barriers.

There are books and YouTube posts about the Morenci Marines, or the Morenci 9, if you are interested in learning more about this remarkable story.


Next time, on the26th, we will head back to California, so meet me there at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Arizona, or any other state, click the state name on the left side of this page.

Arizona XIII

Several hours northeast of Tucson is Clifton and high above the town, perched on a bluff is a memorial to all who have served from the area.

The memorial is accessed by climbing a VERY rough trail. At times, I had to find something to hold on to to keep on going. About half way up, I began to regret my decision to try to make the climb. I didn't think I could make it, but, after resting, several times, I did finally make it to the site. I would caution anyone that wants to make the journey to be well prepared and expect difficulty.

It is called "America's long walk for freedom" and you will understand.

The path leading to the site has a number of signs, honoring those from various wars who are remembered here.

All that I had read about the site said that there were 1800 dog tags on display, but when I got there I could not locate them. However, if you look at the pics, here, you can see them strung between the flag poles.  I have no explanation for why I couldn't locate them. Perhaps, it was because I was truly exhausted after the climb up. I am already thinking about trying to get back sometime.

Note the Dog Tags strung between the poles. I am told there are now more than 2000.

There are flags, a field cross of sorts and a large bell, the bell says "Ring for Freedom" so, I did. It was startling how loud it was. I guess the altitude and silence of being that high up made it seem louder. I wondered if anyone on the ground heard it.

The way back down was much easier, but I did actually fall, twice. Almost predictably, I landed in a patch of cactus and spent quite some time pulling needles out of my hand and arm. No real harm done and I am glad that I made the climb.

The bluff is called Mares Bluff and is unmarked from the main road, but anyone in the town can direct you to it, where you will find this sign at the trail head.

You can read more about this unique site, here:

 http://www.eacourier.com/news/uniqueness-marks-mares-bluff-memorial-in-greenlee-county/article_3aabb3a4-ea88-5eae-b2b7-74654c2c0f7b.html

On the 15th, next time, we will visit a memorial in California with a rather unique story. Check it out, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Arizona, or any other state, click on the state name on the left side of this page.