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Three Heroes’ Memorial Dedicated
by Bruce L Salisbury
On the seventh of November, 2009 there was a quiet and low key unveiling of a remarkable little memorial alongside the El Rio de las Animas Perdidas. On our maps it is called the Animas River, which we local folks sometimes call, The River of Lost Souls. By any of those names, it is a beautiful and tranquil river where the All Veterans Memorial Plaza is located, and within the City of Farmington, New Mexico.
We were called there on November seventh, to celebrate the completion of a beautiful memorial dedicated to Three Medal of Honor Heroes who called this area home. They are:
PFC Jose Valdez, US Army who was born and raised in Governador, New Mexico and who died Jan. 25, 1945 after preventing 200 Germans from entering the town of Rosenkrantz, France, and allowing five Comrades to return to American lines.
LCpl Kenneth Lee Worley, who was born in Farmington, New Mexico on April 27, 1948, and who died August 12, 1968 when he threw himself on an enemy grenade, saving five of his comrades.
Sgt. Harold “Doug” Miller, born in North Carolina on January 27,1945, who risked his life in Vietnam as he treated four soldiers who had been wounded in an explosion. He single-handedly defended the soldiers from several enemy attacks. Doug recently died of cancer at age 55
Much like the very lives we live, this memorial is a “work in progress” which will continue to grow, and we hope one day see this Memorial Plaza named as a State and National Treasure.
We have completed the Three Heroes Memorial and now we will be moving forward. We still expect to see the bronze memorial for Lance Corporal Worley completed and then dedicated.
I would like to point out that Sgt. “Doug” Miller was a Special Operations Forces (SOF) soldier. When I stand in front of those memorials I think about Mount KIA/MIA and remember that when we were asking to have that mountain named we wanted the mountain/memorial to speak for them and to forever be there as a tranquil place for families and friends to go and reflect on their own warriors.
Now I have been told that the US Special Operations Forces have listed Mount KIA/MIA as one of their own memorials. Two of the heroes saluted here on seven November, 2009 were killed in action and are forever tied to that mountain, and now we have been made aware that Sgt. “Doug” Miller is also a part of that mountain. Doug’s ashes were spread over the State of New Mexico as per his wishes, but he is forever connected to Mount KIA/MIA.
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