The Veterans' Voice © 2009
Seeing A Lady Warrior Off to Iraq
When Tanna Bia came to Aztec VFW Post 614 to celebrate a birthday and going away party she had no idea what else was going to become a part of our Post History.
Tanna is being shipped out to Iraq and her family and friends were there in the Post Dining Room to see her off. She was surprised beyond words when the VFW Officers and some Army Personnel walked to the podium and asked her to please come forward.
Commander Abe Saiz then made a few opening remarks and presented her with a New Mexico State Flag. The New Mexico State Flag has a yellow field with a red Zia Sun Symbol in the center. It seems appropriate that a state with so many Native American Warriors should have such a flag.
As a Life Member of Post 614 and the proponent for Mount KIA/MIA it was my pleasure to present a Mount KIA/MIA Challenge Coin to her.
While there are already a few of these challenge coins in circulation, we expect them to become very popular. They will be sold for fifteen dollars each and a part of the proceeds will go toward continuing efforts toward a Mount KIA/MIA Memorial, and we are hoping that there will be a memorial built in the city of Saguache. We are also searching to find a place where people can bring, or send, dog tags honoring killed or missing military personnel. Since these stainless steel tags are almost indestructible it is hoped that there will be a perpetual place of honor for them. We really don’t think they should be on the mountain, but more likely at a “memorial” to be built for this special purpose in Saguache.
New Mexico is proud of all its warriors and I was honored to present the Challenge Coin to one of our Lady Warriors. We wish her a safe journey and look forward to seeing her again when she returns home.
A sunny day and a clear blue sky greeted us as we memorialized Army Cpl. John Spruell. As I stood there I could not help but feel the warmth of this December day and compare it to the cold of the Korean War. The people of Cortez can be proud of the event.
On Saturday, December 06, 2008 more than 100 family members, classmates and friends gathered at the Cortez Cemetery to see the memorial for Army Cpl. John A. Spruell dedicated. It was 58 years to the day since Spruell went missing West of Chosin Reservoir while fighting the Communist Chinese Forces in North Korea.
I traveled to Cortez because of my interest in honoring our heroes, because I was invited, and because Cpl. Spruell was part of a military unit that I had been researching for over six years. He was a member of Btry. B 57th FA Battalion, 7th Infantry Division.
When I read the data on Cpl. Spruell I realized that he had been in the same unit as Sgt. Jimmie Jumbo who I have often written about. Jimmie was from Toadlena, New Mexico and he and Spruell went missing on the same day at Hagaru-Ri North Korea, at the Chosin Reservoir. Spruell and Jumbo were from the Four-Corners Area and being soldiers I believe they would have talked about home. They may have discussed Fry Bread, Mutton Stew, Home Fries and Tacos, and probably family and girlfriends were discussed.
A funeral for my friend of many years, Glen Gabehart, was being carried out in Aztec, New Mexico on the same day as Spruell’s memorial and I thought of Glen as I stood there watching the dedication. Glen and I are members of Farmington High School Class of 1949 and the last time we visited we were looking forward to our upcoming 60th Class Reunion.
As we stood beneath a bright sun viewing a clear blue sky I gave thanks for the weather. This man deserved good weather on the day his memorial was dedicated. As I watched the wonderfully performed ceremony my eyes focused beyond the Speakers and the Honor Guard and the crowd as I looked toward Sleeping Ute Mountain behind them. Surely John Spruell saw this mountain every day he lived in Cortez, and it is fitting that his memorial be within view of this famous landmark
When I visit Cortez I will always stop for a moment at the Southwest corner of the Cortez Cemetery and stand at Cpl. Spruell’s memorial stone to say a prayer for him and his buddy Sgt. Jimmie Jumbo and gaze to the West to enjoy that same Sleeping Ute Mountain that I first viewed as a five year old boy when my family moved to Cortez in 1935
I have a younger brother who lives in Cortez now and who is also a Korean War Veteran, and I am sure that George will be pleased to place a fresh red rose on John Spruell’s memorial stone now and then.
A donor who asked not to be identified provided seed-money to the Cortez cemetery to establish a Memorial Fund in Cpl. John A. Spruell’s name. The fund will be used for maintaining the Veteran’s Section of this cemetery. The fund will repair older headstones and provide a buffer if a family cannot afford the hundred and forty dollar cost of stone-setting. Should you desire to contribute to this fund please contact Dennis Spruell, The Cortez Cemetery, or the Cortez Journal Newspaper.
Even after 58 years, it was evident that John Spruell was a favorite with his high school friends and the younger family members who had never met him. Now they will learn about the events of late November and early December 1950 when a small American Force held off the Chinese Army “East of Chosin” just long enough that the Marines and the few surviving Army personnel were able to fight their way out to the sea, and live to fight another day.
When I arrived at home I could not help but think of the love these “Chosin Few” have for each other, so I telephoned my friend Sgt. Carson Gentry who lives in Johnson City Tennessee. Gentry was a part of that unit and had survived having been a prisoner of the Communist Chinese for years. He was the one who first contacted me with a photo and information about Jimmie Jumbo and has put me in contact with others of these brave men who survived the battle West of Chosin. When you look at the photo of Gentry and Jumbo please remember that Gentry still had this photo over 50 years after the event, and that he has fond memories of Jimmie and his other buddies.
The story of the Korean War, which is called “the forgotten war”, is the story of men who still care about each other. Those who fought in this war will never forget!
Bruce L Salisbury
© 12 December 2008
The Veterans' Voice © 2009
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The Naming of Mount KIA/MIA: Story Here
By Bruce Salisbury
A Soldier
Goes Home
In the late 1970s my brother Chuck and I were in our fifties. He had gone into the Air Corps at the end of World War Two at age seventeen, and I had followed a month or so later at age fifteen.
Having just graduated from College at NMSU, Las Cruces, NM, I was broke enough that I hired on with my brother to work for a now defunct company called Rio Grand Motorway. We were short haul drivers working out of Farmington, New Mexico. We were all healthy guys and most of the drivers had served a hitch in the military. We worked ten hours per day and six days a week for really good wages.
One hot summer day we came to work and met “The New Driver” and he looked to be a sturdy sort, so we briefed him and walked out into the dockwhich had trailers backed up to the many doors on both sides, and began to load freight. Some of the guys were singing as we worked and I remember being happy to have a great job and looking forward to getting acquainted with our new “hand.”
This new guy was a bit lost as you might expect, and he walked over and looked at a box which was obviously from a funeral company. (We shipped those all the times and often in trailer load lots), but this box sat all alone. For some reason the new guy knocked loudly on the lid and shouted” Hey wake up, it’s morning!” Stan stared at him and said: “There is a body in there!” and when the poor guy looked again he saw the name Cpl ***** US Army on the freight manifest.” We still remember the look on the new drivers face as he fled to the break room to shed tears. We were not mean to him, but he was so overwhelmed by the event that he never came back to work.
