War monument to honor Clovis heroes

In most years, Clovis veterans gather at a local cemetery for Memorial Day services honoring deceased veterans. This year will be different, as the Clovis Joint Veterans Council dedicates a new addition to an existing veterans memorial at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The memorial lists Curry County residents known to have died in wars since 1916.

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Monday and include families of eight deceased veterans from four different wars describing the sacrifices of their relatives, including two people for whom local veterans organizations were named. The master of ceremonies will be Senior Master Sgt. James Stewart of Cannon Air Force Base with additional participants from Clovis High School and Cannon.

Jim Cowman of the Clovis Joint Veterans Council said members of the local veterans community are proud they were able to complete the project with donated funds and no tax dollars.

“The Veterans Council grabbed it and got the thing done and did it with our own money,” Cowman said. “There are no state or city funds used, it is all veterans and friends of veterans.”

The cost was $6,500 to purchase the six stones on which 170 names have been engraved and the bases used to mount the stones. However, much of the labor was donated: Glaze Monument didn’t charge the Veterans Council for the engraving costs which would have run between $20,000 and $27,000 if billed at commercial rates, and the crane operators who installed the monuments did so for free, organizers said.

One veteran’s name must still be added to the memorial roster.

While installing the monument, crane operator Jady Bell discovered something unexpected. A friend of his father had died in the Korean War but as much as Jady Bell tried, he couldn’t locate the name of Harold Ware.

“My dad was in the Army and was friends with this man’s brother,” Jady Bell said. “He called me while we were setting these stones and asked me if Harold Ware was on there. I went over to look, and it wasn’t.”

Bell’s efforts attracted the attention of Veterans Council members on hand for the installation, including Cowman.

“Jim Cowman saw me and one of the boys helping me, and he asked if there was a problem,” Bell said. “Immediately he was very intent and wanted to know everything I knew. My dad talked to him, passed him on to the relatives, and the minute I mentioned there possibly could be a name on there, he was right on top of it. He is very dedicated to making sure all the boys who died are on it.”

Cowman said an error in military records led to Ware not being properly listed as a Curry County veteran, and his name will be added to the monument in spaces left for that purpose.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3015 is named after two men killed in action including World War I veteran Charles Ledbetter, one of the earliest Curry County war dead. Two of Ledbetter’s relatives will speak at Monday’s ceremony, and the VFW post commander said he’s looking forward to the event.

“Memorial Day means remembering the veterans who have given their service so we have the freedoms we enjoy,” said Post Commander Dale Huft. “If it weren’t for them, who knows where we would be?”

Huft said a picture of Ledbetter is displayed in the Post 3015 building along with a biography noting that Ledbetter was killed four days before the signing of the armistice that ended the war. His body was transferred back to the United States several years later and buried in Mission Garden of Memories Cemetery on Aug. 13, 1921.

“I don’t know why (the post founders) personally picked him, but I believe they just wanted to honor him,” Huft said. “We’ll be out there putting the flags on the graves Sunday morning, including his grave.”

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Clovis' Fallen Heroes

The following military personnel from Curry County were killed or declared missing in action during wartime. Please contact Veterans Council member Jim Cowman at 762-3066 with any corrections, additions or questions.

1916 Punitive Expedition

Everett Fitzhugh

World War I

William Galloway

Glen Harris

Henry “Tex” Huff

Charles Ledbetter

Dean Lucas

Glen Snodderly

Rayne Vivard

Charles J. Williams

Charles Wilson

World War II

Harold R. Anthony

John H. Austin

Bob Balch

Harold W. Barber

Lloyd D. Beach

John F. Beall

Clarence Arless Bell

Millard Bell

Glen W. Bishop

Billie M. Black

James W. Black

Ben F. Bourne Jr.

Thomas C. Bowman

Claude V. Bridges Jr.

Robert W. Brightman

Bonnie Melton Brizendine

T.B. Bryant

Bernard Philip Burford

Raford E. Burdine

John B. Byars

Joseph P. Casilles

Albert Chalk

Dean R. Chalk

Rochell Cochran

Robert Ronald Cox

Millard Everett Conley

Albert Crump Jr.

Austin J. Curtis

Garth A. Dahinden

Walter Leo Daly

Ernest A. Damon

Earl Grey Davidson

Loran W. Davis

Jonie B. Degraftenreid

Henry A. Drake

George B. Duke

Vernon Dunn

Glen A. Dutton

John Martin Eastridge

Aval Eldridge

James Lee Elrod

Jack G. Erwin

Calvin D. Flaming

Leon Z. Fought

Joe C. Garcia

Richard Harold Glen

Alonzo Gonzales

Oliver A. Gore Jr.

Doyle R. Greathouse

Julian E. Griego

Luis Gutierrez

Hubert G. Hall

Milus L. Hall

Robert E. Halstead

Paul Hammonds

Willis L. Hardcastle

Claude Haws

Joseph E. Henry

Ollie J. “Jake” Hill

Otto T. Hill

Luther P. Hines Jr.

John W. Hodges Jr.

Aubrey C. Holland

James D. Jackson

Faustino Jaques

Homer C. Johnson

Kyle V. Johnson

Laurel Kenneth Johnson

Roy L. Johnson

Melvin Johnston

Robert D. Jones

Fred N. Jordan

Stephen Dence Justice

Marshall Edward Kelly

Emory A. “Andy” Kemper

Roy Lee

Walter L. Lee

William E. Lendon

Herman W. Lewis

Max W. “Jackie” Lewis

Dan M. Love

Jack B. Love

Harold S. Lowe

John C. Luikart

Glen Thurston Maltby

B.A. Marquez

William McCormack

Olen L. McCormick

Bobby McDougal

Carrol E. McMillan

Douglas Wilson Miller

Henry Max Miller

Glendell L. Monk

Clarence W. Morris

John David Moss

Albert Moss

Harold B. Myers

W.A. Nelson

Floyd C. Northcutt

Enoch C. Oliver

J. Randol Osborne

Thomas R. Osborne

Cecil Pearson

William A. Price

William E. Price

Samuel A. Prince

Donald L. Pruett

John E. Reynolds

Arthur W. Robbins

Roy L. Robison

Robert L. Rodgers

Wayne C. Rodgers

Carroll F. Rodgers

Harry Arnold Rogers

Ralph Ross Jr.

Oscar A. Ruckman

Jeff D. Ruckman

Bert C. Sanders

Joe Schovanec

Karl W. Schroeder

Ivan L. Sears

Ralph D. Shelton

John S. Shields Jr.

Roy Clinton Shoemate

Alva Simmons

Charles A. Skeen

George T. Smalley

Burney H. Smith

J. M. Smith Jr.

Saul G. Spilker

Russell J. Stone

Roy S. Swain

Charles Byron Thomas

French Lee Thomas Jr.

William D. Talley

Rosendo C. Torres

Edward O. Trapp

Joseph A. Valien

Harold Loyd Ware

Calvin E. Whitley

Clark J. Wicks Jr.

C.A. Wiggins

Harry O. Williams

Jacob N. Willoughby

James G. Wood

Frank Young

Korean War

Richard Louis Albright

Fred B. Fickel

Lacy Gant

Lee R. Martinez

Delmer E. May

T.S. Moore

Charlie D. Quintana

Darrell Otto Smith

Vietnam War

Jimmy Ross Hohstadt

Daniel Tiofilio Martinez

Gilivaldo Martinez

Freddie Joe Roberts

Ruben Rubio

David Louis Stoll

Harvie Perry Winkles III

Sources: American Battle Monuments Commission, Clovis News Journal files, Curry County Historian Don McAlavy, Jim Cowman, Joint Veterans Council, National Archives, Secretary of Defense.