Marking memories

Come Monday morning, the Portales Cemetery will be dotted with American flags and at 10:30 a.m. the American Legion will be sponsoring a Memorial Day observance.

But it's Thursday. And Portales' Randy Dunson is making sure each footstone or headstone has its proper veteran marker while other volunteers are hammering free-flowing flags into the ground.

"You get a lot of walking back and forth," he said, mid-trek.

For Dunson, a veteran himself, his motivation for the tireless work on a blistering day is a simple one:

Reminding people to "not take anything for granted."

In blue jeans, a plaid shirt and fading sunscreen, Dunson paces through the cemetery while combing through a list of names that show tidbits about their military service and where they're located. He quips that it's a bit like "easter egg hunting."

With a gray pen that blots blue ink he writes a check mark or circle or "X" notifying him of the veteran maker status.

"Because of the nature of where we live the markers tend to sink a little bit. The weeds grow up, the sand blows, wind catches it, and pretty soon, they're gone," said Dunson.

He said he's marked about 700 veteran graves since starting his project three years ago. Many were entirely hidden by layers of High Plains dust.

On this Thursday afternoon, the wind gusts were so bad Dunson's tightly fitted hat was swept off his head, forcing him to chase it down.

Many of the names on Dunson's list were people he knew personally. It's part of his fascination -- the idea that many of them were regular members of society who helped save the world at one point.

When visiting their burial sites, there was a visible glow emanating from his face.

"Here's J.E. McKillip" Dunson said, referring to a World War II veteran who he went to church with and remembers as a "real nice guy."

"This is Morris Wood," Dunson added; another World War II veteran and former hooper in the New Mexico Athletic Hall of Fame.

And lastly, "his name was John L. Johnson," Dunson said.

Before Johnson took a career in Portales as a propane tank driver – Dunson remembers him stopping by his home – he was a survivor of the Bataan Death March and was awarded a Purple Heart. "He was one of those guys who was really an encourager, and helped a lot of them survive," Dunson said.

The Portales cemetery is flecked with young men deployed to Bataan, eager to start a cavalry outfit and escape the trappings of the Great Depression. But then the U.S. "decided, 'we don't really need horse soldiers.' So they became the 200th Coast Artillery and a large number of them were in that Bataan Death March ... [and] were part of the New Mexico National Guard," Dunson said.

Several didn't make it back to New Mexico.

Though Dunson served in the Vietnam War, he can't relate to what many in the cemetery endured. Which is why he holds a deep "admiration" and ambition to memorialize veterans this Monday.

"I think we were the only base that didn't get hit during that time," reflected Dunson, a member of the Air Force who was stationed in a highly secure base in Thailand.

"For several years, everyday, I thought about that experience. I had a good time, really," Dunson said.

He has fond memories of his perspective being broadened through witnessing a third-world country, primitive farming methods – "everything was by hand" – and even an elephant trainer. But then Dunson pondered "how awful it would be to remember this every day and it was bad," alluding to those who returned with severe bouts of PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yet, for Dunson, it's less about guilt and more about respect. Which is why he has spent about 20 hours over the last few weeks at the cemetery, researching, and is now investigating a barren patch of dirt where there should be a veteran marker for someone named Billy Barton.

"We gotta do something or nobody will ever know that this boy is even here," Dunson said.