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Airmen rediscover ‘lost’ cemetery

  • Published
  • By Greg Allen
  • 27th Special Operations Wing public affairs
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Airmen here are working to restore what local historians refer to as a "lost cemetery" that is located literally in the base's backyard. 

A block wall is all that separates the northern edge of Chavez Manor West housing from Blacktower Cemetery. It's now overgrown with weeds and brambles and sand blows over the 14 visible headstones of the more than 100-year old cemetery that sits on Curry County land. 

According to Don McAlavy and Harold Kilmer, members of the High Plains Historical Foundation, Blacktower was originally a family cemetery that became the final resting site for 42 individuals. 

Some 25 volunteers from the base spent May 29 and May 30 shoveling into the baked New Mexico caliche, a soil common in arid and semi-arid regions. They dug cautiously, and turned over half a shovelful at a time rather than digging deep. They knew they were standing above not only history, but the remains of pioneer Americans. 

"It's an honor to help; it's being a part of history," said Senior Airman Ronald Brooks, as he wiped sweat off his brow. The 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron Airman recently arrived from Aviano, Italy, and said the geography of the two places were strikingly similar - large swaths of flat land used for agriculture. 

The restoration effort is an ambitious project said Capt. Glen Smith, who is leading the project. No one knows exactly where the graves are - hence the caution exercised by the digging Airmen. It's being approached as an archeological dig rather than an excavation. 

Even Justin Qualls dug into the ground just a couple of inches at a time with his backhoe. Mr. Qualls and his backhoe joined the Airmen courtesy of a local construction company. He would loosen the soil for the Airmen who then began to dig in earnest. After one area was cleared and it was determined there was nothing in it, the backhoe quickly filled in the excavation. 

Captain Smith, 27th Special Operations Support Squadron airfield operations commander, said that it's a long-term project and that he would be "pleasantly surprised if it were to be completed by Memorial Day 2010." He hopes that work can be done on it at least on a monthly basis. 

He said the nexus between the cemetery and the base came in the form of a letter from Linda Evans, a Clovis, N.M., resident. She wrote that her great-great grandfather, William Brantley, a Union Civil War veteran, was buried at Blacktower, and wanted to know how she could get a proper headstone placed there. 

"It's a small cemetery with no more than perhaps 50-80 graves," said Captain Smith, who pointed to a cluster of headstones in one corner of the area. He added that his research indicated that they had been moved there, rather than actually being gravesites.
Clovis resident Dennis Winn viewed the efforts by the Airmen from a corner of the cemetery area. He tried to jog his memory and remember the spot where his great-great grandfather, Emmett Fulkerson, was buried. 

"He was a 3rd Lt. and was assigned to the Missouri State Cavalry, a Confederate," said Mr. Winn, himself a Vietnam veteran. "I remember walking around here when I was a young boy, but I forgot exactly where his grave was. The area used to be surrounded by a picket fence, had trees and was well kept. It's so different now." 

Mr. Winn said that his wife, Shelly, is the family historian and traced his grandfather's trail from Missouri through Oklahoma in a covered wagon and finally to New Mexico. 

This is not the first time efforts have been made to restore the cemetery. In 1980 Cannon Airmen worked to build a fence around the site. 

"I remember a lot of dirt bikers used the area, because there was nothing there but dirt and sand, " said Ernest Skilling, a retired master sergeant. "I was an instructor at the 526th Field Training Detachment; Tech. Sgt. Larry Bucina, also an instructor, got a bunch of Airmen together and spent about four or five weekends clearing sand that covered the cemetery and building a fence using railroad ties. I spent a couple of weekends helping."
According to Captain Smith, when the Air Force purchased the land for Chavez West housing, constructions crews discovered headstones when they were leveling the area. The base opted not to assume possession of Blacktower and built a block wall that jutted around it.

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