DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and I'm going to do it justice. Now, Water Valley, Texas — small community, big heart, and apparently at least one very determined burro. Let me set the scene.
The Great War had just gone quiet. November 11, 1918, Armistice Day, and word had come through that the guns were finally still. The citizens of Water Valley wanted to do something about that.
Not a speech, not a parade — something that would last. Something up high, where it could be seen against the sky. They had been inspired by a small family monument, already standing on the eastern ridge of Mount McLaughlin since 1902.
That was their spark. But what they had in mind would be something else altogether. On that very Armistice Day, at least ten men climbed the 2,410-foot rise of Mount McLaughlin, two miles south of where this marker stands.
Ten men — and one burro named Come On. Now, that name alone tells you something about the temperament of the animal and probably something about the character of the men hauling native fieldstone up a Texas mountain on the day the world war ended. The man with the vision was Harry Howard, a local mason.
He designed the monument, and up on that western end of the peak, those men built it — five tiers of native fieldstone, rising twenty-two feet high, eight feet wide at the base. That is not a small thing to haul up a mountain. That is a statement.
The builders were Frank Demere, George Demere, Houston Ditmore, Harve Earnest, Will Garner, Pablo Garza, Harry Howard himself, S. L. Tate, Stanley Turner, and R.
R. Wade. Ten men and a burro named Come On.
You remember that. And cut into that stone — the names. The Water Valley men who had gone overseas and served in the war: Herschel Ditmore, John Gillespie, Webb Gillespie, Earl Hanson, Chester Harden, Mark Harden, Ollie McCrary, John Runnels, Boone Rainey, Ulysis Rainey, J.
H. Ruth, and Mark Trotter. Their names and important facts about the war, right there in the fieldstone, on a peak south of town, where they would stay.
And they did stay. The monument continues to honor the heroes of Water Valley to this day. Four of those veterans and five of those builders are interred in the Water Valley Cemetery — close to home, close to each other, and not so far from a mountain they either climbed or were honored upon.
Sometimes the most lasting things get built on the hardest ground, on the most meaningful days, by people who just decided it needed doing. Come On, indeed.
What the marker says
At the close of "The Great War," the citizens of Water Valley wanted to honor those of their community who had served overseas. They were inspired by a small family monument erected on the eastern ridge of Mount McLaughlin in 1902. On Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, at least ten men and a burro named "Come On" climbed the 2,410-foot rise of Mount McLaughlin two miles south of this site. They built five tiers of native fieldstone on the western end of the peak. Designed by local mason Harry Howard, the monument stands twenty-two feet high and measures eight feet wide at its base. It bears the names of the Water Valley men who served in World War I: Herschel Ditmore, John Gillespie, Webb Gillespie, Earl Hanson, Chester Harden, Mark Harden, Ollie McCrary, John Runnels, Boone Rainey, Ulysis Rainey, J. H. Ruth, and Mark Trotter. Important facts about the war also are listed. The builders of this monument were Frank Demere, George Demere, Houston Ditmore, Harve Earnest, Will Garner, Pablo Garza, Harry Howard, S. L. Tate, Stanley Turner, and R. R. Wade. The monument continues to honor the heroes of Water Valley. Four of the veterans and five of the builders are interred in the Water Valley Cemetery. (1998)