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NACO, Ariz. — Chainsaws and weed-eaters buzzed as volunteers swarmed over an old Army border post Saturday.
Local historians searched for clues to the past as they cleared decades of debris and desert vegetation that have nearly enveloped Camp Naco.
“No task is too big,” said volunteer David Lawson, a 22-year-old Army second lieutenant from Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The volunteers — soldiers from Fort Huachuca, neighbors, local firefighters and others — heaved old mattresses and other junk out of the old buildings. As they removed linoleum, they discovered old newspaper articles, forgotten pieces of mail and other tantalizing scraps from the past.
 Second Lt. Richard Salinas, with the Texas National Guard, and 2nd Lt. Charlotte Andrews of the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion on Fort Huachuca discover a newspaper from 1932 at Camp Naco during Saturday's cleanup.(Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
The camp once served as an Army stronghold along the volatile U.S.-Mexico border around the time of World War I. As many as 30,000 soldiers were once encamped in the area, and the adobe structures have been all but solidly linked to the Buffalo Soldier 9th and 10th cavalry units.
“We have to restore it, because there was a great story here,” said Magatte Mbaye, a Senegalese army captain who was among 45 Fort Huachuca volunteers who rallied to the effort.
Mbaye, a 40-year-old international military intelligence student, was joined by a band of lieutenants from Fort Huachuca’s 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, Company C. The officers belong to the fort’s Military Intelligence Basic Officer Leadership Course. They were in civilian clothes and working on their own time.
The project fit their Army value of selfless service. Their instructor, Maj. Bill Watson, said the students became motivated after being briefed on the camp’s history by local historian Debby Swartzwelder.
At the cleanup Saturday, whenever a student uncovered an artifact, he or she made a beeline to Swartzwelder to deliver the goods.
“There’s just some terrific stuff as we peel back the layers of history,” said 2nd Lt. Chris Simone from East Greenwich, R.I.
Silas Griffin, a history teacher and historian from Douglas, is researching burial sites in Naco and other places, and he has developed many pieces of the Buffalo Soldiers’ geological puzzle.
“This was the hot sector during the Mexican Revolution,” Griffin said. He explained one reason why American troops were stationed in the region. “Copper helped the United States win WWI.”
Carrying a document in his hand, a soldier emerged from the south building of the west quadrangle of barracks.
Based on its good condition and many rooms, that building is believed to have served as the camp’s medical building. In later years, the property also served as a camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps, and it has housed private residents.
The GI handed Swartzwelder a piece of mail, dated 1970. It was addressed to Jennie J. Newell, the wife of the original property homesteader, Johnny Newell, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland and bought property in Naco in 1898.
Swartzwelder looked at the letter, which appeared to be junk mail.
“It’s unopened,” she noted, as a group of young military intelligence students stood around her, listening intently.
The digging continued.
Community reaction was positive as the site was cleaned up.
“It’s always been like a sore on the town,” said 16-year-old Adrian Borquez, a volunteer with the Naco Fire District.
His friend, 23-year-old Naco firefighter Luis Westover agreed, having also grown up in Naco. Westover remarked of Camp Naco: “It’s pretty much like a hidden treasure.”
herald/review City Editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
JEANIE GIBSON ZALMANEK wrote on Aug 8, 2008 4:48 PM: