'There's a price for deterrence': Monument to honor men killed at Roswell area nuclear silos in early 60s

A new monument will be put up in southeast New Mexico honoring the sacrifices eight men made while aiding the United States’ nuclear efforts during the Cold War.

“These men died during a tremendous push to complete a project to act as a deterrent to nuclear war,” said author Sue Critz, who wanted to honor the men with a five-foot black granite monument built in the shape of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron’s unit patch with their names on it.

Its unveiling will take place at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16, at the Roswell Air Center Terminal, 1 Jerry Smith Circle, and the public is encouraged to attend, Critz said.

George W. Calligan, Charles B. Chambers, Frank Cortez, Jacinto Flores, Howard L. Frampton, John C. Koontz, G.W. McDonough and James Leroy Wilson were killed in three incidents in 1960 and 1961 during the construction of the 579th Strategic Missile Squadron nuclear missile silos outside Roswell.

The squadron, which dates back to World War II, was activated as an intercontinental ballistic missile unit in 1961. It became fully operational during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a time when all 579th sites were at a high level of alert and were ready to launch the Atlas missile should it have become necessary, according to the Walker Aviation Museum.

“The silos were built in large part because at that time, Roswell was home to Walker Air Force Base, which served an important role in the Strategic Air Command, being home to bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons,” Critz said. “Because that entailed being targeted by our enemies at the time, the missile silos were added to the arsenal — if you want to think of it that way — that would counter a strike on this important military installation.”

The first fatal incident happened Aug. 29, 1960, when Flores was electrocuted while he and two others were lifting a pipe with a crane at Atlas F Missile Silo Site 12, about 25 miles north of Roswell, The Albuquerque Tribune reported.

“The boom of the crane came within six feet of a power line and an electrical charge arced from the line to the boom,” according to the Tribune.

Then, on Feb. 16, 1961, Calligan, Chambers, Cortez, Frampton, McDonough and Wilson were killed at Atlas F Missile Silo Site 2 when a crane fell 172 feet “to flaming destruction in the bottom of the concrete-lined pit in which the men were working,” according to the Tribune.

“I heard someone hollering and all of a sudden the crane was in the bottom of the hole,” ironworker Earl Metton told UPI in a story published in the Carlsbad Current-Argus.

A few months later, on May 1, 1961, Koontz was placing metal beams atop a silo at Site 2 when he fell 100 feet and fractured his skull, the Journal reported.

There was no Occupational Safety and Health Administration back then. The emphasis was on getting the silos done on time, “not the safety of the men building them,” Critz said.

“There’s a price for deterrence, and that price is often paid in human lives,” she said.

For more information, contact Critz at 915-203-4783 or suecritz@gmail.com.