“A Peak by Any Other Name?”

by

Gerry Niskern

The unrest in the Middle East is becoming referred to more and more, as America’s longest war. It is foremost on the minds of families who have lost a son or a daughter, brother or father. Those families are commerating the day in their own way. The rest of the population here in the valley can commemorate the fallen every day, not just on Memorial Day.

All we have to do is look up. From almost anywhere in the valley one can get a glimpse of the mountain that needed a new name, Piestawa Peak. We have a very visible monument to the men and women from Arizona who lost their lives in Iraq and Afganistan.

Just as the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery represents our nation’s war dead, Piesatwa Peak serves as a stark reminder of all the dead and wounded from Arizona.

If you are like me, when you see the mountain, you don’t just think of Lori Piestawa, the Native American woman who was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Instead you’re reminded of all the war heros.

The mountain may have Lori’s name on it, but as her mother said at a ceremony to honor the fallen soldier, “The monument represents all the sons, daughters, fathers, husbands and brothers lost in the war from an Arizona family.”

Many towns across the United States have statues of a lone soldier in their town square as daily reminder of the tragedy of war. There is a memorial that was part of my life everyday as I was growing up here in Phoenix. My friends and I used to gaze at the handsome features on the statue of Lt. Frank Luke Jr. as we waited for our bus in front of the State Capitol.  The Army Air Service flier was just 20 when he gave his life in battle in World War I. He was the first Arizona man awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously.

At the time, that prominent statue represented to valley residents all the men in Arizona who died in WWI , not just Frank Luke Jr.; just as Piestawa Peak represents all our fallen soldiers in the Middle East.

Gaze at Piestawa Peak in the pink and silver light of dawn or as the flow of sunset lights the mountain and be reminded of the lives that are still lost, and the casualty list that keeps growing.

People are changed by grief forever and it is those people who change the direction of the world.  Hopefully, some day everyone will forget their differences  and recognize their common humanity.