About The Project
Telling non-traditional stories
More Than A Headstone is thematically organized, exploring topics often suppressed or forgotten in the military lexicon. These include stories of racial adversity, the service of women, relationships formed between supposed enemies, individuals re-located or interned domestically, and those who went missing in action.
Among those highlighted is Joanne Conte, who during the Korean War worked as a Morse code operator for the United States Air Force. Conte, who in 1933 was born Joseph Baione, would go on to serve in Arvada’s city council from 1991-1995, as the first openly transgendered individual to fill the position. Byron Johnson, an African American soldier serving in World War II, is similarly profiled in the More Than A Headstone project.
Johnson made forays into military officer school but was denied given his skin color. He instead served in an entirely segregated unit for the entirety of the war. Prior to his enlistment, Johnson played in the Negro Leagues as a shortstop and even toured with Satchel Paige’s team in 1939-40. John Werito, also interred at Fort Logan, was a Native American born on a reservation. Early in life, Werito was sent to an Indian boarding school designed to rid him of his culture and language. Despite this, Werito would use his proclivity for Native languages in service of the Marines in WWII.
These and other extraordinary profiles were researched and written by University of Denver history students. Each is accompanied with pictures of the subjects, families and artifacts.
The project is part of a nationwide effort on the part of the Veteran’s Legacy Program to increase education and exposure about the lives of Veteran’s through partnerships with universities, professors, schools, students and communities. By harnessing the storytelling capacity of modern mediums, VLP hopes to give new dimension to the lives of American servicemen and servicewomen throughout history.
“This project uncovers the rich and diverse history of service members buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.”
- Dr. Esteban Gomez
Assistant professor, anthropology
University of Denver
Land Recognition
The University of Denver recognizes that Fort Logan National Cemetery resides on the traditional territories of the Arapaho, the Cheyenne, and the Ute. It is with much gratitude that we recognize their descendant communities of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, and the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. We also acknowledge the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the only two federally recognized tribes within Colorado. Today, Denver is home to many citizens of indigenous nations, and we recognize the enduring presence of indigenous peoples on this land.
About Fort Logan National Cemetery
The Fort Logan National Cemetery, located in southwest Denver, is one of two National Cemeteries in Colorado. Before becoming a National Cemetery in 1950, the area which the cemetery now occupies was an active United States fort, Fort Logan, from which the cemetery gets its name. Fort Logan was established in 1889, at a time when many of the forts across the west were closing due to their minimal importance and expensive upkeep. The Denver Chamber of Commerce spurred the development of Fort Logan for the purpose of protecting the city, and signifying its importance to the West’s railroad network. The fort gets its name from John Alexander Logan, a Union general during the Civil War and Commander of the Union volunteer forces. Notably, during World War II, Fort Logan served as a training center for the Army Air Corps as well as convalescent hospital and an induction/separation center for service in the Army.
After World War II, Fort Logan was closed and briefly served as a temporary hospital for Veteran Affairs. On June 29, 1949, a bill was proposed to create a National Cemetery at the old Fort Logan site, as some felt a need for a National Cemetery in the central Rocky Mountain region. On March 10, 1950, the cemetery was signed into law and by 1966 7,000 had been interred there. Today, the Fort Logan National Cemetery has approximately 125,000 interments within its 214 acres. The cemetery was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2016.
Student Researchers
a Student-led project
The following students have contributed to this project, spending countless hours researching, writing, speaking with families and visiting the graves of the service-members they documented in this project.
Monica Kleyman
Graduated in 2020, Economics & History
Nivi Lynn
Graduated in 2020, History
Alice Major
Graduated in 2020, Voice Performance & History
Brigid Miller
Undergraduate, History & Integrated Sciences
Geoff Monteith
Graduated in 2020, History
Jack O’Donnell
Graduated in 2020, History
Adair Olney
Undergraduate, History & German
Lauren Perry
Undergraduate, History & Anthropology
Caroline Rainbolt-Forbes
Undergraduate, History
Laurel Schlegel
Graduated in 2020, History
Kathlene Ward
Graduated in 2018, History
Morgan Zeigler
Graduated in 2017, History & German
Chloe Allison
Graduated in 2020, History & Political Science
Nicholas Barrows
Graduated in 2020, Physics
Jack Bailey
Undergraduate, Finance
Camryn Dreyer
Graduated in 2019, History
Adam Durnford
Graduated in 2020, History
Jake Fegan
Graduated in 2020, History
Dena Firkins
Graduated in 2020, History
Katie Frohling
Graduated in 2019, Sociology
Renissa Gannie
History & English
Lexie Graham
Graduated in 2020, History
Chaye Gutierrez
Graduated in 2018, BA in History, MA in Curriculum and Instruction
Mathew Greenlee
Graduated in 2020, History
Matthew Kavorkian
Graduated 2019, History & Asian Studies
Quotes From Student Researchers
"After conducting research for DU VLP, I gained a whole new perspective on the ways in which the many stories of our veterans can be told. Our national history is intrinsically intertwined with that of our veterans, meaning that it is critically important that we continue to share historical narratives that highlight their lives and service. VLP showed me just how much we can learn from those who came before us, and I am incredibly thankful to have gotten the chance to be a part of such an ambitious and rewarding program."
- Matthew Kavorkian
“Many members of my family were in the military and I grew up on their stories and historical military mysteries of our own but few outside of such a family are fully acquainted with service members sacrifices or lives. Working on this project meant a considerable amount to me because I felt as though I were giving life and words to headstones that previously only contained a few lines of texts and expanding others’ knowledge. I, my colleagues, and the students were opening the historical book so to speak on these service members lives, which is exactly why I thought the headstones represented more than how they look upon the first, albeit impactful glance, in a national cemetery like Ft. Logan. Hence the title, more than a headstone, because that dash between dates could be expanded into a story, a life, a memory.”
- Morgan Zeigler
Faculty Support
Elizabeth Escobedo, PhD
Associate Professor
UNiversity of Denver
Elizabeth Escobedo is an associate professor of Latina/o/x history, with a specialization in 20th century Mexican American history, at the University of Denver. She enjoys teaching a wide-range of topics in U.S. history, including modern America, the Latina/o/x and Chicana/o experience, women and gender, and the history of race and ethnicity in America. Her book, From Coveralls to Zoot Suits: The Lives of Mexican American Women on the World War II Home Front (University of North Carolina Press, 2013), received the Coalition for Western Women’s History Armitage-Jameson Book Prize and the Best History Book—English from the International Latino Book Awards. She has also appeared in two PBS documentaries, "Zoot Suit Riots" and "Latino Americans." Her current book project is a comparative history of Mexican American and Puerto Rican women in the World War II U.S. military.
Esteban Gómez, PhD
Assistant Professor
UNiversity of Denver
Esteban Gómez is a digital anthropologist, visual ethnographer, oral historian, filmmaker and curator at the University of Denver. He has served as a co-host for Sapiens: A Podcast for Everything Human, and is currently producing a film on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II called, Snapshots of Confinement.
Carol Helstosky, Phd
Associate Professor
Chair, History Department
UNiversity of Denver
Dr. Carol Helstosky is an Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at the University of Denver, where she teaches classes in modern European history, food history, the history of war and research methods. She has published numerous books and articles in the field of food history and has edited the Routledge History of Food. She has collaborated with Professors Escobedo and Gòmez on the Veterans Legacy Program for two years, working with students on researching and writing about veterans buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
Read about service members like Sergeant Kristi Hutnek, one of two female recipients of the Purple Heart buried in Fort Logan National Cemetery.
