Mojave Memorial Cross Veterans Monument dedication slated for Veterans Day
Nearly a decade after the Mojave Memorial Cross was placed in storage, it will be once again be resurrected, this time on Route 66 near Needles.
On Veterans Day, Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association Goffs Schoolhouse Museum will host the dedication of the Mojave Memorial Cross Veterans Monument. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Goffs Schoolhouse and Museum at 37198 Lanfair Road in Essex, according to museum volunteer Debbie Miller Marschke.
The memorial cross has a long and storied history in the High Desert, dating back to the 1930s.
History of the cross
John Riley Bembry was born on Feb. 5, 1899, in Arapaho, Oklahoma. He was one of 10 children.
During World War I, Bembry, 18, joined the Army as a machinist. He later became a medic by default after there was a shortage.
He frequently traveled the East Mojave Desert, and later worked as a prospector for roughly 50 years. He had more than 60 claims during his career, including the Standard Mines One and Two, the associated stated.
In 1934, Bembry joined other local homesteaders and erected a wooden memorial cross atop granite boulders, dubbed Sunrise Rock, near Teutonia Peak just south of Mountain Pass in the Mojave National Preserve.
Bembry’s Mojave Memorial Cross was intended to pay respect and to honor fallen World War I veterans. The memorial was later dedicated to veterans of all wars.
After the cross was targeted by periodic vandalism, in 1978, Bembry asked his friend, Henry Sandoz, to fabricate a metal cross.
During the Nov. 11 memorial ceremony, the children of J. Riley Bembry and Henry Sandoz will read the a that was attached to the stolen and recovered cross. The contents of the letter, written by the man who stole the cross, were not discovered until 2022.
Battles over the cross
Sixty years after the cross was erected, the National Park Service took over the surrounding 1.6 million acres from the Bureau of Land Management.
The monument faced backlash when retired park employee Frank Buono made a formal complaint. Buono stated that its presence offended him because it violated the constitutional principle of separation of Church and State, the Daily Press reported.
The Sandozs refused to remove the cross, resulting in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The matter was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
During the court battle, the cross received Congressional recognition and officially became known as the White Cross World War I Memorial.
On April 28, 2010, the Supreme Court released its decision that the Memorial Cross could remain in place.
A few days after the ruling, a vandal cut down and stole the monument.
Following the theft, The Desert Dispatch was contacted by someone claiming to have a message from the person who removed the cross. The message claimed that the cross had not been damaged or destroyed but moved by a veteran who objected to the cross being on public land.
The message also claimed that a non-sectarian memorial had been brought to the site, but that unspecified technical difficulties prevented it from being put in place of the cross.
On May 20, 2010, park rangers discovered that a replica of the cross, stolen 10 days earlier, was now bolted to the base of the original.
Restoring the cross
In April 2012, a federal judge permitted the park service to turn over one acre of land to a Barstow Veterans of Foreign Wars post and the Veterans Home of California-Barstow in exchange for five acres of donated property in the 1.6 million acre preserve, the Daily Press reported.
The donated land was owned by Henry and Wanda Sandoz of Yucca Valley.
On Veterans Day 2012, Henry Sandoz rededicated the memorial by erecting a replacement metal cross in place of the stolen original. The stolen cross was then found abandoned on the side of a road, 400 miles away in Half Moon Bay in Northern California.
The original cross was returned to the Sandozs, who then hid it for 10 years.
In January 2022, Wanda Sandoz was contacted by the cultural association to see if she would donate the cross, which is now at the Goffs Cultural Center.
Sarah Woodall’s visit
Traveler Sarah Woodall documented her visit to the site of the original memorial cross in a video uploaded to her Wonderhussy Adventures YouTube channel in Nov. 2020.
In her video, Woodall is surrounded by Joshua Trees where the cross stands atop a granite rock outcropping. She then explains the history of the cross while combing the area and climbing to the top of the rocky hill.
Woodall points out the memorial plaque, signs and information sheets at the base of the hill.
The plaque reads “The Cross, Erected in Memory of the Dead of All Wars. Originally Erected 1934 by Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Death Valley Post 2884.”
Woodall also explains that there are picnic tables and camping areas surrounding the site.
“I know where Bembry's grave is, and have stayed at his homestead,” said Woodall, who lives in Death Valley. “I’m really curious to learn what was in the letter they found with the cross.”
Saturday's ceremony
During Saturday's ceremony, the Veterans of Foreign Wars posts No. 9375 and No. 1508 will present a color guard flag ceremony and a 21-gun salute at the event.
Guests will include Lorretta Bembry Boring, Jess Bembry and Wanda Sandoz. The keynote speaker is Col. Erik Gramling of the Fort Irwin National Training Center.
For tickets, lunch and general information, visit themojaveroad.org.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Mojave Memorial Cross Veterans Monument dedication scheduled this week
