Fire Fighters Monument

The plaque lists only its own company's dead. Company 1811 had come north from the Bastrop country of Texas three months before, enrollees of seventeen to twenty with little experience of fire, and its crew reached the Blackwater fire west of Cody at noon on August 21, 1937, four hours late. When the wind shifted that afternoon, fifteen men died: these twelve, Ranger Alfred Clayton, Rex Hale of the Wapiti camp, and Billy Lea, whom the plaque does not name. Paul Tyrrell, twenty-four, shielded three enrollees with his own body.

What the plaque says

Dedicated to the men trapped in Shoshone Forest fire August 21, 1937 Died in line of duty Foremen James A. Saban · Paul E. Tyrrell Enrollees Clyde Allen · Mack T. Mayabb Roy Bevens · George H. Rodgers Ambrocio Garza · Earnest R. Seelke John B. Gerdes · Rubin D. Sherry Will C. Griffith · William H. Whitlock Burned in line of duty Enrollees Timateo Almager · Raymond Prazak William G. Barnes · Oliver Randle Woodrow Duty · Lee Roy Reed Hubert Ferris · David Rodriguez Lewis Garcia · Julias Rodriguez Juan Gomez · Andon Sanchez Amos Hefner · Alcario Serros Johnnie Levine · Henry Spomer Weldon Mackey · James T. Sullivan William O. Mueller · David B. Thompson Alton J. Murray · James Touchstone James Ottmer · Vicente Valle Herman F. Patzke · Johnnie Wisneski Jose Perez · Charlie Wheelus John D. Phillips · Havel Zaskoda Henry Poehls · Joe Zavala Erected September, 1937 by Company 1811 C.C.C. Camp F-35-W. Tensleep, Wyoming

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Leigh Creek Monument — 6.9 mi
• First Washakie County Church — 9.2 mi
• Father DeSmet Monument — 30 mi