By Katrina Finkelstein and Derek H. Alderman for The Conversation.
Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Tennessee News Service.

On Veterans Day, people across America will thank veterans and active-duty military personnel for their service.

But many members of the public don't have a clear understanding of what service means to people in the military. How do they honor their own? What kind of spaces and activities help them reflect and remember - beyond one day a year?

We are cultural geographers who study how people's emotions and connections with the past are represented physically in landscapes. Recently, our research has focused on commemorative place names in the military - particularly names associated with the Confederacy, which the U.S. armed forces are now reviewing and renaming.

Early this year, one of us (Katrina Finkelstein) visited Camp Pendleton in California to research commemoration on Marine Corps bases and understand how active-duty Marines and veterans interact with those spaces. In addition to official memorials and monuments sanctioned by the military, there are more informal and intimate examples of commemoration.

These ongoing, "living" memorials can be especially meaningful for service members processing their experiences and remembering those they lost, and physically represent the emotional weight they carry every day.

A living memorial

Camp Pendleton, one of the U.S. Marines' busiest bases, sits between San Diego and Los Angeles on miles of undeveloped coastline.

Thirteen hundred feet above the base, more than 30 crosses stand on a hillside - a memorial site established in 2003. Before deployment to Iraq, a group of seven service members - two Marine officers, two enlisted Marines, two Navy corpsmen and one Navy chaplain - carried a cross made of an old telephone pole up to the site. It was an effort to remember a peer they lost and to prepare for the mission ahead of them. Three of the seven were later killed in action.

Today, the hilltop is still used for physical training and events before and after deployments. Meanwhile, its informal commemorations have expanded and changed, as many active-duty military and veterans develop a relationship with the space.

Destroyed in a fire in 2007, the original cross was replaced, and dozens of others added. Some are more intentionally constructed, engraved and carried up the steep hillside, while others might have been made from sticks on the way.

Contributing to the memorials has become an ongoing tradition. In August 2021, for example, after 13 service members were killed in a blast at Kabul airport - including nine Marines and one sailor based at Pendleton - new crosses appeared on the hillside. Others were erected at different Marine Corps bases, echoing the spontaneous way the first Camp Pendleton cross was installed.

This living memorial receives frequent attention, despite its isolated location and despite several official memorials throughout the base.

In an oral history interview, one of the original cross bearers from 2003, chaplain Scott Radetski, attributes the site's popularity to the "life" that exists on the hilltop. Because of its more intimate nature - secluded from the public and requiring an hourlong hike to visit - it has become especially meaningful for service members. The crosses are not a public memorial, he said, but "a warrior memorial."

More than crosses

On the journey to the Pendleton crosses, people carry mementos to leave at the top. At first, they were small rocks, but have evolved to include sandbags, combat knives, insignia, unopened beer and liquor bottles, and helmets, all piled at the base of the crosses.

At times, officials have moved to tidy it up, such as removing cans of alcohol. But some service members have objected, stressing that these items are deeply meaningful and carefully chosen. For them, these items they've carried to the top of the hill represent not only their comrades, but the emotional weight that veterans carry each day because of their experiences.

"Those mementos represented that suffering, that pain, that loss, that anguish, that angst, whatever it was" that service members needed to leave behind, Radetski said. The site is not always clean and neat, but he suggests it reflects the messiness of war and the traumatic experiences of the veterans who visit the site regularly.

In October 2021, before the battalion that sustained most of the losses at the Kabul airport returned to Camp Pendleton, the group Recycle for Veterans, which brings veterans together for cleanups on the West Coast, held an event to provide maintenance of the site. The group removed debris and empty bottles, but left mementos behind, leaving it ready for more commemorations in the future.

On 'common ground'

While many memorial landscapes can seem "fixed", representing a single moment or individual, the crosses at Camp Pendleton show that such spaces can actually change. The crosses reaffirm the idea that public memories are not static, and neither are spaces dedicated to them; new features are added as others are removed.

The crosses are not without controversy. A decade ago, after the Los Angeles Times ran a story about the memorial on Veterans Day, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers filed a complaint, arguing that their presence relegated "all non-Christians who have fought and died for our country [...] to second-class citizenship." Base officials reportedly conducted a review, and the memorial still stands.

For Marines who support the memorial, however, the site can serve multiple purposes: a destination during physical training, a way to prepare for a deployment, or a journey to come to terms with their experiences upon returning home.

Often, these activities are collective. Veterans organize semiannual hikes, meaning that the site does not become obsolete or forgotten. As the site of an ever-expanding memorial, the hillside is an example of how veterans continue to return to their own community, to a place that Chaplain Radetski called a "common ground," for remembrance and healing.

Katrina Finkelstein and Derek H. Alderman wrote this article for The Conversation.


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While many Wyomingites of Hispanic descent came from Mexico, there is a lesser-known population from the old Spanish settlements of northern New Mexico who made significant contributions to the state's cultural heritage and economic growth.

Trisha Martinez, assistant professor of Latino studies at the University of Wyoming, has been documenting oral histories of families who came to the Cowboy State along the Manito Trail, a corridor now occupied by Interstate 25. She said most came to work and support their families.

"In Northern New Mexico, the reality was really hard in terms of socio-economic conditions," Martinez explained. "And so, migrating outside of the state was a necessity for survival."

Workers from New Mexico and southern Colorado were recruited to work on the railroad, in the sugar beet industry, and as sheepherders in the early twentieth century, and now have permanent communities in the state going back several generations.

Most sheepherders in the Sierra Madres of southern Wyoming traveled along the Manito Trail, and many made long-lasting impressions on Aspen trees.

Amanda Castañeda, state coordinator for the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, said arborglyphs were created with sharp tools carving thin lines, which would expand as the trees grew. Many were straightforward, featuring family names or dates.

"You're also seeing some really beautiful drawings," Castañeda observed. "A lot of religious imagery, glamorous women with 40s and 50s style haircuts. So, you can come across some pretty striking artistic accomplishments in the forest."

Workers and their families settled in segregated Laramie's west side, the south side of Cheyenne, the south park barrio of Riverton, and the south side of Rawlins, where residents still maintain traditions from their home region.

Martinez added many of her students are surprised to learn their direct ancestors traveled the Manito Trail.

"They go home and they ask questions, they call their grandparents to learn more," Martinez noted. "When students explore their communities and histories, they affirm their connection to ancestral knowledge and life-producing energies."


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National Hispanic Heritage Month starts this Friday, and runs through Oct. 15. Dozens of events are planned up and down the Golden State to honor California's more than 15 million Hispanic residents, who make up more than 40% of the population.

Adriana Mendoza, associate director for advocacy and community engagement for AARP California, said her organization is hosting a series of online events, including two cooking demonstrations, a telephone town hall on family caregiving, and a webinar on adding a casita or "granny flat" to your property.

"AARP is celebrating the lively energy, the cultural pride and contributions of Latinos to our country. Our celebration centers around the tagline of 'Somos,' which translates to, 'We are' - we are the biggest force in an even bigger country," Mendoza explained.

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from mid-September to mid-October because Sept. 15 is the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and 18, respectively.

Mendoza said AARP has also produced a video series celebrating four Hispanic and Latino Californians who have made big differences in education and public service.

"These are the four stories that we've selected to highlight, honoring folks who are not always recognized, not always known - but they're making these amazing contributions just right here in our backyard," she continued.

More information is on the AARP California website.

In addition, many cities, universities, and colleges are holding Hispanic Heritage Month events. Several are listed on the website LatinBayArea.com, and there is a gala at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.


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Interest on federal student loans will begin accruing for borrowers in New York and across the nation starting this month. The Education Data Initiative finds $93 billion in federal student loan debt belongs to New Yorkers. The average amount of debt is almost $38,000 among the almost 2.5 million student borrowers in the state.

Brian Walsh, director of advice and planning with the personal finance company SoFi, said the new students should consider the return they receive on education before taking on student loan debt.

"At the end of the day, the loans are going to have to be paid back, and you want to make sure that you borrow enough money in order to get an education and further your earning power, and improve your quality of life, and things like that," he said. "But, you don't want to borrow too much money where it's going to negatively affect major aspects of your life."

Some of these major events could be buying a house, getting married and having kids. Walsh advised people be proactive about their repayments and check with their loan servicer to see when repayments begin in October.

As so many people prepare to repay their student loans, Walsh noted there could be challenges such as high inflation and interest rates that have stretched people's finances. Focusing solely on the monthly payment is a common mistake people make when repaying their loans, he said.

"Current monthly payments are important because they need to fit into your monthly budget. But, when it comes to loans, it's really a tradeoff between what you pay now and the amount you pay over the lifetime of the loan. So, you need to kind of go into that with eyes wide open that a lower payment isn't always going to be best for you," Walsh explained.

He said the interest rate will have a big impact on the cost of borrowing. A higher interest rate could mean paying back more money than initially borrowed. But, he added with federal student loans, the interest rate is set based on the type of loan and when it was taken.


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