Tribute Paid to David Navon at Lakewood Cemetery
In which I revisit favorite articles from 2024.
Originally published in the Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch on August 13, 2024. The Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch is part of MidValley Publications - committed to the power of the positive press. Reprinted with Permission.
At noon on August 2, 2024, at Lakewood Memorial Park on Santa Fe Avenue, 75 years after 13 men perished and the Mann Gulch fire in Montana, the National Smokejumpers Association with the American Legion, Hughson Volunteer Fire Association and Denair Fire Department, along with other smokejumpers and members of the public, gathered to honor the memory of David Navon.
Mark Nelson and Denny Breslin, president of the National Smoke Jumper Association, led the memorial at the grave of David R. Navon, marked with his name, a brass medallion recognizing his death at Mann Gulch, and a Star of David, honoring his Jewish heritage.
Navon was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 19, 1920, where his father sold farm machinery for the Chicago-based International Harvester. The family returned to the United States and bought farmland in the Central Valley, where David was raised. After his family lost the farm during the Depression in 1935, they moved to Modesto, California, where Navon finished high school in 1938.
After high school, his sister wrote, he spent a year aboard a Swedish freighter. In 1939, he returned, enrolled at Modesto Junior College, and joined the Army National Guard. In 1941, he was taken into the Army. He completed Officer Candidate School as a Second Lieutenant and completed airborne training. He volunteered for the 82nd Airborne Division and was sent to England. The 82nd Airborne Division jumped into Holland in the fall of 1944. For his performance in combat, David was awarded the Bronze Star for valor.
Navon was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Berlin, attached to the 101st Airborne Division, where he was awarded the Army Occupational Medial. He was honorably discharged in March 1946. After five years of service, he held the rank of First Lieutenant. In 1947, he attended the University of Aberdeen School of Forestry in Scotland. He returned to California and enrolled in the Forestry School at the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his degree in June 1949.
He loved books, nature, forestry, and the Montana countryside. He was a young man with wild dreams and practical plans. Navon died on the ridge of Mann Gulch as one of the “four horsemen” racing up a mountain to escape a 30—to 40-foot wall of flames.
Nelson gave the history of the fire using maps to show where the smokejumpers landed, the paths they took, their overconfidence, the spot fires that began away from the initial fire site, which grew and, with the shift of the wind, turned into a wall of flames, chasing the firefighters up the ridge. In only two hours, 13 of the 15 smokejumpers had died. “It was a very harrowing experience for all,” Nelson said.
He spoke of the lessons learned from the tragedy and summarized the life of a smokejumper, an individual in top physical condition who fights fires by parachuting to the site, plants trees, performs carpentry around the ranger station and may even be a sewing expert as they learn to build and repair their own things. “Jumpers, as do all firefighters, live on the edge, always waiting for that call to action. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of the fire bell or the single-mindedness of jumping from an airplane,” he said. “It's hard, hard work and long hours.”
“Smoke jumpers have a love of the outdoors, a deep respect for this country's national resources, and a desire to protect them and the lives disrupted by fire, whether human or forest animals. Jumpers are a very diverse group, including teachers, college students, career foresters, men and women, from all walks of life.” He concluded, “There's nothing like it.”
Nelson asked if any other smokejumpers were present to please stand. Four men, along with Nelson and Breslin, stood and gave their history in this noble and heroic service. Of the men who died at Mann Gulch, the average age was 22 years old, “prototypical, All-American, boys, adventurous, smart outdoorsman, hard-working, fun-loving, poets and pranksters.”
After Rachel Rosman from Beth Shalom led a prayer and read Psalm 23, the American Legion conducted a gun salute. Those present stood in attention as Steve Whitney from Ceres American Legion Post 491 played taps, facing the American flag, flying high from the ladder of the Denair fire truck engine.
After a moment of silence for David R. Navon, the memorial ended, and attendees stayed on to discuss the marvel of what happened, the heroic deeds done, the adventurous spirit behind it, and the sacrifice of life made by these firefighters.
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