By James Matsuoka
If you find yourself driving on Route 66 in the high desert Colorado Plateau passing through Gallup, New Mexico, consider stopping at the Comfort Suites just east of the city. It’s a regular chain hotel, tucked behind a Denny’s and Dickey’s Barbeque Pit, but inside the lobby is a small museum dedicated to those who’ve served in the US military.
The hotel manager, Ken Riege, is an eight-year US Air Force Veteran. Soon after the hotel opened in 2009, the Navajo Code Talkers and other veteran organizations started to stay there for local meetings and conventions. Some showed their appreciation for Ken’s hospitality by donating personal items to the hotel.
The donations accumulated, and their displays grew more elaborate. Piece by piece, the collection at the Comfort Suites Gallup East Route 66 and I-40 quietly expanded until the hotel was recognized by the city as the Gallup Veterans Museum.
The museum includes two handmade quilts, one from a New Mexico Medal of Honor recipient, another from a Navajo Code Talker. There are challenge coins, ship models, posters, and 17 individual Code Talker portraits displayed in the conference room. A United States Marine Corps remembrance chair greets guests in the lobby. It was donated by a Marine veteran in California to honor those killed in Vietnam. And, of course, the dining area includes empty table set for POW/MIA.
The space also includes a memorial to Ken’s good friend and Medal of Honor recipient, Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura, born and raised in Gallup. Hershey served in the famed all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II before being recalled for the Korean War in 1950. On April 24, 1951, as a corporal in the 3rd Infantry Division, Hershey, alone, covered his machine gun squad to retreat in the face of an overwhelming Chinese attack.
Should you be visiting New Mexico and need a veteran-friendly place to stay, make sure to check out the East Gallup Comfort Suites and tell Ken Riege that Veterans Breakfast Club sent you.
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