WILLCOX, AZ – Edgar Rice Burroughs Cavalry Monument Dedication & Celebration
September 25–28, 2025
Join fans and historians in Willcox, AZ, to honor the 150th birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs—creator of Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and The Land That Time Forgot. Burroughs began his adult life as a cavalryman at Fort Grant in 1896, after arriving at the Willcox train depot.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2025
9 AM - 5 PM Huckster Room is open at the Elks Lodge (free to the public)
10 AM - 12 PM ERB 7th U.S. Cavalry Plaque and Monument dedication proceedings will take place in front of the restored Southern Pacific Railroad Depot (now Willcox city hall). Speakers include: Frank Puncer, Master of Ceremonies; Greg Hancock, Mayor of Willcox; Kathy Klump, president of the Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society; Henry G. Franke !!! (Colonel, U.S. Army, retired); Jeffrey Mariotte, (ECOF Guest of Honor); Scott Tracy Griffin, author: Kathy Bonnaud, great granddaughter of Edgar Rice Burroughs; Floyd Gray, Buffalo Soldier historian. + USPS special pictorial cancellation with Monument Station set up by the Willcox Post Office at the railroad depot.
LUNCH2 PM - 3 PM Henry G. Franke III will speak about ERB's military service in the 7th U.S. Cavalry and also ERB's years as a WWII war correspondent in the Pacific Theater
3 PM - 4 PM Floyd Gray will speak about the activities of Buffalo Soldiers along the U.S./Mexico border with emphasis on Arizona locations, Naco AZ, Fort Huachuca, Nogales, etc.
4 PM - 5 PM Bob Leeper will give a presentation on "Geography vs. John Carter's Arizona Cave"
6 PM - 8 PM ECOF 2025 Banquet catered by the Elks Lodge (Pulled Pork or Vegetarian Lasagna) followed by dessert courtesy of Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society.(There is a special birthday cake planned to celebrate ERB's 150th birthday.) Speakers will include Kathy Bonnaud, Jeffrey J. Mariotte (Guest of Honor, keynote speaker), JimGoodwin, The Burroughs Bibliophiles, Henry G. Franke III, Jim Sullos, President of ERB, Inc., Kathy KLump. Frank Puncer, MC. Possibly others.
For more information, please contact Frank Puncer at 520.281.1818 / fwpuncer@gmail.com
