One pair of combat boots soon to join others solemnly displayed at the Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus is definitely not like the others. They’re distinct, not by the equally distinguished service of their former owner, but by their age and design.

The boots are authentic World War II combat boots distinguished by their worn leather, dual buckle and the tacks in their sturdy soles.

The pair, discovered at an estate sale in Prescott by former Yavapai College Student Support Services/TRIO Director, Mike Opitz, will complete the Unheard 22 Memorial at the Verde Campus. Opitz donated the boots to the memorial believing, as he put it, “these could be doing something much more important than sitting in a box in a closet.”

A World War II memorabilia collector and amateur historian who now works as a career development advisor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Opitz was happy to add his estate-sale find to the Unheard 22 memorial heightening awareness of the staggering number of U.S. service men and women who die by suicide daily. “It just felt like the right thing to do,” he said.

The Unheard 22 Memorials, displaying 22 pairs of donated and preserved combat boots near the flagpoles at both the Prescott and Verde Valley campuses, are the result of a cause undertaken by the former president of the Yavapai College Student Government Association, U.S. Air Force veteran and suicide survivor Jamie Oltersdorf. Faculty, staff, students and area residents gather at the memorials every 22^nd day of the month to pay silent tribute to the lost and “unheard” veterans and, importantly, to raise awareness of suicide-prevention resources available to both veterans and non-veterans.

The Word War II boots that Opitz donated are the final addition to the Verde Campus memorial. Scott Nardo, Manager of Veteran Services at Yavapai College, called them “an important piece of history” that he hopes will increase visits to the memorials and advance suicide-prevention efforts communitywide.

Although little information about the boots’ owner is known, Opitz said he was told by a family member at the estate sale they belonged to a retired physician who served in the U.S. Army in the European Theater, including in the Battle of the Bulge, during World War II.

Opitz’s own research found that the boots were manufactured in 1943, thanks to an abundance of leather during the middle of the war, and replaced previous standard-issue canvas leggings and leather shoes.

The canvas leggings proved hard to get off and on, Opitz said. “So instead of having a two-piece system, they devised a one-piece system. They were quite the hot item,” he said, despite Gen. Omar Bradley, the leader of the American First Army, hating them and relegating their use to the Pacific Theater. By mid-1944, he said, the double-buckle leather boots were the standard, largely because they prevented soldiers’ trousers tucked into them from ripping. Use of the boots continued into the Korean War, he said.

The majority of the preserved boots in the college’s Unheard 22 memorials are modern-era combat boots, Opitz said. “The combat boots of history’s older veterans need to be represented as well. I had these in a box and I wasn’t doing much with them. I wanted them to have a higher and better use.”   

Yavapai College operates seven campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, six baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about Yavapai College, visit www.yc.edu.