About Daniel My Brother

Daniel My Brother is a story retracing a traveler's trail, and examines an unsolved true crime. It delves into family dynamics during the Draft near the close of the Vietnam war. A twist of fate story of a life cut short, and an attempt to set the record straight.

From Daniel My Brother

"We walked the parking area, each in our own world. How is one to

feel? We were there about ten minutes, interstate traffic whizzing by while

I reflected and tried to imagine the scene that October 1 morning. As I

walked to the car, I found what Loretta had been up to. She had cleared

a place and arranged stones to form the initials DAW with a peace sign

below. We climbed back into the car and continued toward Needles."

From Daniel My Brother

Perhaps enough time had passed to overcome the resistance. We were getting older, and the story risked going untold. I was the only one who could tell it. Loretta and I finally, after much soul-searching, took our first tentative steps toward what we called “The Project.”

After a career in the tech world based in the Midwest, Douglas Walker retired to  northwestern Montana. This is where he put Daniel My Brother to pages. 

Photograph by Richard Menzies

From Daniel My Brother

"I've saved some of Dan’s letters, copies of which I can share. Also, pictures, including one of him at full gallop astride Blaze the Wonder Horse. Did I mention that your brother was also fearless?”

Motivated by pervasive and persistent rumors the story longed to be told.  Those out of the know would ask, "What happened to your brother?" This story answers that question.

This is copied/re-created from a map given to us by Law Enforcement. 

The Interstate between Needles, and  Barstow, California, through the Mojave desert, is barren of services and population, especially in 1974. We went on a search through the desert (old route 66) for a path to the truth.

See article from Metro retyped below

The murderers might have been heading for Indiana. These are some actual newspaper headlines from the time. 

Photograph by Richard Menzies

rdmenzies.com

From Daniel My Brother

A Blog by Richard Menzies

September 29, 2011

"Forty years later I think of Dan occasionally and especially whenever

I visit Heber Valley, which no longer looks the same as it did those

magical summers. Snake Creek no longer meanders freely and the open

fields we knew are covered with houses. My cabin is long gone, and so is

the wild and crazy horse we called Blaze. Danny loved Blaze and, unlike

me, wasn’t afraid to ride him. Fast and furiously he rode across the open

meadow toward wherever it was that a bright young man madly in love

with life might “reach the age of twenty-one and just stagnate there or

whatever you do to make time stand still.”

From Daniel My Brother

"Richard’s quarters, or should I say “squatter’s rights spot,” at The Homestead was an old bait shop that had been vacant for years. He named it The Homestead Hilton."

Photograph by Richard Menzies

rdmenzies.com

When your mentor names a book after a phrase spoken decades earlier.

From Daniel My Brother

“I enjoyed our conversations and probably learned as much from Dan as he learned from me,” Richard wrote. “In fact, he came up with the title for a book I was destined to write many years later: Virtue Is Its

Own Punishment. "

Beautiful travel journal by Richard Menzies

Passing Through

rdmenzies.com

From Daniel My Brother

"Today, Richard is an accomplished author and photographer who

has traveled throughout the Mountain West, finding stories where others

aren’t looking or care not to look. He shot a famous photograph of Burt

Munro, who later became an icon of the motorcycling world, thanks to

the film The World’s Fastest Indian. Understated and humble to this day,

Richard has stayed near his roots in Utah, and after much urging from

the Bull kids, I found him immediately. I’m glad I did. Another person

I should have contacted long ago."

More From Daniel My Brother

"Dan Junior treated Dan Senior too much as a peer, trying to get him

to see the world differently. That wasn’t going to happen. As his younger

brother, I learned from observation that some things were better left

unsaid, at least until you get to that stage of laughing about it together

later in life as adults. But Dan was in a hurry. He needed to say what

was on his mind and in his heart, perhaps knowing he was just passing

through, quicker than most."

Police report from early October 1974. 

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Police report from October 1974

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