Memorial Day is when we Americans remember our combat casualties. If you don’t know someone who lost his/her life defending freedom, you might visit one of Iowa’s 99 Freedom Rocks. The one close to my heart is the Dallas County Freedom Rock at Minburn, which honors all five of my mother’s brothers.

Here are a few photos that people have sent with the Wilson brothers: Donald, Delbert, Dale, Daniel, and Junior. They with their sisters, Doris and Darlene, grew up in Dexter during the Great Depression. Four of the brothers were tenant farmers with their parents, Clabe and Leora Wilson, at Minburn during WWII.

The photo on the left popped up on Instagram in July 2020 by c6_crazy. I sent him a little history of the brothers, and he showed up a couple of weeks later on his “other Corvette.”

My high school classmate, Steve Radakovich, sent a photo of himself with the rock.

Val Plagge is the blogger at Corn, Beans, Pigs, and Kids. After reading “Leora’s Letters,” she told her kids the story of the Wilson family and they visited the Freedom Rock at Minburn. Her oldest daughter took the photo.

Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II