The Dallas County Freedom Rock® was dedicated October 19, 2019, in Minburn, Iowa.

The five Wilson brothers, my uncles, are remembered on one side. I’m so thankful because, even though three of the brothers were lost during WWII, it felt like the family had been forgotten.

The Wilsons were tenant farmers a couple of miles SW of this spot, until all five brothers had left to serve. Donald Wilson, the brother on the left, was the only one of the four who didn’t live at Minburn. He and Delbert and joined the Navy in 1934. Delbert left after his first enlistment was up, sure he could find a job in California that would pay more than the Navy. California also suffered under the Depression and he returned to Iowa.

Donald stayed in, took electricians classes and joined the crew of the brand new carrier, USS Yorktown (CV-5). In the compelling opening of Leora’s Letters, Donald had come home to Minburn with a friend. AWOL. Delbert and Donald would survive the war but they lost their younger brothers.

The north side of the Dallas County Freedom Rock® features well-known athletes who also served in the war, Bob Feller and Nile Kinnick.

This Freedom Rock® is along a highway and near a busy bike trail. When I gave my ophthalmologist a copy of Leora’s Letters, he did a doubletake. He and friends had biked to Minburn out the weekend before and discovered the Rock. He recognized the faces of the Wilson brothers, but didn’t know their story.

Clabe and Leora Wilson were the parents of the five brothers, along with their sisters, Doris and Darlene. Doris was my mother, in age between the Navy boys and the pilots. Darlene was the twin of Dale, the brother in the center. The one who has never been found.

I’m so thankful the family is being remembered, in the county they lived in for decades, in the State of Iowa, and beyond.