• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Woman creates pseudo military cemetery at Bell Plaine Days

Woman creates pseudo military cemetery at Bell Plaine Days

August 21, 2006 By admin

There was a serious side to Family Fun Days in Belle Plaine this past weekend. Belle Plaine native Dana Knapp erected a pseudo-cemetery on a field of lush green grass, with one white cross for every American soldier who’s died in Iraq. She did it to honor the dead — and the loved ones they left behind.

“There is no word for when you lose your children because there is no way to describe that hurt,” Knapp says. Knapp has five grandchildren in the military. Knapp made the crosses with sticks that are normally used to stir paint, then coated the crosses in white before planting them in the ground. Knapp says she thought of her grandchildren when she made every one of the markers.

Logan Baburek of Belle Plaine was among those who visited the cemetery.”My cousin is in the war,” Baburek says. “(The crosses made him) just think about how he’s doing there.” Army Captain Grant Montgomery, who will be returning to Iraq next year, took his wife and young daughter to the site.

Montgomery’s wife, Christina, says there’s a story behind each cross. “You feel the pride,” she says. “But you also feel a deep sadness for the loss of the individuals because you know they are husbands, brothers and sons.” To date, the official number of U.S. deaths in Iraq is 2,607. Thirty of those soldiers were from Iowa.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest, Military

Featured Stories

Governor signs child care expansion into law

Iowa seniors have until July 1 to apply for new property tax break

Smoke from distant fires creates colorful sunrise in Iowa

DOT’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division to merge into State Patrol

Iowa’s governor approves liability limits for trucking industry

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa AD Gary Barta announces retirement

Iowa to visit Creighton in Gavitt Tipoff Games

Iowa and Indiana collide Thursday at B1G baseball tournament

Former Hawkeye joins Lisa Bluder’s staff at Iowa

Iowa rolls in B1G Tournament opener

More Sports

Archives

Copyright © 2023 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC