Iowa Society, Sons of the American Revolution

The Iowa Society of the Sons of the American Revolution presented Eagle Scout Jack Fink the awards for 1st place in the annual Eagle Scout program.  The presentation was made during the Fall meeting, 15 October 2016. Pictured from L-R, Dave Shannon, the Iowa Society Chairman of the Eagle Scout Program and the SAR Knight Essay Program, Jack Fink, Iowa Past President Harold [...]

The Iowa Society of the Sons of the American Revolution awarded Ganesh Ganpat, Parks and Recreation Supervisor and John Woolson, Cemetery Operations Supervisor for the City of Des Moines and the staff workers at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines a Certificate of Appreciation on October 5, 2016. The certificate was given for their efforts in planning and leading a project of over 100 volunteers to clean and raise sunken veteran’s flat gravestones in Laurel Hill and Glendale Cemeteries in Des Moines. As families from all over the metro may have relatives in Des Moines cemeteries, please consider for publication in any of the metro area community sections In all the pilot program cleaned over 1000 stones at Laurel Hill and re-set over 2425 stones at Glendale. Future plans call for re-setting even more stones at both cemeteries. Photo from left to right- Ganesh Ganpat, Parks and Recreation Supervisor, Mike Rowley President Central Iowa Chapter, SAR and John Woolson, Cemetery Operations Supervisor for the City of Des [...]

Not all of the work of the Central Iowa Chapter of Iowa SAR is done in the spit and polish uniforms of the Color Guard.   The week of Sept 14th 2016, member of the Iowa SAR and DAR joined with local volunteers and raised over 2000 sunken veteran’s gravestones and Des Moines’ largest cemetery.   photo from left to right- Iowa SAR member Rick Hickman, Iowa DAR members Jackie Baker and Judy McNamra Central Iowa Chapter President  Mike Rowley not pictured but also participating for multiple days, SAR member George DeMoss [...]

Flag Day 2016 presented the Iowa Sons of  the American Revolution and the West Des Moines  Elks Lodge 2752 an opportunity to come together and celebrate with a dinner honoring veterans and a program educating about the history of the American Flag.  The Iowa SAR awarded the Elks Lodge a certificate of commendation in recognition of exemplary Patriotism in the display of the Flag of the United States of America.   photo attached-Left to right: Larry Cramer, Jack Peter, Greg Weinschenk, Mike Rowley, Richard Cordle, Michelle Roovaart and Michael [...]

On January 7, 2016 about 25 veterans at the VA Central Iowa Health Care System in Des Moines hosted members of the General Society of the War of 1812, the Iowa Sons of the American Revolution and the DAR for an evening of bingo and friendly conversation. Photo– left to right back row GSW 1812 & SAR members Rick Hickman, Ron Rittel, Tim Rowley, Dana Lamb and David Lamb.  Front row left to right-  2 of the Veteran hosts Ted Siler, (middle DAR member Judy McNamara) & Jacob Knapp. [...]

The Iowa Society of the SAR awarded member Ron Rittel the Bronze Good Citizenship award for his projects of identifying, documenting, photographing, placing on a website for public viewing  and transcribing the graves of the last Civil War veteran in each of Iowa’s 99 counties.  In addition to that project Compatriot Rittel is also working to photograph the charters for each of the G.A.R. posts in Iowa.  They numbered over 50 at one time   Photo- left to right Ron Rittel, SAR member and SUVCW Iowa Department Commander Danny Krock and Iowa SAR Past President Volney Smith [...]

Iowa SAR entry in the 2015.  Red Mustang convertible is owned and driven by forever young Iowa SAR member Volney Smith, Past President and current Secretary and Treasurer of the Iowa SAR.  Riding with Volney were DAR members Kathryn Smith (his daughter), Judy McNamara and Alberta M [...]

Iowa SAR is often involved in programs that honor those who served during the Revolutionary War.   On Sunday August 16, 2015 several of our members joined in a celebration that was little closer to home in place and time.     The “Keep the Spirit of ’45 Alive” program was held at the Iowa veterans Cemetery in Van Meter, Iowa as well as other locations in nearly all states and National Veterans cemeteries.   It was not only a chance for many of my generation to honor their own family members that served during WWII and have passed but also a chance to meet, embrace and personally thank WWII veterans in person.   I met Calvin Beam of Nevada, Iowa who if I understood correctly, enlisted shortly out of high school and was involved in over 20 battles of what he termed “his free world tour.”     While he was not one of those up on the stage with the local dignitaries he was one of many of the quiet heroes in the crowd on this bright sunny Iowa afternoon.  While comments were made by the speakers it was not uncommon to see those veterans in the crowd getting [...]

On a beautiful July day, high a top a hill at the SAMS Cemetery in Jasper County it is clear enough to see the Principal Building in Downtown Des Moines.  Closer to the actual site members of the Iowa Sons of the American Revolution, the General Society of the War of 1812, the  Iowa Military Heritage Society, the Iowa Department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and other volunteers combined the research they had done with a little manual labor and saw to it that yet another previously unmarked Civil War veteran’s grave was graced with a granite VA supplied stone. Danny Krock, Mike Rowley, Bob Gannon and Jim Byal, Commander of Mingo American Legion Robert Gannon, A Vietnam veteran is the man behind the project and a transcript or audio version of an NPR story on the subject can be heard at   http://iowapublicradio.org/post/iowa-cemetery-awakenings   Plans are well underway for a very special occasion on September 24th, 2016 that the public is encouraged and invited to participate in.   Mike Rowley Color Sgt. 49th [...]