A unique story of a chaplain's assistant born in Vinton and later awarded the Medal of Honor is one of three represented on the brand new Benton County Freedom Rock.
A unique story of a chaplain's assistant born in Vinton and later awarded the Medal of Honor is one of three represented on the brand new Benton County Freedom Rock.
Shellsburg native Mark R. Reynolds, a B-17 tail gunner, died in action March 24, 1945. "I'll try, sir." With those three words, 20-year-old Calvin Pearl Titus, born in Vinton, answered a Colonel's call for volunteers and became the only chaplain's assistant to ever earn a Medal of Honor. He earned the highest U.S. military honor in a conflict that many Americans do not associate with the U.S. military - China's Boxer Rebellion.
1900, is the same year another Vinton-born man took a big step toward making military history. Everett Longley Warner joined the Art Students League of New York, a school for artists. Eighteen years later, as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves, Warner would create a camouflage paint scheme for ships so effective that it still bears his name. He later became one of the first to paint and draw from an aerial point of view; his artistic talents were also called back into service during World War II when he again worked on camouflage schemes. Everett Warner became famous for his unique ability to design camouflage for U.S. ships.
The year that Warner retired, two Benton County airmen died on the same day. One of them was Shellsburg native Mark R. Reynolds, a B-17 tail gunner who perished along with the rest of his crew on March 24, 1945. He was flying his 18th bombing mission and died just 45 days before peace came to Europe.
The other area airman who died that day was Marvin Steinford, a young husband and father, whose B-17 was shot down over Hungary. Shot down on March 24, 1945, Steinford's body, however, did not return home to Iowa until 2011. He and other crew members were buried in an unmarked grave in Hungary before finally being identified and returned home.
Titus, Warner and Reynolds are the three faces that now adorn the Benton County Freedom Rock. The Benton County Freedom Rock represents the latest entry of the Freedom Rock Tour; the three men represent every soldier, sailor or Marine from Benton County who has served our country.
The Benton County Freedom Rock - located just east of the Shellsburg Legion Hall - represents men and women we know much about - like the three mentioned above. Painted by Ray "Bubba" Sorenson II, the rock represents men like those mentioned above as well as every local veteran whose name we have never heard. It honors each man or woman who put on a uniform, completed basic training, and was shipped across the country or across the ocean to a far-off locale to help keep the rest of us safe at home.
See the Freedom Rock Tour page HERE.
Learn more about the three faces of the Benton County Freedom Rock by clicking the links below:
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