To see the Freedom Rock painted by Ray “Bubba” Sorensen, about a mile south of I-80 in Iowa, take the Greenfield/Guthrie Center exit.
Ray paints the rock every year with new images, except (according to a WHO TV report) the painting of the Huey helicopter (seen in some of the photos in this post) stays the same. Ray said, “It always stays because it has the ashes of 30 different Vietnam veterans mixed into the paint and I add more ashes every year.”
Bill and I stopped to see the Freedom Rock one Sunday last summer. Bill had seen the Freedom Rock before; I never had. What we both experienced for the first time was the treat of having Pearl Harbor survivor Clarence Pfundheller there to tell us of his Pearl Harbor experience. What a classy, friendly gentleman.
I’m posting on the fly. For more information I’ll let you peruse the photos I took in July and the web sites to which I’ve linked in this post. There you’ll find more information about Clarence, the Freedom Rock and Ray.
The Freedom Rock web site: http://thefreedomrock.com
Information about Clarence (same as linked to above): http://wobmam.com/pearl-harbor-survivors-share-stories-of-attack/
Information about Ray Sorensen and the Freedom Rock: http://whotv.com/2012/05/20/freedom-rock-painter-finishes-mural/
To view the photos below in larger sizes, first click on any of the thumbnail images. Then, at the lower right, click on “View full size.” From there, because when the mouse hovers over the image it shows as “+” sign, if you click on the image again, it will enlarge even further.
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- Clarence Pfundheller sharing his story with Bill. Notice the POW MIA flag.
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- Clarence Pfundheller and Bill
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- Clarence Pfundheller, a Pearl Harbor survivor
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- Information about Ray “Bubba” Sorensen
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- Clarence Pfundheller sharing his story with Bill
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Pictures of Clarence are posted with his permission.
(Click here to go to Louise Gunderson Shimon’s blog’s home page.)
Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 
December 12, 2012 at 10:36 am |
Hal and I should stop at the rock sometime when we’re driving to/from Iowa. BTW, I love the little snowflakes falling across the screen at this time of year.