More Information on Iowa City's F-86 Sabre Jet

A communication regarding my last post concerns the history of the Iowa City Municipal Airport's F-86 Sabre jet memorial. Websites dedicated to identifying certain aircraft exist and are fueled by input from photographers, historians and local contributors.

One 42N blog reader provided a link to such a site where he and others have detailed information about this Korean War era airframe and its history in Iowa.

Additional history regarding this particular F-86 is welcomed. Please visit the website below and add your knowledge of this memorial to the veterans of Johnson County, Iowa.

From the Aerial Visuals Airframe Dossier website (Link):

Airframe Family:	North American P-86/F-86 Sabre
Latest Model:	F-86L Sabre
Last Military Serial:	53-0750 USAF
Construction Number:	201-194
Latest Owner or Location:	Iowa City Municipal Airport, Iowa City, Iowa

Dedicated to the Lives Affected by Vietnam

 

Just past the main gates to the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, Iowa and about halfway up the hill to the right is a granite display showing the names of the those service members who died during the Vietnam War. Of the two murals etched in polished black granite is this Vietnam combat evacuation scene. Grundy, Marshall, Tama and Harden counties (all central Iowa counties) from the Marshalltown area list their war dead on light colored granite aside this large laser drawing.

 

Marshalltown's Darwin Lee Judge (USMC) is listed at this memorial. He was one of the last US soldiers to die during that conflict. He died in a rocket attack on April 29, 1975. He was a 1974 graduate of Marshalltown High School. Lance Corporal Judge is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Marshalltown. All three television networks at the time came to Marshalltown to air the story and his memorial service conducted at the Marshalltown High School gym forty years ago last month.

Price of Freedom - Orian G. Owens

During World War II Orian G. Owens' B-17F was shot down over Holland on a return bombing raid to Germany on January 11, 1944. He and other crewmates parachuted out and were recovered by resistance fighters. In April German SS found the crew, interrogated the Americans and shot them in what is now known as the massacre of St. Remy. After the war, Orian's body was returned to his family for burial in the Lisbon Cemetery. Read my article about him here.

Lest We Forget Our Boys of 1861-1865

Many older local cemeteries in northern states are populated with this statue or a variation. Civil War era veterans are often buried close to their local version of this monument. Several of these statues were placed in cemeteries and dedicated in the 1920s or earlier. 

This particular soldier monument rests on a granite base and decorated with four GAR markers and tiny US flags at its corners.