Freedom Rock

Freedom Rock

Ray (Bubba) Sorensen II

Excerpt:

Every year, for the last five years, a talented artist, Ray (Bubba) Sorensen II, has done a Memorial Day tribute to our servicemen and servicewomen, both past and present, with a stirring tableau painted on a large granite boulder which stands next to Highway 25. The huge granite boulder came out of the nearby Schillberg Rock Quarry and it weighs approx. 56 ton (50.8Mg) and is 12 ft (3.7m) high.

For years this boulder was known as "the graffiti rock" and was decorated for high school rivalries, love interests, etc. Since the Memorial Day paintings began, the "rock" has remained with the annual tribute intact.

Comment: I hope to visit this someday. It is S/SW of Des Moines

Artist's tribute has become sacred to vets

Excerpt:

Ray "Bubba" Sorensen wanted to quit years ago, but there he was turning up again and again at a 56-ton boulder to paint murals of the sacrifices of America's servicemembers.

For nine years, he has painted on the boulder, called "Freedom Rock." It has made him a celebrity in this swath of central Iowa farm country and has become a Memorial Day tradition that draws thousands of people.

"I'm thanking these guys who signed up to do a job no one else wants to do," says the 27-year-old graphic artist from Ames, Iowa, whose idea began with a spurt of patriotism after watching the movie Saving Private Ryan.

Before Sorensen began painting murals each May, the boulder about 40 miles west of Des Moines on an empty stretch of Highway 25 was covered with graffiti.