Buchanan County Freedom Rock

Honoring Buchanan County Veterans

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Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II

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Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

1. Buchanan County Freedom Rock Marker

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this page online

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

2. Buchanan County Freedom Rock Marker

Looking east through the Heartland Acres Agribition Center parking lot.

Touch for directions.

Midwest

Belt.

America,

Hemisphere,

World,

Anglosphere.

Culture

Purchase.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

3. Buchanan County Freedom Rock (south side)

Captain Daniel S. Lee

Excerpt:  The Buchanan Co. Freedom Rock shows Capt. D.S. Lee as leading the Independence Guards in Civil War, coming back to be elected as the first Mayor of Independence and later in life becoming elected as Representative in the Iowa State Legislature.
Also depicted is Admiral Yarnell, who was born near Independence in the year 1875. His Naval career spanned 51 years and 3 wars. He resided in Newport, Rhode Island until his death in 1959. A ship of the U.S. Navy was named in honor of Admiral Harry E. Yarnell. It was originally called a ‘destroyer leader’ or frigate, in 1975 was re-designated a cruiser and decommissioned in 1993.
The 1945 Case SI tractor, also painted on the Buchanan Co. Freedom Rock was

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

4. Buchanan County Freedom Rock (west side)

Admiral Harry Ervin Yarnell and USS Harry E. Yarnell

used to maintain and repair aircraft runways, perform other construction jobs in battle zones, mow US Air Bases, repair runways in remote areas, tow anti-submarine aircraft, fill bomb craters in battle zones and haul mobile weapons. It was used behind enemy lines when needed and is on display at Heartland Acres.

Excerpt:  Captain Lee was a prominent early settler in Independence. He was born on October 16, 1817, in Genesee County, New York. Lee made his way to Akron, Ohio, by way of Buffalo, New York, and Cleveland, Ohio. For the next four and one half years he studied the law with the Hon. William C. Dodge. He was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1846 and opened his own office in Akron, Ohio, in 1847. In 1851, the Hon. D. S. Lee headed west in search of brighter prospects. He arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, where he stayed for several months teaching school and studying the law.
He was admitted to the bar of the Iowa Supreme Court in 1852. He again headed west and arrived in Independence. He was

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

5. Buchanan County Freedom Rock (north side)

1945 Case SI tractor, as used for maintenance and construction in battle zones.

the first professional lawyer in Independence. In 1858, Lee helped organize the Buchanan County Agricultural Society which was responsible for holding early county fairs. With the beginning of the “War of the Rebellion”, Daniel Lee made a rousing patriotic speech at a mass meeting at the county court house in Independence. He ended the speech by becoming the first volunteer from Buchanan County. He helped raise a company of men which eventually became Company E assigned to the 5th Regiment Iowa Volunteers. On June 1, 1861, Lee was elected to the rank of captain. He served under General Fremont in Missouri, and under General Grant for several battles leading up the siege of Vicksburg. Capt. Lee transferred to the Army of the Gulf and was on the staff of Gen. Charles L. Matthies for eight months before mustering out of the service in August of 1864. Captain Lee returned to a newly incorporated Independence and was the first person elected to fill the office of Mayor. Captain Lee continued his political career in 1869 when he was elected to the office of Representative to the Iowa State Legislature. He held this office through the 13th

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

6. Buchanan County Freedom Rock Artist

Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II

Assembly.

Excerpt:  Born near Independence, Iowa, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1893. After serving on USS Oregon (BB-3) during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, 3 July 1898, Yarnell was commissioned ensign 1 July 1899 and reported to the Asiatic Station. He served in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War and with the Asiatic Squadron during the Boxer Rebellion. In 1902, he was the commissioning commanding officer of the destroyer USS Dale.
At the conclusion of World War I, Captain Yarnell was awarded the Navy Cross, for his "distinguished services in the ... Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, and on the Staff of the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces operating in European waters".
In February 1932, Yarnell pioneered carrier tactics in an exercise called Army/Navy Grand Joint Exercise 4. Rear Admiral Yarnell commanded the carriers Lexington and Saratoga in an effort to demonstrate that Hawaii was vulnerable to naval air power. The expectation was that Yarnell would attack with battleships,

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

7. Buchanan County Freedom Rock Veterans Memorial

Looking northeast from the Heartland Acres Agribition Center parking lot.

but instead he left his battleships behind and proceeded only with his carriers to the north of Hawaii where it was less likely he would be detected. With a storm as cover, at dawn on Sunday, 7 February, Yarnell's 152 planes attacked the harbor from the northeast, just as the Japanese would ten years later. The army airfields were first put out of commission after which Battleship Row was attacked, with multiple hits on navy ships. No defending aircraft were able to launch. The Navy's war-game umpires declared the attack a total success, prompting Yarnell to strenuously warn of the Japanese threat. His findings were dismissed by his superiors until the Imperial Japanese Navy's Pearl Harbor attack went just as Yarnell had predicted. After three years' service commanding the Asiatic Fleet, Admiral Yarnell was transferred to the Retired List, and was elected an honorary member of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the Revolution on February 22, 1940.
On 1 November 1941, as World War II loomed, Yarnell was recalled to active duty and worked in the office of the Secretary of the Navy as Special Adviser to the Chinese Military Mission.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 18, 2025

8. Buchanan County Freedom Rock Veterans Memorial

Looking south. The Heartland Acres Agribition Center is in the background.

While in this capacity, he testified before House Immigration Committee urging repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Yarnell was relieved of active duty 15 January 1943, but returned in June as Head of a Special Section in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations until December 1944.

Excerpt:  Among the awards and medals earned in his long and distinguished career were the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Diploma and Decoration of the Companion of the Order of the British Empire, and the Cloud Standard, Second Class, of the Government of China.

Excerpt:  USS Harry E. Yarnell (DLG/CG-17) was a Leahy-class guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. Named in honor of Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, she was originally classified as a "destroyer leader" or frigate, in 1975 she was redesignated a cruiser in the Navy's ship reclassification. She

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was the second of the "double-end" Leahy-class guided missile frigates to join the fleet.
Harry E. Yarnell was launched 9 December 1961 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. Philip Yarnell, widow of Admiral Yarnell; and commissioned 2 February 1963 at the Boston Naval Shipyard.

Thanking our Veterans, one painting at a time.