Onawa IA

Barack Obama Live Webcast

Video from the Barack Obama Live Webcast

Hosted by Jody Ewing and Dennis Ryan
Taped in Onawa, Iowa

As 500 House Parties came together in all 99 Iowa counties on March 31, 2007, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama kicked off his “Hope, Action, Change” Community Get Togethers at the Onawa Public Library with a nationwide live streamed webcast viewed in all 50 states. The day’s event raised five million dollars for Barack’s campaign.

Hosts Jody Ewing and Dennis Ryan — who originally were to hold the event in their home — extend their deepest thanks to the Onawa Public Library staff, who graciously provided an alternate venue to accommodate the fast-growing number of enthusiastic guests.

Many thanks also go to Thomas Ritchie and Mike Kelley for all the great photos. Your keen eyes helped the event become a part of Onawa’s — and the nation’s — history. View the photos here.

Matthew Clayton

Forty Days and Forty Nights

Navy Corpsman from Iowa scribes details of Iraqi War

By Jody Ewing
August 21, 2003

Matt Clayton (center) and other Navy Corpsmen in Basra.

It was starting to get cold after the sun went down — not like a Midwest winter night, but chilly, even in our bulky MOPP gear issued for protection from biological and chemical attacks. My section of TOW missile-equipped Humvees had just been attached to an infantry company less than 20 minutes earlier. We were to follow them to an intersection a few klicks south of the only bridge over the river Basra, into the city of Basra, for many kilometers east and west. At this intersection, we were to set up a security for a blocking force of tanks to occupy until the Brits took it over the next day. My section never made it to the intersection that night.

In the first of many detailed journal entries — this one aptly titled “That First Night” — U.S. Navy Corpsman and Onawa, Iowa, native Matthew Clayton describes the series of events that took him completely around the world by plane, Humvee, on foot and by ship, going through every time zone on the planet.

matt-clayton-ship-basra — Matt Clayton, a Navy hospital corpsman who served with the Marines on Iraq’s front line, was a college senior and gifted mathematician who hoped to complete his education and teach algebra at the college level once he finished his tour in Iraq. He is shown here aboard the USS Boxer near Solomon Islands, returning from Iraq.

The bulk of his writing, however, focused on the 40 days and 40 nights he spent in Iraq, fighting side-by-side with soldiers on the front line of the war.

As a Navy hospital corpsman who served with the Marines, Clayton joined the ranks of John Bradley, the young Navy corpsman who, along with five other soldiers, raised an American flag on Mount Suribachi after the Battle of Iwo Jima. Trained as specialists in combat medicine, Navy corpsman go into battle with Marines and provide life-saving aid to those wounded in combat — including the wounded enemy. Clayton’s TOW platoon served with the Marine Corps’ 1st Tank Battalion.

Stationed permanently in Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., the 28-year-old returned to Iowa earlier this month to spend time with his family and friends.

The son of Kim Berens, a nurse, and retired Marine Lance Clayton, both of Onawa, he also is this writer’s nephew. We talked about the war and that first night, where a small barking dog, Iraqis with AK-47s, one little boy, and pitch-black conditions set off a chain reaction of gunfire and what Matt called “archetypal gut reactions.”

What set off the events that night?

We had halted to do reconnaissance on a junkyard-like complex of buildings and above-ground fuel tanks, and my vehicle was stopped in the driveway of a darkened residence with a chain link fence. A dog emerged from the fenced area and ran around our vehicle, barking, while over radio traffic in my helmet I heard there were four dismounts (Iraqis) carrying AK-47s about 300 meters to our northwest. They were moving quickly from berm to berm and coming towards us, using cover and concealment.

Line charges used to clear minefield near Baghdad — Powerful line charges are used to clear a minefield on a road near Baghdad.

Then, I saw a faint outline of a person standing next to one of the smaller buildings, and, my hands on the trigger, yelled something like “Freeze!” but he disappeared with only a sidestep. I heard him call for the dog, and when a pickup passed by, the headlights showed a young boy — who couldn’t have been more than 10 — holding that dog. We’d dropped millions of flyers telling [the civilians] to stay inside, and here I’d almost blasted a young boy the very first night of the war.

What happened then?

4 Alpha, a wingman, yelled that the dismounts had just gone prone, and that one was aiming his weapon right at me. He said, “Kill him! F— (expletive) — he’s firing!” And just as I heard 4 Alpha say that last, I saw two orange streaks zip through trees high and to my right. We jumped into our vehicle and floored it… we were bringing the heavy gun back to support the others.

Sgt. Miller, our section leader, screamed “4 Alpha, direct my fire!” and before I even pondered what was about to happen, a .50-cal machine gun started belching hot lead right above my head. We eventually exterminated them with extreme prejudice. The carnage and destruction resulting from their deliberate and accurate fire are burned into my memory forever.

Can you contrast growing up in Iowa to what you saw it was like for those growing up in Iraq?

US Navy Corpsman and Iraq War veteran Matthew Clayton — Matt Clayton hugs his mother, Kim Berens, during a visit home to Iowa after his return from Iraq.

It was actually really sad. The people of Iraq could and should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world because of their oil reserves. But almost 95 percent of the people lived in total poverty, just squalor, shacks, barefoot, rags for clothes, no electricity, hand-pumped water out of ground wells. That was virtually all the country that I saw except for in Baghdad.

How would you describe the pulse of the country in Baghdad?

There was just overwhelming joy everywhere we went. No Iraqi civilian ever had a bad word to say to any of us at any time. Parents would come out with tears in their eyes, carrying their babies, thanking us for giving their children a chance at a better life.

Baghdad is not like a third world at all. It’s industrialized, and all that was just taken away from them. They’d tell us which schools had caches of weapons and where people were selling guns. Kids would actually bring pens out and want us to autograph their hands or their soccer balls. You’d see 50 or 100 servicemen’s names on it already from other units that had been on patrol. It felt very strange.

Did you and other troops ever discuss why you thought you were there?

Iran-Iraq Memorial in Baghdad — The Iran-Iraq memorial in Baghdad where Clayton’s battalion set up a tactical operations base.

Oil, plain and simple. That was the general rumor amongst the troops before we left. We listened to Bush, and even when he did the you’ve-got-48-hours thing and gave that speech, we listened to it on the radio in Kuwait, and all the Marines in my unit were like “Bullshit.” He was talking about this “axis of evil,” and “terrorists” and “weapons of mass destruction,” and we’re like, whatever. We’re going over there for oil and we all know it. In fact, instead of “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” someone in my platoon made up a big sign that said Operation Iraqi Liberation with the first letters of each word in bold print and underlined so the sign clearly read O I L. Our platoon commander made him take it down.

Despite the reasons you felt you were there, did you feel most Americans supported your efforts or did it feel like Vietnam all over again?

U.S. Navy Corpsman Matt Clayton with his parents — Matt with his mother, Kim Berens, and father, Lance Clayton, during a visit home to Iowa after first returning from Iraq.

It felt like the people were behind us for sure, but we really had no contact. We got mail only twice while we were in Iraq. We never had a sense that we were going to come back and be called baby-killers or things like that. Everyone was extremely supportive.

What did you fear most while over there?

First and foremost, getting killed. When we first crossed over from Kuwait into Iraq, we didn’t want to get attacked by gas or slimed by chemical weapons. We had superiority as far as technology and equipment and numbers — and morale — so the chemical stuff was really on our minds at first, but then as we went more and more, about 80-90 percent of their entire armed forces just deserted the very first night we were there.

So the morale was good?

I don’t think morale was ever bad, but we were a bit anxious to get home. After we left Baghdad, we were camped out in southern Iraq waiting for these heavy equipment trucks to come and pick up the tanks. After our mission in the country was done, we were just waiting to get out and it was a little bit worse. We hadn’t had a shower for 40 days. We were ready to get out of there.

What are your plans for the future?

US Navy Corpsman Matthew Clayton — U.S. Navy Corpsman Matt Clayton

I have two years left in the Navy and I’ll probably be with the Marines those two years. Right now I don’t plan on reenlisting or extending. I really liked it except the war thing kind of turned me off. I’m a senior in college, and am going to finish my mathematics degree and use my money from the Navy and the GI Bill to get my masters. I want to teach math or algebra someday, most likely at a community college. I’m not sure where I’m going to go, but you can teach math anywhere in the world.

Excerpts of this article first appeared in the Weekender on August 21, 2003.

* Author’s postscript to this story: Matt Clayton, like many others who spent time on Iraq’s front line, has battled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since his tour in Iraq.

In May 2010, he was scheduled to sit down for a visit with U.S. Senate candidate (Ret.) Lt. Col. Bob Krause and Iraq veteran Maria Deike to discuss war vets’ ongoing needs and the difficulties they face recapturing former dreams and lives. Krause — former Iowa Democratic Veterans Caucus Chair — has worked tirelessly to bring to the forefront important veterans’ issues such as PTSD, substance abuse and homelessness.

Although the event was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, Krause went on to spearhead the Veterans’ National Recovery Center (VNRC), a 501(c)(3) corporation that brings awareness to the massive influx of PTSD veterans from the 911 Wars and works with other agencies to provide much-needed services to veterans struggling to reintegrate into society.

Matt recently began working on a novel and shares other stories on his blog at MatthewEClayton.com/blog. He enjoys hearing from readers and other veterans and welcomes all feedback. He continues to explore ways in which he may be able to contribute to the Veterans National Recovery Center project.

Earl Thelander Articles

News and Articles with references to
Earl Thelander death

Earl L. Thelander

May 9, 1927

September 1, 2007

Cold Case: Exploring Iowa’s unsolved murders

October 24, 2015 | Independence Bulletin Journal

This is a weekly feature highlighting some of Iowa’s unsolved homicides in the hopes that it will lead to new tips and potentially help solve cases. The project is a partnership between this newspaper and other members of the Iowa Newspaper Association.

ONAWA – Earl Thelander sustained second- and third-degree burns over 80% of his body in an August 28, 2007 explosion caused by copper thieves. The thieves had stripped propane gas lines from a country home that Earl and his wife Hope had been renovating.

Gone Cold: Earl Thelander

September 1, 2015 | Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

Earl Thelander got second- and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body in an Aug. 28, 2007, explosion caused by copper thieves. Sometime overnight from Aug. 27 to Aug. 28, thieves broke into the vacant home at 20877 Gum Ave. near Onawa, which Earl and wife Hope had been renovating, and stole copper propane and water lines, causing the house to fill with gas. Earl discovered the break-in at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 28. Read More

Gone Cold: Earl Thelander

August 24, 2015 | The Carroll Daily Times Herald

Part of the GONE COLD: EXPLORING IOWA’S UNSOLVED MURDERS series.

Earl Thelander sustained second- and third-degree burns over 80% of his body in an August 28, 2007 explosion caused by copper thieves. The thieves had stripped propane gas lines from a country home that Earl and his wife Hope had been renovating.

Gone Cold: Earl Thelander, killed in 2007

August 22, 2015 | The Des Moines Register

Name: Earl Thelander

Age: 80

Died: September 1, 2007

Location: Onawa

Earl Thelander sustained second- and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body in an Aug. 28, 2007, explosion caused by copper thieves. The thieves had stripped propane gas lines from a country home that Earl and his wife Hope had been renovating. Read More

Iowa’s cold cases: Website offers hope to victims’ families

May 31, 2012 | The Des Moines Register

The stories kept coming.

The year was 2005. Newspaper reporter Jody Ewing had finished her series on a half-dozen Sioux City-area cold case crimes for the Sioux City Journal magazine, the Weekender.

But months after the last paragraph published, emails and letters continued. Family members of victims, amateur crime historians and retired law enforcement officers wrote and called Ewing with more stories of unsolved crimes from across Iowa.

Keeping cold cases from being forgotten

May 11, 2012 | The Iowa City Press-Citizen

When Jody Ewing first began writing about Iowa’s unsolved murders, people would ask if she had a personal connection to a cold case that sparked her interest.

Until 2007, the answer was always no.

On Aug. 28 of that year, 80-year-old Earl Thelander of Onawa, Ewing’s stepfather, was cleaning the basement of an unoccupied rental property that had been gutted by copper thieves. Earlier that day, he and law enforcement officials had turned off the propane tank and aired out the house, but when he turned on a blower fan to dry out the basement, it ignited an explosion. Thelander died of severe burns four days later.

Legislature tackles scrap metal theft

March 26, 2012 | Iowa Senate Democrats

The theft of copper and other scrap metal from construction sites, homes and businesses is a national problem, including here in Iowa.

Not only are businesses and individuals being robbed, this is a serious threat to public safety. For example, thieves are entering homes and stealing copper wiring and tubing. That creates fire hazards and other serious dangers to Iowans. In Monona County, Earl Thelander died in 2007 from burns he suffered in an explosion after thieves stole copper piping from his rural Onawa property.

That’s why the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved House File 2399. The bill requires all scrap metal dealers to keep a record of their scrap metal purchases. The dealers are required to get the name, address and place of business of every person who sells them scrap metal. In addition the seller must provide some form of government-issued photo identification.

These records will be kept in a confidential log that law enforcement can use if needed in a criminal investigation.

Partnership to Combat Critical Infrastructure: Copper Theft

February 28, 2012 | SafeGuardIowa.org

A webinar focused on copper theft affecting critical infrastructure and designed for individuals interested in collaborating with public agencies and private-sector organizations to successfully investigate and prosecute copper thefts.

96 Webinar Slides — Earl Thelander case on page 42 under title:

Iowa Example: Homicide

Webinar Sponsored by:

Department of Justice — State of Iowa
Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Iowa Department of Public Safety Division of Intelligence
Iowa League of Cities
Iowa Municipal Attorneys Association
Iowa Law Enforcement Intelligence Network
Iowa County Attorneys Association
MidAmerican Energy
Safeguard Iowa Partnership

Stealing Copper Can Be a Deadly Crime

October 21, 2011 | KCAU-TV Channel 9, Sioux City

After a rash of attempted copper thefts, authorities want people to know the dangers from stealing copper are real.

One Siouxland family has come face to face with the deadly dangers that copper thieves can leave behind.

Propane warning for LL

By RR [WA]) Posted on Aug. 31, 2011 10:54 AM

This story about Earl Thelander is a few years old, but I just read it and realized that it could happen to ANY ONE OF US.

Here’s the story: https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/earl-thelander/

In short, copper thieves stole propane lines, house filled with propane, gas was turned off, authorities were called, the house was aired out for a couple hours, THEN:

“Earl entered the house, and, smelling no propane gas, felt it was safe for him to work. In the basement, however, he discovered water had leaked onto the floor from the cut and stolen water lines. He set up a squirrel cage blower to help expedite drying the basement floor and plugged it in. The home suddenly exploded, throwing him all the way across the room and into a basement corner.”

I probably would have done the same thing…

How could this have been prevented? How long do you need to air out a house after a major propane leak?

–76.22.104.242

COLD CASES: Death of stepfather drives woman to profile Iowa’s unsolved crimes

July 29, 2010 | WHO-TV Channel 13, Des Moines

Onawa, IA – For Jody Ewing of Onawa, near Sioux City, this is her calling. Remembering the forgotten. Profiling cold, unsolved cases throughout the state on her website iowacoldcases.org.

Iowa woman casts a wide net to catch criminals: Web site helps keep Iowa cold cases alive

The Muscatine Journal
February 12, 2010

ONAWA, Iowa – Bringing up unsolved murders can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, victims’ families hope new stories and information can cut through years of mystery and uncertainty and bring to justice the person responsible for their loved one’s murder.

‘Urban miners’ scrap plans to steal metals

The Des Moines Register
November 19, 2008

… A thief who stripped copper tubing from a propane tank in western Iowa in August was blamed for a buildup of gas in a house. The explosion killed 80-year-old Earl Thelander of Onawa.

Copper theft: It can have deadly consequences

The Sioux City Journal
September 28, 2008

SIOUX CITY — Even though he had retired from the plumbing and heating business, 80-year-old Earl Thelander liked to stay busy. On Aug. 28, 2007, he was cleaning up the basement of one of his rental properties in rural Onawa, Iowa, when an explosion occurred. Thelander, who suffered second- and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body, died four days later at an Omaha burn unit.