Becker Tree Farm Memorial Honors 7,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans with Dog Tags

(KNSI) – A quiet memorial honoring over 7,000 fallen veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sits tucked away at Peterson’s Tree Farm in Becker.

Linda and Mark Hoffman, a Vermont couple with deep military connections, created the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Memorial in 2018 as a labor of love to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in both conflicts. The memorial features a dog tag for every soldier lost hanging from a chain-link fence surrounding an apple orchard.

“I wanted to honor both Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers at the same time,” said Linda Hoffman, whose son Larry served in Afghanistan while her husband Mark was deployed to Iraq in 2003. “So, I wanted something different, and I came up with that concept of the dog tags from states.”

Each handmade tag contains seven pieces of information: The veteran’s rank, first and last name, age, branch of service, country where they died, date of death, and home state.

Mark served 27 years in the Army Special Forces and his son spent 22 years in the service. Mark crafts each tag using a specialized machine. He explained why he does it. “We both lost comrades in those conflicts. That was really why I wanted to do it, so that I could honor my comrades and honor all those who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The memorial is organized by state and territory, with tags hanging in rows along the fence. The final 13 names added were the service members killed in the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Linda’s brother Lee Peterson, who owns the tree farm, donated the fence space for the memorial. Linda says the peaceful setting includes a granite reflection bench overlooking the apple orchard, complete with military service symbols. “One thing that’s pretty eerie on it is when the wind ends up blowing, the tags clank together, and it sounds like chimes. And that’s where it’s like, wow, they’re talking to us here.”

The Hoffmans travel from Vermont to Minnesota to maintain the memorial, replacing weathered tags and faded American flags that separate each state section.

This Labor Day weekend (August 29th-September 2nd), they’ll be working to complete a reference book that will help visitors locate specific veterans’ tags on the fence.

Currently, visitors must search randomly through tags to find specific names, as they’re not in alphabetical order. The upcoming book will list names alphabetically by state and provide exact locations on the fence.

The memorial is free to visit year-round, though visitors should contact Peterson’s Tree Farm to arrange access when the family isn’t present. The farm also opens for apple picking during harvest season and Christmas tree sales in winter.

More information about the memorial can be found by clicking here.

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