A veteran's banner inspires a living legacy of devotion to family

When Karen Quinn took her grandson to look at the veteran's banners in Niwot, she didn't know how he would respond. Her grandpa, and her grandson's great, great grandfather was an Army Corporal in WWI. Cpl. Ivan Henry "Bill" Dart was based in France, where he helped wounded soldiers as a part of the Medical Corps.

"I showed him my grandpa's banner and, oh, he just loved it," said Quinn, who lives in Niwot. The two strolled around Cottonwood Square and looked at some of the others, talking about who they were and how they served. Quinn said that when she suggested they walk home, her grandson objected, using the name he calls her, the Norwegian word for grandmother, "But Mormor, we haven't seen the rest of the banners. Let's look at them all."

They made their way to 2nd Avenue to see the rest of the 50-plus tan banners, trimmed in stars and stripes with photos and facts about the veterans that put a face on history from the Civil War to recent years. Eleven-year-old Denali Gildersleeve read each one. "It was just really interesting to see when they served and what they did and what year it was," he said.

When they reached the end of the street, Quinn said that Gildersleeve was still curious, especially about his great, great grandfather. The two headed to Quinn's home where she pulled out a family treasure - a war album her grandpa made about his time in France.

It is filled with black and white images of fellow soldiers, explosions, rubble, remains, a visit by President Woodrow Wilson and a crowd on Armistice Day, 11-11-1918, when WWI ended. Along with images of war, the album shows photos and postcards of the beauty of the French countryside, monuments, statues and images of daily life.

"We used to look at it with Grandpa actually," Quinn said. "Like many military people who have served in war and seen the horrors of war versus the glorification of it, they don't like to talk about it much."

The album speaks for Dart even today. Along with the photos, there are letters he wrote. One was to his parents, "Another unforgettable day - our patients arrived about 11:05 a.m., a whole train load of them and we worked steadily for four hours unloading ... I never saw such a battered up lot of men in my life."

Another letter is to the family of a close friend who died on the battlefield. The 20-year-olds were buddies from the town of Litchfield, Minnesota, and enlisted together. Quinn is touched by the compassion her grandpa showed in telling the soldier's parents what happened to their son and how tragic it was to lose such a good person, "Poor Cotton Top, who wouldn't hurt a fly," Dart wrote.

The letters and photos brought Dart to life for his great, great grandson. "It was fun to see what he did and where he was and how he helped people. And there were some sad pictures that I saw," Gildersleeve said. "It was cool to learn that out of my past I had a family member that served in the war."

Dart's banner in Niwot honors his military service, but the online bio that goes with it also honors his service to family. Dart and his wife raised Quinn and her two siblings after their parents died in a plane crash. Quinn was only seven.

"He was kind, he was loving," she said. "The fact that he took his three grandchildren in to raise at a time when he was in his retirement and raised a second family is quite extraordinary. I will be forever grateful to him and my grandmother for that."

Bill Dart's memory waves on a banner above Niwot while below it his living legacy is carried on in the love between grandparent and grandchild.