by Dennis Dalman
A dedication ceremony took place on the morning of Aug. 17 in Avon to name its post office as the W.O.C. (Warrant Officer Captain) Kort Miller Plantenberg Post Office in honor of a local veteran who died in a helicopter crash in 2019, along with three other veterans.
Present at the dedication ceremony were U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer (R-Otsego) and Michelle Fischbach (R-Regal). They had authored a bill to honor the three men. Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was also present at the dedication. She and fellow Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith had co-authored a companion bill to honor Plantenberg and two other Minnesota men who died in that helicopter crash. The bill was approved last year in the U.S. Congress to honor the men by renaming three post offices in Minnesota.
“Kort embodied the very best of Minnesota,” Emmer said after the bill was approved. “I am proud to honor his legacy by creating a living memorial to him in the community he called home.”
Minnesota National Guard Warrant Officer Captain Plantenberg, 28, grew up in Avon. He died with two friends and fellow veterans when their helicopter, a UH-60 Black Hawk, malfunctioned and went down at the edge of a farm field right on the outskirts of Marty, a small town near Kimball. At the time, the veterans were conducting a maintenance test flight of the helicopter. The other two men who died in the accident were James A. Rogers, 28, of Winsted; and Charles P. Nord, 30, of Perham. They, too, will have post offices named in their honor in those cities.
All three of those veterans served on a team doing helicopter emergency medical evacuations in Kuwait.
Plantenberg is the son of Laura and Steve Plantenberg of Avon. He left behind his girlfriend, Bryonna Anderson of Clovis, trusted canine companion Max and many friends and co-workers. He was known for his “quiet kindness, gentle strength and generous spirit.”
From an early age, Plantenberg was fascinated by helicopters and flying. He graduated from Albany High School and then from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where he earned a degree in criminology. He went on to work for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department as a correctional officer.
Plantenberg was an avid hunter and fisherman, a lifeguard, a ski-patrol member and represented the Minnesota Biathlon Team for the Army National Guard.
He enlisted in the Guard in 2016 and became an aircraft technician and served a nine-month deployment in Kuwait with an aerial medical evacuation unit. Upon his return home, he was hired as a federal technical mechanic at the Aviation Support Facility in St. Cloud. He was then chosen to start the state’s warrant-officer program.
Plantenberg’s funeral was held Dec. 12, 2019 at St. John’s Abbey Church in Collegeville.
Military veteran Kort Plantenberg died in a helicopter accident in 2019. The Avon post office will be renamed in his honor because of legislation approved in late December.
