part 1The race for governor: Son's struggles give Vander Plaats focus | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register
Mount Vernon, Ia. - It could be said that overcoming adversity is the Vander Plaats family motto.During World War II, Bob Vander Plaats' father, patriarch of the large, northwest Iowa family, survived the nightmare of Iwo Jima.Bob became the youngest of the children when his younger brother died after a car accident. His parents had already lost a 6-year-old daughter to a kidney disease before Bob was born, only to have his mother deliver a stillborn boy when Bob was in kindergarten.
