Soldier’s green thumb sprouts naysayers

SALEM, Ore. – In Oregon, the capital of the world’s grass seed industry, a patch of green grass is not something to write home about. In Iraq, it is.

Warrant Officer Brook Turner, a native of Stayton, grew a miniature lawn on a U.S. military post north of Baghdad – and a photograph of him trimming the grass has Internet urban legend detectives on overtime.

The image of the Army soldier cutting the grass with scissors turned up on a Web site for hoaxes and another for urban legends – and its authenticity is being questioned.

“I never intended for it to get around like it has – so it really doesn’t bother me whether people think it is real or not,” Turner told the Statesman Journal via e-mail from Camp Cooke.

He sent the photo to his wife, Kim, in Honolulu, where he is stationed with the 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment and where she and their four children live.

In the photo, he is crouching beside the small strip of lawn, snipping the grass with scissors, while his M-16 rifle is leaning on steps nearby. Kim Turner forwarded the photo to family members, family members forwarded it to friends and friends forwarded it to more friends, and so on.

Before the Turners knew it, the photo was posted on www.museumofhoaxes.com and www.snopes.com.

Much of the debate about its authenticity has to do with the imprinted date on the image, which appears to be November 2000.

Turner said the photographer, Staff Sgt. Mark Grimshaw, didn’t reset the date when he changed batteries in his camera.

He said the photo was taken in mid-July this year.

The Turners have been amused but frustrated by all the fuss on the Internet, and wish there was a way they could prove the photo is real.

“He has the original on his laptop,” Kim Turner said, “and I know it’s him.”

“We’d know that nose anywhere,” said Turner’s mother, Pearl Turner of Stayton, referring to her son’s profile in the photo.

Both women want to set the record straight, but Brook does not seem as focused on proving the photo is real. “Everyone seems to be a little more excited about it than me,” he said. “I just planted some grass – nothing big.”

Kim Turner was happy to send her husband a little slice of home. She bought a packet of grass seed and a small hoe and mailed them in a care box.

Turner prepared a spot behind the single-wide trailer he shares with a few other soldiers. As soon as the seed arrived, he planted it. He knew keeping the seed moist would be a challenge in the 125-degree heat. The next morning, however, he discovered something else that would prevent the seed from taking root.

“Thousands of ants came from nowhere and had a little chain gang going, walking off with all my grass seed,” he said. “I guess grass seed is like a chocolate treat to ants here in Iraq, cause every bit of grass seed was gone within a couple of days.”

His fellow soldiers teased him about his failed project, but he was determined to grow a patch of grass. He talked with some Iraqi civilians authorized to be on post, and arranged to buy some sod. He purchased seven 1-foot-by-3-foot patches and watered his lawn three times a day.