'Hallowed Ground': A 70-Year Tradition Remembers Lives Lost on Montana Roads

From its post in Bozeman, members have helped carry on that work across the state.  

Greg Harbac and Randy Kemp are members of Bozeman's American Legion post 14, both having served in the military before taking on the fatality marker program in their community. 

"I spent 24 years in the Marine core," said Harbac. 

"I was in the Army for 25 years; I graduated from Bozeman Senior High School," said Randy Kemp. "Uncle Sam sent me this thing in the mail that said you'd be a better soldier than you are a student, so I had to quit Montana State University and go in the Military," he said. 

As lifetime members of the American Legion, Harbac and Kemp help place crosses on the side of highways in Montana for people killed in crashes. Each marker serves as a memorial and a warning. 

"None of us gets up in the morning and goes 'you know, today I'm going to go die in a car accident; not one of us," said Greg Harbac. "When Randy and I and the rest of the fatality marker folks are along the side of the road, we treat that as hallowed ground. We know that someone has died here," he said. 

The tradition began on Labor Day of 1952 after a weekend in which six people died in traffic crashes. Since then, the message of safe driving has remained current in 2026. According to MDT, 98 people have died on Montana highways in 2026.  

"We, the American Legion members are extremely proud of the work we're doing for the state of Montana when it comes to the fatality marker program," said Randy Kemp.  

Harbac says there is currently an estimated 4,000 fatality markers along highways across Montana, including 125 in the Gallatin Valley. 

To learn more about the American Legion, visit www.bozemanmtlegion.org.