Roll of Honor
Maurice M. Baggs
Incident
Conservation Officer Maurice Baggs drowned in the Little Sioux River, in Cherokee, when he fell from a dam while attempting to help a fisherman. He was attempting to walk across the Illinois Central Railroad dam to check the licenses of a group of fishermen. The water had risen over the dam due to recent rain and he lost his footing. He was able to take off his hip boots in an attempt to swim to safety but was washed downstream and drowned.
Survivors
Officer Baggs had served with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for 14 months and was assigned to Buena Vista, Cherokee and Pocahontas Counties He was survived by his wife.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-IA-B185B2B4- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
You barely got started.
Conservation Officer Baggs gave the Iowa Department of Natural Resources 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the Des Moines community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Conservation Officer Baggs.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Conservation Officer Maurice M. Baggs is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In IA, 71 of 226 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 31.4% of this state's fallen. That is 0.4 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.
At Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 2 of 3 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 66.7% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Maurice M. Baggs's cause is highlighted.
How Maurice M. Baggs Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Maurice M. Baggs is highlighted in Jul.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
2 officers from Iowa Department of Natural Resources are honored on badge.nw.
