Sculpture of soldier ready to be sent to Colo. foundry

| Tuesday, June 10, 2003

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ABERDEEN (AP) - A bronze sculpture of a soldier that will be placed at Aberdeen Regional Airport is ready to go to a Colorado foundry.

In March, city leaders approved $100,000 for the project. The Brown County Commission also has pledged $25,000 over two years. The airport hopes to raise money to repay the city and county.

The war memorial project eventually will include two more statues.

The sculptor, Ben Victor, a 24-year-old Northern State University art student, will receive $70,000 for the first piece and $62,000 for each additional soldier, Dave

Osborn, city transportation director, said.

The statues will be placed in front of the new $6.6 million, 15,000-square-foot airport terminal, which has been named the War Memorial Building. A July 7 ribbon-cutting is planned, and the first statue, called the Victory Soldier, is scheduled to go up at the grand opening set for Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The 71/2-foot statue is designed to represent soldiers from all wars. It will be placed on a 2-foot raised concrete platform surrounded by granite benches and a granite plaque on a podium.

Victor made the sculpture so realistic that the veins bulging out of his arms have lured insects. "You know you do a good job when the mosquitoes bite him," Victor said.

The next two bronze statues will be the Action Soldier, a male carrying a gun in combat, and the Aftermath Soldier, a woman in a pose showing the emotional side of war.

Most such sculptures take about a year. Victor did the Victory Soldier in three months, including some nights until 3 in the morning.

Now that it's finished, "I don't know what to do," he said.

Members of veterans organizations helped Victor with technical information, including details most civilians don't know, such as the fact that one dog tag goes around a soldier's neck and one goes on his boot.