Military statues set for Memorial Day

Mike and Trudy Pierce would have loved it.

The Owatonna couple were champions of the Owatonna Veterans Memorial from the moment it was conceived – Mike through his own military service in Vietnam and subsequent leadership in the VFW at the local, district, state and national level; Trudy through her own volunteer work at the VFW and support of all veterans.

Both were active members of the Moonlighters Exchange Club, which first pitched the idea back in 2013, then spearheaded the project.

But Mike died just a month after the construction work on Phase 1 began in June 2023; Trudy died in March – just two months before the finishing touches on Phase 2.

“We know they’re here, watching,” said Nicole Wacek, who, along with the Pierces, took the lead on the project.

She, too, was watching – behind sunglasses, to hide her tears – last week as three life-size statues of military personnel were added to the memorial.

“It’s been emotional,” Wacek said. “It seems surreal; I can’t believe it’s real.”

The cement statues, hand-painted with a bronze finish, were chosen by members of the Moonlighters Club and created by SVJ Creative Designs, of Kellogg.

“We tried to get everything here Minnesota-made,” Wacek said of the entire memorial. “It’s important that they can withstand our Minnesota winters.”

The first statue placed, with the assistance of Shelly and Dave Speedling, owners of SVJ, is titled “No Man Left Behind.” It features a Vietnam-era soldier carrying another soldier over his shoulders.

“We work with veterans, and ask them what they’d like to see,” said Shelly Speedling. “We just listen, because we want them as accurate as possible.”

The end result is one where “the pain and anguish on their faces” is obvious, she said.

There is also a female soldier, which was important to Trudy Pierce, Wacek said.

It is the first female-focused military statute created by SVJ; Owatonna is the first veterans memorial in the state to have it.

The final statue is a kneeling soldier, with a battlefield cross in front of him. They are two separate pieces; the base of the cross – composed of a rifle, helmet and boots – is designed to fit together with the soldier piece.

Wacek did her homework when looking for statues for Phase 2 of the project, traveling to other memorials and researching artists.

She brought the information back to the Moonlighters Club so the members could discuss “what we’d like to see, what was important to each of us.”

The statues chosen represent something for everyone in the group, Wacek said.

That was also important, because the members spent more than a decade working on the memorial, searching for the appropriate location for it, then planning and, of course, raising money.

The total cost of Phase 2 is about $35,000, Wacek said, including a sidewalk coming this summer that will connect the current walkway along 18^th Street Southeast to the memorial.

SVJ has its own sculptor and mold maker; the statues are stabilized with rebar and fiberglass reinforcements when the molds are poured by Dave Speedling.

After curing for five weeks, the statues are hand-smoothed to ensure there are no flaws. Shelly Speedling does the detail painting and sealing.

“We’re meticulous,” she said. “We know there are going to be people touching these, standing on the bases. And we also know about all the pancake breakfasts and other fundraisers” required to pay for it all.

The statues were adhered to the Owatonna memorial with a commercial contractors glue – though at 1,000 to 1,500 pounds, they will likely stay put without it.

Veterans and employees from Steele/Waseca Coop Electric used a boom truck and hydraulic crane to transfer the pieces to their resting spots.

“We’ve had so many veterans that have helped so much,” Wacek said.

Jim Hoffmann, who often worked with Mike Pierce on veteran projects, served as the general contractor of the memorial.

From the groundbreaking in August 2022 to the foundation pouring in June 2023 to the installation of panels honoring each branch of the military to the memorial plaque walls in September 2023 to its dedication on Veterans Day 2023, Hoffmann has been instrumental in organizing the work.

He, too, was pleased with the outcome – and knows it’s a beautiful site.

“Believe me, as we were building this, we visited about 20 others” Hoffmann said. It also received a national award last July as the best new veterans memorial.

It’s time to take a breath now, said Wacek, until Phase 3 needs to be implemented. That will entail an expansion to the north, as more memorial plaques are purchased and installed.

The project been a labor of love for many.

“I just feel like vets could be treated better,” Wacek said. “They deserve to be treated better. They deserve this.”