By NICHOLAS LEDDEN

The Daily Inter Lake

Veterans, city officials, and an enthusiastic crowd were on hand Wednesday for the unveiling of Flathead County's new veterans memorial in downtown Kalispell.

Held immediately after the parade, the ceremony drew more than 1,000 people and featured speeches by Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tip Clark, and the two men who put it all together, Chuck Olson and Jack Heller.

"We hope you will fall in love with the memorial as much as we have," Heller told a growing crowd as the honor guard raised an American flag, and then a POW-MIA flag, on the flagpole behind the monument at the beginning of the ceremony.

Veterans who fought with the 163 Infantry Regiment of the Montana National Guard filled the front rows as Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy thanked those to whom the monument is dedicated.

"Please remind yourself that our freedoms did not come free," she said. "We honor the generations of veterans who answered the call to duty. They risk everything so our children and our grandchildren have the opportunity to live in freedom."

Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tip Clark, who flew 273 combat missions in Vietnam, told the audience that memorials are important part of remembering fallen servicemen and women.

"Although we would pray that no more names be added, it won't be so," he said.

The olive drab parachute covering the memorial was swept away as Rev. Richard Weiderholdt, pastor of the Lutheran Community Church in Polson and himself a veteran, read a prayer.

The unveiling was immediately followed by a 21 gun salute and a single trumpet mournfully playing Taps.

The ceremony closed about 15 minutes later with a fly over by a vintage Navy Corsair and a vintage Royal Canadian Air Force plane.

"I got all choked up," said Heller. "That's all I can say."

Heller thanked everyone who donated money, time, or materials, noting that the finishing touches to the monument's base were finished just that morning.

"This is what we've been working for," added Olson. "It was really good to see all the uniforms because that's what it's all about."

Olson and Heller have raised about $192,000 of the memorial's $250,000 total cost, which includes $25,000 for a perpetual fund to maintain the monument.

To cover the remaining amount, Olson and Heller are offering families the opportunity to engrave a brick with the name of the family, individual, veteran or deceased veteran to be placed on the path leading to the memorial. They range in cost from $110 to $210. A myriad of other ways to contribute to the project are listed on a brochure published by the Elks. Private and corporate donations are still being accepted and should be mailed to Elks Veterans Memorial Fund, c/o BPOE, P.O. Box 790, Kalispell, MT 59903.

Olson and Heller decided about a year ago to build the new veteran's memorial as a way to show appreciation for Flathead County's servicemen and women.

They came up with the idea after organizing two dinner celebrations at the city's Elks Lodge for servicemen and women, and wondered what else they could do to show their gratitude.

The pair originally thought about moving the large bronze statue of a World War I soldier, now in front of the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls, back to downtown Kalispell.

The statue was first erected here in 1928, but was removed during a Main Street reconstruction in the 1970s.

When the veterans home residents opposed the idea of taking their statue, Olson and Heller came up with a new plan.

They contacted C.A. Grende, a well-known sculptor in Big Arm, and decided to build their own. The monument is of a combat soldier kneeling in front of a comrade's hastily dug grave. The grave is marked by the soldier's gun stuck into the ground by its bayonet; his helmet and dog tags are resting on the rifle's butt with his empty combat boots underneath.

A base of black granite supports the bronze soldier, executed at 125 percent of life size. Eight feet wide by 12 feet long, the base rises 8 feet and has the words "We will never forget" etched on the front.

The base also has the names of all 196 Flathead County servicemen and women killed in foreign wars, starting with Fred Wheaton, who was killed in the Spanish-American War, and concluding with Kane Funke and Matthew Saltz, who were killed in Iraq.

There will be room for future names.

The memorial will be accompanied by two time capsules containing video of the dedication ceremony, articles, military medals, and other mementos contributed by the public. One capsule will be opened in 50 years, and the other in 100 years.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com