Bronze busts of fallen Utah Soldiers unveiled

  • Published
  • By Lee Anne Hensley
  • Hill Top Times Staff Writer
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah --  "These three men were heroes," Utah State Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert said of Sgt. Michael Lehmiller, Spc. Daniel Dolan and Cpl. Michael Pursell, during a ceremony on Saturday, June 21, before the bronze busts of the three soldiers were unveiled.

Friends and family of the fallen soldiers paid homage to their memory and witnessed the unveiling of the bronze likenesses of their personal heroes. Among the crowd were six special guests - the platoon-mates of Spc. Dolan, flown in from Fort Lewis, Wash., with the help of Lt. Col. Jeremy Horn and Lidia McClung of Hill Air Force Base. Horn, McClung, members of the American Legion Post 134 and other volunteers arranged for the fallen soldiers' platoon-mates to fly into Hill AFB and stay at hotels without cost.

"It takes away a lot of the barriers, and it gives closure for the troops," said Lt. Col. Horn, who helped arrange for a C-17 to fly the platoon-mates out of McChord Air Force Base, Wash.

"Danny was a great guy, friend and soldier," said Dolan's ex-roommate Spc. Dustin Leslie of Fort Lewis. "He won't be forgotten."

The three bronze busts are the first of hundreds that will be produced to memorialize fallen Utah soldiers. More than 4,300 total busts are scheduled to be produced by Operation Never Forget, a nonprofit group who intends to cast bronze busts of every soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Virginia-based nonprofit group says it will take $20 million and 10 years to cast bronze memorials of the fallen soldiers from every community in the United States. The busts are produced by Salt Lake City-based MARBLECast Products Inc.

Each bust will be displayed in the city hall of the soldier's hometown.

"In our small building, Michael Purcell's bust will be a large presence there," said the mayor of Hooper, Glen Barrow.

Spc. Dolan's bust will be displayed in the city hall of Roy. "Dan was the representative of my freedom and that of the citizens of Roy," said Roy mayor protempore and Spc. Dolan's former fourth-grade teacher, Marge Bencraft. "Dan's bust will always be there to remind us that the ultimate sacrifice is ourselves."

Sgt. Lehmiller's bust will be displayed in Clearfield City Hall.

"Our freedom is not a birthright, but something we must earn over and over again," said the ceremony's keynote speaker, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). "That is what the busts remind us of."