Montana

The Montana Memorial is located in Missoula in Rose Park. It is one of several monuments on site, but in my opinion it is clearly the most striking.

It depicts an angel lifting a fallen soldier. They have made eye contact and each seems to understand.

The angel is not your typical cherubic, gowned, archetype, but rather a strong rugged looking, bearded male. In fact he seems like one of us, a vet.

The site is bordered with roses and other plants and two large stone walls, in addition to a couple of benches. While I was here, an older couple approached and spent quite some time at the statue. I chose to not interrupt their time and remained in the background, well out of the way. When they had gone, I approached the statue and found that they had left a dozen, beautiful roses at the base.

The walls on either side of the statue list the Montanans, that gave their lives in service, on eight plaques attached to the stones. I have read several items about this memorial and they all have a different number of names cited. I will go back tomorrow and find out which of these, if any, is accurate.

If you find yourself in the area, the memorial is well marked off I-90. As I said before, Montana is just amazingly beautiful and I will miss it after I return home on Friday.

Map this memorial.