4 ID Monument

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

The 4th Infantry Division
Operation Iraqi Freedom Monument

The statue on display in the 4th Infantry Division Headquarters, Tikrit, Iraq.

The following is from ARMY NEWS, November 2003:

"ARNEWS says the sculptor's name is Kalat.
He was forced to fashion statues of Saddam Hussein including some
that were later destroyed by U.S. military explosives.
The bronze pieces of the statues were sent to Kalat
and he made the memorial using a picture of a U.S. soldier,
1st Sgt. Glen Simpson, kneeling as a model.
According to ARNEWS, Kalat worked with another artist on the Saddam Hussein statutes,
but designed and fashioned the U.S. model on his own.
It's on display in Iraq and is destined to eventually be on display at Fort Hood,
where it will become part of a larger memorial project at the 4th Inf. Div. museum.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl
giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.
It is currently on display outside the palace that is now home
to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped and shown
at the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas."

The sculptor, Kalat, putting finishing touches on his work, Tikirt, Iraq

**********************

The statue is now in place in a memorial site at the Headquarters of the 4th Division at Ft. Hood.

The memorial site includes a wall with individual name plaques
of the 81 members of the 4th Division killed in action in Iraq, 2003-2004.

The following photos were taken of the statue and monument
on September 2, 2004.

Thanks to Ceilia Stratton of the 4ID Museum for the following photos.