Bronze Sculpture Honoring Roy Benavidez Nears Completion

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Msg. Roy P. Benavidez will be honored with a life-size sculpture, "Duty, Honor and Country." The Benavidez Memorial Foundation has raised over half the $50,000 needed to finish the project and is selling memorial pavers for a "Walk of Honor" to raise the additional funds needed.

Cuero, TX (PRWEB) April 29, 2004 -- Roy Benavidez spent a lifetime serving his country though he never considered himself a hero, even after President Reagan placed the Congressional Medal of Honor around his neck. He was, of course, as anyone who has ever read his story would know, an extraordinary and courageous man and a true patriot.

It is with great pride and honor that the Benavidez Memorial Foundation announces the final phase of Duty, Honor and Country", a permanent memorial honoring Benavidez. The central focus of the park area, located across the street from Cuero High School, is a life-size bronze sculpture of Benavidez as a weary but prayerful soldier, perhaps in grateful solitude or reverent remembrance. The foundation board members spent many hours discussing the design concept and in the end, agreed the memorial should portray more than just one day in Roys life. It is how Roy would want to be remembered; the son of a Texas sharecropper who grew up to be a Master Sgt. in the Green Berets and a beloved American Hero. A deeply religious man, Benavidez was committed to God, family and his country.

In April 2002, the foundation commissioned hill country artist and Vietnam veteran, Mike Scovel, to create the sculpture while they focused on raising the $50,000 necessary to pay for the memorial project. Sales of memorial pavers for the Walk of Honor that will line the pathway around the sculpture have brought the foundation nearer to their goal but more is needed. The bronze will be ready to deliver and install in late May while work to the walkway and landscape will be done over the summer and fall. A formal dedication is being planned for November 11, 2004, Armed Forces Day.

The Benavidez Memorial Foundation sincerely appreciates your financial support to honor Msg. Roy Benavidez. For more information about this project, please visit www.benavidezmemorial.com . To make a donation or to purchase memorial pavers, please call Linda Ruiz at 361-275-9265 or Eva Barrera at 361-265-9592. To contact the artist, call Mike Scovel at 512-756-7731.