Bigfork Benghazi memorial project taking on a life of its own
From humble beginnings to honor the men killed in the September 2012 attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Libya, the Bigfork Benghazi memorial has taken on a new life, and renewed focus.
The memorial was created to memorialize the victims of the attack, which killed four people. Bill Thomas, of Ventura, Calif., collaborated with Doug Averill to create the stone and brass memorial that rests in a wooded glade above Flathead Lake Lodge. The memorial was dedicated last year with color guard, honor guard, and speakers from the military. This year’s dedication on Sept. 11 will feature U.S. Army Special Forces Lt. General John Mulholland, retired New York policeman Jack Downward, and Nic McKinley, a former CIA special agent and executive director of the DeliverFund.
The DeliverFund is being established to help fight human trafficking, and this year’s Bigfork event will help raise money for the cause. The public is invited to the memorial celebration, which is free. After the event is a $100 a plate steak fry, with proceeds going to the DeliverFund. The memorial begins at 5:30 p.m. on Quarter Circle Lane, three miles south of Bigfork. The dinner begins at 7 p.m. For reservations call 406-551-3030.
Thomas said the memorial event each year will support a worthy cause. He said the Bigfork and international community have gotten behind the memorial. “It’s really gaining momentum,” he said.
The Benghazi memorial is the only memorial in the United States that is privately funded, and Averill said it’s appropriate that there be one in Bigfork, where the community is quite patriotic.
Averill said the memorial gives his guests who are veterans a place to reflect and to remember those killed in the attacks in Benghazi, and in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. With the memorial in a secluded area of the Lodge property, “It’s different than being in a city park,” Averill said. “It’s a very emotional setting for the veterans. You don’t realize the significance of a monument like this until you get a bunch of combat veterans together.”
Thomas said the memorial statue and annual Bigfork event can be used to support humanitarian causes. He said this year’s event is to launch and to showcase the DeliverFund fight against human trafficking. The DeliverFund was started by former Navy Seal Jeremy Mahugh, who has launched a private effort to help fight the human trafficking trade.
“This is something we think is a really good cause,” Averill said.
Thomas’ goal in creating the statue two years ago was to build a memorial. It’s grown past that now. “If I had a goal, other than to pay tribute to the Benghazi victims, it would be to keep it in people’s minds,” Thomas said. “We never envisioned it would get the reception it did.”
RSVP for the Friday dinner by e-mail, at partnerwithus@deliverfund.org.