Photos by Deb Gau Stretching out their legs for balance, a crew of Marshall city workers slowly eased a statue into place at the new veterans memorial at Memorial Park in Marshall. A total of six statues, each weighing more than 1,000 pounds, were placed at the memorial on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — Construction is entering the home stretch for the new veterans memorial in downtown Marshall.

On Tuesday, six statues honoring members of the U.S. military were carefully lifted into place with a forklift and a crew of Marshall city workers.

“It’s coming together now,” said Marc Klaith, one of the local organizers for the memorial project.

Klaith said construction of the memorial is on schedule for an Oct. 15 dedication ceremony.

There are a total of six statues, one representing each branch of the military, and one honoring fallen soldiers, said Marshall parks superintendent Preston Stensrud. The statues for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard each stand in front of a flagpole that will fly each branch’s respective flag.

“We won’t raise the flags until that day (of the dedication),” Klaith said. As part of the ceremony, veterans and military service members will raise the flags.

Getting the statues in place was a group effort. Titan Machinery picked up the statues in Sioux Falls and brought them to Marshall on a flatbed, while a forklift operator from Bend Rite Fabrication hoisted the statues down and city workers helped guide them into place. Each statue weighed anywhere from 1,300 to 2,000 pounds, Stensrud said.

Stensrud said the statues still need to be attached to the pavement and have their bases sealed. Now that the statues are in place, the next parts of the memorial to be put in will be a 60 foot-long wall that will run along First Street, and engraved memorial stones that will be put in place in racks overlooking the banks of the Redwood River. Klaith said a sculpture for the center of the memorial will be placed the week of the dedication.

The veterans memorial is the final planned phase of development for Memorial Park in downtown Marshall. It’s taken several years for the project to come together, with support from community members, the Marshall VFW and American Legion, and the city of Marshall and Lyon County. Both the city and the county have contributed funding to the memorial project, with the county approving a $15,000 contribution in 2017, and Marshall approving a $30,000 contribution from the city’s Capstone Endowment Fund in 2018.