On a gently sloping hillside behind the powder blue Veterans of Foreign Wars post along Montana 35 in Bigfork, a quiet yet profound transformation has been unfolding. What began as an effort to relocate a secluded monument has grown into a comprehensive, community-backed initiative to establish four dedicated memorials honoring first responders, fallen military service members, and their families.
The initiative aims to turn the shaded property into a welcoming haven where community members, former service members, and visitors can gather for healing and quiet contemplation. Work is already well underway on the grounds, establishing permanent physical tributes that acknowledge national tragedies and celebrate the sacrifices made by generations of American service personnel.
Among the completed installations is a tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. The site features twin stone pillars engineered to evoke the iconic silhouette of the fallen World Trade Center towers. Organizers are also preparing to install the Three Soldiers Statue to commemorate Vietnam War veterans, alongside an upcoming monument dedicated to Gold Star families.
At the literal and figurative heart of this memorial park rests the structure that catalyzed the entire endeavor: Bigfork's Benghazi Memorial. Originally created in 2014, the artwork pays tribute to the four Americans who were killed during the assault on the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.
The monument itself is a striking bronze sculpture of an eagle with a six-foot wingspan, frozen in a mid-air dive as it descends toward a solid rock pedestal. It is recognized as the only known monument in the United States dedicated specifically to the Benghazi attack. Its presence in northwest Montana was the result of an unexpected series of connections sparked by Bill Thomas, a California firefighter and paramedic from Ventura County.
Thomas had followed news reports in the Bigfork Eagle indicating that the parents of Tyrone Woods—a retired Navy SEAL and CIA operative who perished during the Benghazi attack—had relocated to the Flathead Valley. Although Thomas had no prior personal relationship with the family, he felt a powerful obligation to ensure the sacrifice was formally honored.
Teaming up with local resident Doug Averill, Thomas arranged for the bronze eagle to be installed on Averill’s private elk preserve. In the years that followed, Thomas’s nonprofit organization, the 9/11 Honor and Serve Foundation, conducted an annual commemorative gathering at the private preserve to mark the anniversaries of both the 2001 and 2012 tragedies.
However, the memorial service held in 2025 drew a noticeably diminished crowd. Among the small group in attendance was Ron Wenzel, a former New Jersey police officer who had been on active duty during the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. That fateful day dramatically altered Wenzel's life path, leading him to enlist in the military and eventually deploy to Afghanistan in 2011.
Standing before the sparsely attended ceremony, Wenzel found himself questioning whether the national promise to never forget the fallen had begun to fade. Upon deeper reflection, he realized that public disengagement was not the issue. Instead, the monument had simply become inaccessible, tucked away on private land behind locked gates where everyday citizens could not see or visit it.
Determined to restore public visibility to the memorial, Wenzel approached Thomas with a proposition: transfer the Benghazi monument to the Bigfork VFW post, where Wenzel serves as quartermaster. Relocating the eagle to the post would ensure that the tribute remained open and available to anyone wishing to pay their respects at any time.
Thomas embraced the concept, and Wenzel promptly secured unanimous approval from the VFW post's leadership board. Shortly thereafter, Thomas and Averill joined Wenzel on the hillside behind the post. Standing under the trees, Averill pulled out a napkin and began sketching the layout for the park, laying the groundwork for the multi-tiered memorial taking shape today.
Turning that rough sketch into reality required extensive resources and labor, which arrived in large part through the generosity of local contractor Skylar Johnson, owner of Markay Johnson Construction. A former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, Johnson contributed significant services and funding to help build the site, an expenditure that Wenzel noted would have otherwise exceeded the VFW's fundraising capacity.
As news of the initial construction circulated through the Flathead Valley, the project’s vision quickly broadened. Local Vietnam War veterans approached the VFW during a monthly meeting, expressing profound emotion as they shared that they had no local monuments to visit. With trips to the national memorials in Washington, D.C., financially out of reach for many aging veterans, the post pledged to include the Three Brothers statue on the hillside.
The need for local spaces dedicated to veteran mental health and peer connection carries unique urgency in Montana. According to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the veteran suicide rate in Montana is 1.5 times higher than the national veteran average, and triple the rate observed in the state's general civilian population.
Bigfork VFW Commander Steve Gordon emphasized that communal memorial spaces provide a vital emotional outlet for former service members coping with post-service trauma. Having a quiet, accessible sanctuary allows veterans to process grief and support one another in difficult moments.
Looking ahead, the VFW is initiating the next phase of development by applying to establish a Gold Star Family Memorial on the grounds. Currently, the state's only official Gold Star memorial is located in Bozeman, creating an geographic void for northwest Montana families such as the Saltzes, whose son, Capt. Edward Matthew Saltz, became the first Montanan killed in action during the Iraq War in 2003.
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