Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 2 102 NO MAN LEFT BEHIND "A Tribute to the Native American Soldier" isn't the only sculpture Lyle has created in honor of an underrecog- nized group of mili- tary veterans. Several years back, fellow Sidney High School alums No- lan and Margaret Mikelson spearheaded a project to establish a memorial recognizing the service and sacrifice of their classmates who served during the Vietnam War. "I wanted to do it so that other generations would know what they have done for us," Margaret said. "They were so welcoming and honoring of soldiers after Iraq and Kuwait, but our soldiers did not get that and I felt it was necessary for them to be recognized and remembered. This was something we could at least do for the members of our community." Lyle was ultimately enlisted to create a bronze statue for the tribute, but the content and composition of the piece was left up to him. His inspiration ultimately came from the words of the soldiers themselves. "I started reading letters from soldiers from Vietnam," he said, his voice losing its steady confidence as the emotion un- leashed by the memory of those pages briefly broke through. "And what just kept coming to me was 'no man left behind… no man left behind.'" The completed sculpture features three U.S. soldiers, two of whom are assisting a wounded comrade. "They're in the rice paddies of the delta, so they're in the water up to their calves," Lyle noted. The injured hero's arm is bandaged and resting in a make- shift sling. His uniform is tattered and torn, and a strip of cloth wrapped around his head conceals an obvious injury to his right eye. He's barely able to stand and likely wouldn't sur- vive the treach- erous conditions without the aid of his brothers- in-arms. The 2.5-foot piece, which now rests on an exqui- site wooden stand handcrafted by Nolan, packs a pow- erful emotional punch of heartbreak, inspiration, and deep patriotism all at once. Lyle said one of the greatest com- pliments he's ever received came from a woman who stopped by and spent a long time looking at "No Man Left Behind." "She got really emotional," Lyle solemnly recalled. "And then she told me her first assignment as a nurse was on the delta in Vietnam. She said, 'You've really captured this. You really got it.'" The sculpture will remain on display at Stockman Bank in Sidney for 25 years and will then become a permanent exhi- bition at the Richland County Courthouse. HONORING OUR VETERANS The sun was beginning to dip down behind the mountains as the door to Mountain Sage Gallery swung closed behind me that summer evening. I stepped out onto the gulch with a renewed sense of hu- mility and deep appreciation for the men and women who have devoted every fiber of their beings to protecting our na- tion and our freedoms—even when that meant laying down their own lives or returning home with catastrophic injuries both seen and unseen. Many of us don't stop to honor those sacrifices often enough. Although we can never repay our veterans for all they have given us, we can certainly do more to help support them. It is the least they deserve.

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