In recognizing what often is an oversight of the contributions of women, the board of the Lake County Pioneer Village Museum in Kenmare commissioned a bronze-coated statue of a female soldier, installed and dedicated next to its Heidenberg-Peterson Military Museum this past May.

Lake County Historical Society President Bryan Quigley said the impetus, for him, in erecting the statue had been a comment made by his brother, Coyne Quigley.

A number of years ago, Bryan Quigley worked with Trinity Lutheran Church to build a memorial for veterans at the cemetery.

“After dedication, my brother, who is a Vietnam veteran, told me that it was a nice memorial, but he said, ‘You made one mistake.’ And I said, ‘Well, what was that?’ He said, ‘It should have had a woman in there, because the women nurses in Vietnam played a pretty strong role in the sense that they’ve seen everything, and they’ve seen it every day,’ and so, he said, ‘You should have put a woman in there,'” Quigley recalled. “I couldn’t redo that one. But when Kenmare Vets’ gaming had potentially some money to pay for a statue, I thought, ‘Well, we could rectify that problem a little bit by putting a woman statue here by our museum.”

The “Amy” statue erected at the Lake County Pioneer Village Museum in Kenmare honors all veterans but particularly acknowledges the contributions of women.

The other precipitating factor in wanting to honor women veterans with a statue was the book “The Women,” about nurses serving in Vietnam. Quigley said the book pointed out that nurses in Vietnam weren’t acknowledged as having contributed in combat because women weren’t seen as having an association with the military.

“That came from military people. That came from the public during that time. So, they were never recognized,” Quigley said. “They were kind of invisible or nonexistent.”

Until reading the book and hearing his brother mention the nurses in Vietnam, he said, he had never given a thought to the role of nurses, who dealt with trauma regularly and had to make enormous decisions that could mean life or death for soldiers.

“Women have served in the military as nurses every war, and it’s not been a pretty scene for them. I can’t imagine what they’ve had to deal with, nor can I imagine what the other veterans had to deal with in Vietnam and other wars,” he said.

Quigley found SVJ Creative Designs in Kellogg, Minnesota, which made statues of a female soldier. He said it was a sight to turn heads when he drove a life-size statue from Kellogg to Kenmare in the back of his pickup truck.

A display in the military collection at Lake County Pioneer Village Museum in Kenmare serves as a memorial to Kenmare native Larry Jacobson, who lost his life in Vietnam in 1970.

Stopped in a small Minnesota town for lunch, he was approached by a man who insisted he had to have a photo of the statue because it looked just like his granddaughter, Amy, who recently joined the National Guard.

Coming back to Kenmare and setting the statue in place in early May, Quigley sought to identify a woman with local ties who had served in Vietnam. He located Amy Lindquist, from Donnybrook, who had served a year in Vietnam.

With the name “Amy” connected to two women in service to their country, the decision was made to name the statue Amy.

“It’s on site to recognize all the women – and all the veterans, for that matter – that have served in Vietnam and other wars and are serving now,” Quigley said. “We have also planted a tree here.”

U.S. Army veteran Shelly Weppler of Minot spoke at the dedication ceremony for the statue this past Memorial Day. Since then, the museum has drawn a few female veterans as well as family members of women veterans to see the statue, Quigley said.

The military museum includes a number of historical items that further tell the story of veterans. The museum recognizes recipients of Purple Hearts and includes uniforms from the Spanish American War in 1898 to more modern day.

There are displays recognizing two World War I veterans, John Odland Sr. and Romayne Taylor. There’s also a display in memory of Larry Jacobson, a Kenmare native who died in Vietnam in 1970, and a photo of Arvid Heidenberg, one of the individuals for whom the local American Legion and military museum are named. Heidenberg was killed July 18, 1918, at age 19 in the Second Battle of the Marne and is buried in France.

Other artifacts include a German prisoner of war dog tag, the top of a German helmet from the Prussian era, a gas mask picked up by a former Kenmare museum board member in Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb, U.S. bunk beds, framed newspaper articles, maps, a phonograph that was owned by a Civil War veteran from Wisconsin and currency from all over the world, including a $10 Confederate bill.

Erecting the statue enhances the visitor experience to the military museum by increasing the awareness of the realities experienced by local veterans.

“I think it’s a good reminder, and it was just a nice addition,” Quigley said.

The Kenmare Heidenberg-Peterson Legion Post and Heidenberg-Peterson Military Museum are named to honor two World War I soldiers.

The museum is now closed until Memorial Day, but appointments for special tours are available by calling 240-4505. Quigley said the museum is seeking a grant to create a video virtual tour that will make the displays more accessible to the public.

A statue of a female soldier is the focus of a memorial set up next to the military building at Lake County Pioneer Village Museum in Kenmare. Behind the statue is a tree planted in remembrance of veterans.