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Statue brings memories to life Steve Johnson photo This statute will be dedicated in Veterans Park in Jacksonville on Tuesday, to mark the 55th anniversary of D-Day. Mel Cotton, a World War II veteran from Jacksonville, loaned the artist a vintage uniform, rifle and helmet from which the sculpture�s details are modeled. Soldier�s memorial will be dedicated Tuesday By MELISSA MARTIN JACKSONVILLE � The young soldier is ready to return home, maybe to cradle his newborn for the first time or kiss his young bride. But before he leaves foreign soil, he kneels to drink from a stream, closing his eyes in a prayer of thanksgiving. "It�s a very emotional statue,�� says Russian artist Alik Iskenderov, the statue�s creator, speaking through an interpreter. "It tries to express the idea of a soldier who just came back from the war. He takes a sip of water, a symbol of new life after the war.�� Iskenderov�s artwork that graces Veteran�s Park in Jacksonville will be dedicated during a ceremony at 2 p.m. Tuesday. June 6 is the 55th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops invaded Normandy. "It�s a dandy monument to the memory of the boys who fought,�� said Mel Cotton, a World War II veteran from Jacksonville. Cotton loaned the artist a uniform from the Camp White Historical Association Museum, along with an M-31 rifle and a steel helmet. "I wore a combat uniform similar to this one,�� said Cotton, who fought in Italy and Africa for 22 months. He was a member of the 91st Infantry Division based at Camp White in what is now White City. Iskenderov used the relics as models when he fashioned the soldier out of clay last summer at the Jacksonville home of his longtime friend, commercial artist Semyon Bilmes. Bilmes, the mastermind behind the Veteran�s Park renovations, is also Russian. "During the day, it was so hot, the clay was cracking and he was pouring water on it all the time,�� Bilmes said in a telephone interview from his home in Marmaris, Turkey. Bilmes and his wife, Alla, and their four children moved from Jacksonville recently because several family members developed breathing problems in the Rogue Valley. After the statue was complete, the two Russian artists hauled the heavy monument north, where it sat for months at a Portland foundry until Bilmes could raise enough money for the bronzing. Late last year, they brought the finished work back and mounted it against rocks hauled from Coachman Hills subdivision, Bilmes said. They created a fountain that falls from the soldier�s hands into three pools. "Jacksonville needed to have artwork and tying it to the Veteran�s Park was natural because it was an abandoned and deserted piece of land,�� Bilmes said. "The city of Jacksonville was very nice in helping me organize this project.�� The statue would be worth about $50,000 if the city had to purchase it, Bilmes estimated. But it was donated by Iskenderov, who now lives in New York with his wife, Alida Musaeva, a medical doctor and Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University. "I think it�s remarkable,�� said Jacksonville resident Paul Hagedorn, a hospice chaplain at Providence Hospital. He will play taps during next week�s dedication ceremony. "It reminds us what people have done to serve our peace.�� Jacksonville Mayor Jim Lewis agreed that the soldier kneeling by the brook speaks to everyone. "I think it�s a terrific piece of work,�� said the retired Navy captain, who served during Vietnam. "Anybody who has worn a uniform can identify.�� Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA