We had a phone call first thing Wednesday morning from Jessie Albrecht in Belgrade. Thankfuly, our producer Caden Bjornstad was quick to get him on our show calendar so he could be heard across Montana.
Jesse is a ceramic artist and Iraq veteran who was attached to the 101st Airborne Division during the early years of the Iraq War.
Here's a note he sent us about a must-see memorial coming to Montana State University February 3rd through the 5th.
I am writing because I need help to spread the word about the Eyes of Freedom memorial, which honors Lima Co, 3/25, which lost 22 Marines and a Navy corpsman during their 05-06 Iraq deployment. Belgrade's Nicholas Bloem is honored in this with a life sized portrait. A bronze sculpture also honors all who served, and are on the long road home.
Jesse tells us that the memorial will be on display at Ballroom A, in the Montana State University student union, from 8am-8pm, February 3-5th.  No charge or tickets are required. "Please spread the word!!!!," he added.
He said he wanted to spread the word because he knows "there's so many people that have served that care about our country, our nation, and our community" and he wants them all to know about Nicholas Bloem's story.

We talked about how visiting a travelling memorial like this can be very powerful, much like when I got to visit the travelling Vietnam Wall memorial in Butte recently. "I think when art kind of serves at its highest levels," Albrecht says, "it connects us and it brings out emotions that we struggle often in words to put forth."

Video of the memorial at the Reagan Library recently:

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