Commando Monument to be Unveiled on Veterans Day

Then-Staff Sgt. Bart Decker, with Northern Alliance forces. U.S. Army photo

(by Alex Quade, WashingtonTimes.com) NORMAN, Okla. – The first statue near ground zero to salute the heroes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will not depict a New York firefighter or policeman – but a lone U.S. commando on horseback in the Afghan mountains. [NOTE: “commando” usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and effect attacks. from wikipedia]

Titled “De Oppresso Liber” – “to free the oppressed,” the Green Berets’ motto – the 3-ton, 18-foot-tall bronze monument was forged to honor the troops who first responded to al Qaeda’s attack from its safe haven in Afghanistan.

A piece of steel from the World Trade Center is embedded in its base, which bears the words “America’s Response Monument.” The statue will be unveiled during the national Veterans Day Parade in New York on Nov. 11.

Its artist, Douwe Blumberg, was inspired in part by a photo of commandos on horseback in Afghanistan that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld displayed during a news conference in late 2001.

“The visual irony of a 21st-century, high-tech trooper mounted on a ragged Afghan mountain horse, unchanged for centuries, fascinated me,” said Mr. Blumberg, who incorporated the stories of four of the first horseback commandos as he cast the statue in Norman, [Oklahoma].

“No one man did it, no one horse did it, no one commander did it. It was a collective mission,” Army Sgt. 1st Class Joe Jung, a Green Beret medic and sniper, told the artist.

Three teams of “killer elite” — a total of 34 U.S. commandos on horses — were tasked with something without precedent: orchestrating tribal warfare against the Taliban, al Qaeda’s protector in Afghanistan. They led the Northern Alliance, a group of warlords and freedom fighters, into combat against the Taliban and directed laser-guided U.S. airstrikes against the regime. …..

“American sentiment was: ‘We need to get those [terrorists],’ ” Sgt. Spence added. “That was the bottom line.”

For Sgt. Jung, the medic, that meant continuing the mission with a broken back after his horse slipped in the treacherous mountains and fell on top of him in the first days of their mission.

“Two shots of morphine to relieve the pain and get back on the horse. I would not allow myself to be the weak link. It’s not in my nature, and it’s not in any Green Beret’s nature,” said Sgt. Jung, who currently is serving at Army Special Operations Command.

Lt. Col. Max Bowers, their Special Forces ground commander, who chose each commando for this secret mission, always carried with him a piece of the World Trade Center while he advised Northern Alliance warlords during violent battles in Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz. …..

After the Taliban fell, the commandos buried Col. Bowers’ fragment of the World Trade Center in Afghanistan. “We did that because the [reason for] sending U.S. forces to Afghanistan was that 9/11 attack — and New York’s firefighters, police and emergency responders had done such a great job,” the colonel said. …..

In forging the statue, Mr. Blumberg paid attention to the commandos’ stories and included tiny details: In the tread of the soldier’s boots are pieces of gravel from Afghanistan that a Green Beret gave the artist for inspiration.

Another detail: On the soldier’s left hand is the outline of a wedding band under his glove. “That’s my way of tipping my hat to wives, marriages and strain on families,” Mr. Blumberg said. “It’s to acknowledge the stresses caused by multiple deployments.”

The statue will be located temporarily at One World Financial Center until its final installment near ground zero. A group of 9/11 survivors from Wall Street, who asked to remain anonymous, paid for the statue’s creation, and no public funds were used.

On Nov. 12, Army Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commander of Special Operations Command, will present to New York Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano a map showing where the commandos buried that piece of the World Trade Center in Afghanistan.

Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC.  Reprinted from The Washington Times for educational purposes only.  Visit the website at washingtontimes.com.  NOTE: Freelance war correspondent Alex Quade, who wrote this article, spent nearly 18 months in Iraq and Afghanistan covering U.S. special operations forces on combat missions.