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Remembering Montana’s Fallen Heroes

By Beacon Staff

Ashley Johnston can still hear her older brother’s voice.

Johnston has a burned CD with two voicemails from Kane Funke, her only sibling who missed graduating from Flathead High School because he left early to enlist in a delayed-entry military program in Washington. Lance Cpl. Funke was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004. He was 20 years old.

One of the final phone calls he made home came only weeks before he was scheduled to return to Montana. He told his family how excited he was to see them. But an explosion in the Anbar province cut his life short.

Johnston, 23, recently finished four years of service in the Air Force and is now a student at the University of Montana in Missoula.

She treasures those remaining voicemails, and now has something else to remember her brother by.

A week before Veterans Day, on Nov. 4, Johnston and hundreds of other family members of fallen soldiers gathered at the Missoula campus for the unveiling of the Fallen Soldier Memorial, a series of life-sized bronze statues honoring the Montana soldiers who have given their lives for their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Artist Rick Rowley created the statues. The event was organized by Grateful Nation Montana, a group based in Conrad that raises money for school for the children of fallen veterans.

“I think a lot of people need a reminder of that kind of sacrifice,” Johnston said. “It will be good for something like that (memorial) to be on the campus, too. I’ll be able to see it every time I go to classes.”

Funke is one of four soldiers from the Flathead Valley who have given their life while serving in recent years.

Nicholas Scott Cook, Pvt. First Class from Hungry Horse, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 at age 19.

Matthew Saltz, First Lt. from Bigfork, was killed in Iraq in 2003 at age 27.

Stewart Trejo, Cpl. from Whitefish, was killed in Iraq in 2008 at age 26.

Almost 1,000 people gathered to pay tribute at the campus. David Bell, one of the co-founders of Grateful Nation Montana, said the event was a mix of sadness, accomplishment and unity between veterans and the community.

“This will be a day that will be remembered as one of the most special I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “The beauty is now that memorial is there for everyone to see every day.”

For more information about Grateful Nation Montana, which sponsors a 5K race on the Fourth of July in Bigfork, visit www.gratefulnationmontana.com or visit its Facebook page.