BANGOR – Glenn and Diane Hines of Houlton have been engaged to sculpt a memorial honoring Vietnam veterans to be located at the Cole Museum near the Vietnam-era military tank. The monument will include a bronze three-person statue depicting a nurse and a wounded soldier, assisted by a foot soldier or an air crew member.

Glenn and Diane Hines have to their credit the Samantha Smith Memorial at the State House in Augusta and the Gen. Joshua Chamberlain memorial in Brewer. They will begin sculpting the figures in the monument Nov. 1, with an expected completion date of October 2003.

The Cole Foundation is the primary sponsor of the memorial but is seeking financial support for the project.

Opportunities to provide support include sponsoring a casting – which could be the likeness of an individual, living or dead, who served in Vietnam, or sponsoring the name of one of the 346 Vietnam veterans killed or missing in action, which will be listed on a bronze plaque.

Vietnam veterans are invited to stop by the Cole Museum, until Nov. 11 to look at sketches of the proposed monument and see the site where it will be placed.

The decision to move forward with the project was made after a Sept. 19 meeting where representatives of veterans groups from Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Hancock, Lincoln and Androscoggin counties expressed enthusiastic support.

State Rep. Russell Treadwell, a Vietnam War pilot, has agreed to pursue state legislative support for the memorial.

Individuals or organizations interested in sponsoring sections of the project should call the Cole Land Transportation Museum at 990-3600 by Oct. 15.