A Soldier Who Never Leaves His Post. Oklahoma’s Capitol Memorial to Those Who Served and Sacrificed
Soldier Represents All Veterans
Is “The Big Guy,” deep in thought? Does he wear the Thousand-Yard Stare – a distant or vacant look in the eyes of individuals who have experienced intense and often traumatic events? You decide.
Either way, the 8 ½ feet statue of a Vietnam soldier on a 3 1/2 foot pedestal that faces the State Capitol stops visitors at the Oklahoma Veterans Memorial. The memorial is located in the State Capitol Park on Lincoln Boulevard on the north side of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Walking through the area saddened me because the names of thousands of Oklahomans killed in action are listed throughout.
Other memorials
Behind The Big Guy stand four bas relief bronze panels mounted on rose granite walls. Each panel depicts scenes from four major wars fought since Oklahoma became a state: World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The names of Oklahomans killed in action are engraved on the back of the walls and were added in the mid-1990s with additional names from Operation Desert Storm to the present added in 2014.
A place that remembers every war
A memorial to the U.S.S. Oklahoma, the battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is there with the names of the 429 sailors and Marines who died. It was added on December 7, 1999.
Flags of each branch of the Armed Forces, the MIA-POW flag, the Oklahoma State flag and United States flag are posted behind The Big Guy, next to the “Eternal Flame.” The flame is meant to remind Oklahomans that “we will never forget.”
How the memorial came to be The State of Oklahoma donated the land for the memorial and people from around the country donated money to pay for it.
“After fundraising for the memorial stalled, Governor George Nigh appointed 44 leaders from across the state to the Veterans Memorial Task Force in April 1986” reported The Oklahoman on Nov. 10, 1986. The leaders got the job done: a well-attended ceremony dedicated The Big Guy, four blank rose granite walls and the grounds on 11 November 1986 – almost 40 years ago. Ceremonies included a speech by Governor Nigh and a flyby of F-4 Phantom II fighters.
On November 11, 1987, phase two was completed when bas-relief panels created by Jay O’Melia were dedicated.
A veteran’s vision
Vietnam War veteran Sergeant Mike Mullings was the driving force for the memorial. A medic from Bethany, Mullings was permanently injured while jumping from a helicopter under fire in Vietnam. After he died in 2017, an inscription was added to the base of the Vietnam soldier, “In Remembrance of SGT J. “Mike” Mullings…He was truly a “Big Guy.”
The Sculpturers
Jay O’Meilia of Tulsa (died in 2022), a WWII and Korean War veteran, and Bill Sowell of Pawhuska (died in 2013), an Army veteran, designed, sculpted and cast The Big Guy from 1984-1986.
They chose 18-year-old Harrison Shackleford, an Osage Indian from Pawhuska, as the model for the Vietnam-era infantryman. “We wanted the sculpture of the soldier to be authentic in terms of age, dress and military equipment,” O’Meilia said in the same Oklahoman article, “especially since many of those who served in Vietnam were only 18 or 19 years old.”
Their design was chosen from 44 entries in a sculpture competition in 1984 that included six Vietnam veteran judges.
According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, “Artist Jay Philip O’Meilia, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 17, 1927, achieved recognition in Oklahoma and elsewhere as a sports painter in the 1950s. A graduate of Tulsa Central High School, he served in the U.S. Navy as an artist during World War II and in Korea.” His work has been exhibited “at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., …the National Cowboy and Western History Museum and the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa.”
Sowell studied at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. His works appear in Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Over 476,000 Oklahomans have served our state and nation in uniform – The Big Guy stands watch for all of them.
The memorial is worth a visit with friends or with a veteran’s group. If you want to hold an event there, call Capitol Event Reservations, 405-521-2121, or see the Oklahoma Management & Enterprise Services Upcoming Events website at Upcoming Events website at Upcoming Events .
For more information about the memorial, see Oklahoma Veterans Memorial | Oklahoma City, OK
story and photos by Lt Col Richard Stephens, Jr., USAFR, Ret.
