Griffin: ‘I can think of no better person to sculpt and honor Denver Randleman than Kevin Kresse’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement announcing plans to erect a statue in downtown Little Rock honoring Arkansas native Staff Sergeant Denver “Bull” Randleman, who participated in the D-Day invasion as a member of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division that was portrayed in the book-turned-miniseries “Band of Brothers:”
Denver “Bull” Randleman - Facebook Image
“It is past time that we honor the selfless service of Staff Sergeant Denver Randleman, and today I am announcing that acclaimed sculptor Kevin Kresse has agreed to sculpt a statue that will honor Staff Sergeant Randleman and be placed in downtown Little Rock near the new home of the Office of the Attorney General. Kevin’s talent for capturing the spirit of his subjects through posture, expression, and countless other details is extraordinary, and his work was recently heralded for his statue of Johnny Cash, which now sits in the United States Capitol. I can think of no better person to sculpt and honor Denver Randleman than Kevin Kresse.
“Preserving Staff Sergeant Randleman’s legacy through this statue will add to the quality of downtown Little Rock, and it will call attention not just to this single man but to all of Arkansas’s military heroes, particularly those who served in World War II.”
Randleman was born in Rector and died in 2003 in Texarkana, Arkansas, where he is buried.
Staff Sergeant Randleman’s service in Europe after the D-Day invasion was immortalized in Stephen Ambrose’s book “Band of Brothers,” which later was developed into an award-winning miniseries by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, in which Randleman was portrayed by actor Michael Cudlitz.
The statue is being funded completely with private funds.