A statue honoring a World War II veteran is coming to Little Rock. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced his plan to build a statue of Denver “Bull” Randleman Friday morning.
Randleman was born in Rector and participated in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France in 1944.
“I’ve been committed throughout to have a statue to Bull Randleman. Not a small statue, not a statue for a corner, but a centerpiece, what I like to call a destination statue, a big one,” Griffin told reporters at Friday’s press conference.
A member of the Army's Easy Company 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Randleman was portrayed in the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” based on Stephen Ambrose’s book of the same name. He died in Texarkana in 2003.
Griffin said he wanted to honor Randleman while renovating the historic Boyle Building at 103 W. Capitol Ave. in Little Rock, where his office is scheduled to move.
“I couldn't find any record of [Randleman] ever being honored in a significant way,” Griffin said.
Griffin's original plan involved naming the new building after Randleman, but decided to fund a statue instead after a member of his staff passed away.
“This is gonna be a big big deal for veterans, but more broadly it’s going to be a big, big deal for Arkansas, for downtown, for educating our children–and it will be a great entree for us to start telling the story of service and sacrifice.”
Gabe Holmstrom is the executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership. He thanked Griffin for the twofold investment into renovating the historic Boyle building, and championing the statue’s creation.
“We spend a lot of time talking about public art, and we don’t have anything remotely close to this in our downtown right now. So this is going to be an amazing gift for the city, an amazing gift for the state,” Holmstrom said.
“It will make it real to a lot of young Arkansans,” Griffin said.
The statue will be sculpted by Arkansas artist Kevin Kresse, whose likeness of Johnny Cash was recently unveiled in the U.S. Capitol.
Griffin said the project will be funded through private donations, and some organizations have already expressed interest in offering support.
Griffin said while he wants the statue to attract tourists and visitors from the World War II community, he also wants Arkansas families to visit and learn about Randleman’s life.
“We need this sort of thing. You can tell kids what’s in a book, it’s more meaningful when you can show them. Not everybody can get on a plane and go to Normandy,” Griffin said. “This is a window into history from an Arkansas perspective.”
