Vergas Veterans’ Freedom Rock earns WCI grant award
News | Published on October 7, 2026 at 6:43pm EDT | Author: Kendall Koenen
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By Robert Williams
Editor
The Freedom Rock at the Vergas Veterans Memorial was one of two winners recently named at the West Central Initiative Empowering Good Conference pitch competition in August at the Bigwood Event Center in Fergus Falls.
Component Fund advisors from across the region put their storytelling skills to work, sharing the people, passion, and possibilities behind their component funds for a chance to earn a grant.
Among the winners were Pam and Lyle Krieg, who shared the story of Vergas Veterans Memorial Park—a community dream brought to life through years of dedication, creativity, and persistence.
Their pitch highlighted the park’s Freedom Rock, painted by Iowa-based artist Ray “Bubba” Sorensen, and the story of local veteran Walter Fick.
Sorensen discussed Fick’s story in a 2004 interview with the Forum.
A name caught his eye on a memorial pillar placed right near the entrance to the gazebo housing the rock – that name was Walter Fick.
“I was walking by one of these pillars and I saw “SILVERSTAR” and it’s run together as one word and I thought, ‘there’s a Silver Star recipient they didn’t tell me about?’”
The Silver Star Medal is the United States Armed Forces’ third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.
Fick was killed in action while serving in World War II, along with his brother Harold Fick.
“That’s a high level medal,” Sorenson said.
Sorenson tracked down a short story that was written about Walter Fick by a man who served with him.
“The story he’s got is pretty touching and moving,” said Lyle Krieg.
From that telling, Sorenson added Fick’s story to the Freedom Rock, along with other representations of the U.S.S. Minnesota, and the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in December of 2019 that killed Charles Nord, who is buried in Vergas.
“Just stories that are pertinent to the area,” said Sorenson. “If I just put all five branches of the military and the flag, and I keep doing that over and over, everybody is going to go see one and say whoop, that’s good enough. Why would I go to the next one? With this, I’ve got to go see the one in Vergas because I don’t know these stories. It just keeps people coming to visit them more and more and it’s kind of a patchwork mural of well over 100 rocks that tell the story of U.S. military history.”
It’s a similar process at each village, town or city Sorenson visits.
“If you let those stories die, they’re gone; it’s kind of my mission to keep some of these interesting stories alive and every little nook and cranny in the United States has these stories,” he said.
The memorial still needs donations to continue making additions. Hundreds of veterans are currently memorialized on the granite pillars at the park and more on the memorial’s benches.
Lyle and Pam discussed how often they meet visitors at the memorial and how everyone comes with their own story.
“There are a lot of stories we’ve heard, both humorous and very sad,” they said.
Every pitch, especially the Krieg’s, is an example of what can happen when people care deeply about a place and come together to invest in its future.
Congratulations to all of the winners and to every fund advisor who stepped up to share their story.
Explore the many Component Funds working to make good things happen across the region at wcif.org/ways-to-give/give-to-a-fund/, including the Frazee Area Action Fund and Vergas Community Fund.
The Vergas Veterans Memorial group of Lyle Krieg, John Lotzer; Doug Safar; Dennis Breitzman; Lyle Fritz, Tim Gagner and posthumously Henry Ditterich, a Purple Heart recipient, who passed away in December of 2025 were named Grand Marshals of Looney Days this year, as the country celebrated the 250th year of the United States.
Another contributing original member, Dr. Rodger Palmer, passed away in May of 2022.
The Vergas Veterans Memorial Group leaders are seeking new members and hoping to add some youth to the Veterans squad. Contact the Vergas Lions Club for more information: (218) 841-0302.