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Korczak Remembrance Day

Visitors honor famed sculptor

CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL, S.D. (10/22/09) -- Thank you. Over and over, visitors expressed their gratitude in the guest book outside the tomb of Crazy Horse Memorial sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.

About 150 people paid their respects during Korczak Remembrance Day on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Visitors included a local fifth-grade class, Black Hills area Native Americans and people from Alaska, California, Canada, Colorado, England, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The special event marked the third public invitation to remember the founder of the world’s largest mountain carving in progress since his death at age 74 in 1982. Admission to the memorial was free, with suggested donations of funds or three cans of food per person for the KOTA Care and Share Food Drive.

From the tomb area at the mountain’s base, those making the pilgrimage saw peeks of the colossal carving project through pine and aspen trees. Guests met with family host Adam Ziolkowski and in comments declared the setting “amazing,” “beautiful,” “peaceful,” “serene,” “wonderful,” but mostly “inspiring.”

Fog and rain somewhat reduced the view, but not the depth of sentiments.

“A tear for a great man,” wrote Richard Wenn of Yountville, Calif. The 91-year-old Air Force veteran walked the gravel road from the visitor center to the tomb during his first visit to Crazy Horse.

He served 23 years, including periods during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Wenn said he marveled at how much has been accomplished on the mountain carving.

“Stop and think about it,” he said. “The tools that he had in those days and the tools that they have today. It’s incredible.”

The salute culminated with a mountain blast removing 805 tons of granite covering part of the horse’s head below the eye.

“RIP. You are remembered,” wrote Molly Thunder Chief of Rapid City.

Korczak installed a knocker on the inside of his tomb’s steel door, joking that he would knock when he wanted out, in case work lagged on the projects he had mapped out.

Dale Oleson of California picked up on that humor, asking his fellow Army veteran to, “Send me an e-mail, Korczak.”

Lakota chief Henry Standing Bear and other tribal elders first invited the Boston-born Ziolkowski to carve a mountain memorial to honor Native Americans in 1939. The project, dedicated in 1948, continues with the nonprofit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, led by Korczak’s wife, Ruth Ziolkowski.

Located on Crazy Horse Memorial Highway, U.S. 16/385 between Hill City and Custer, Crazy Horse is open every day. For more about the memorial, go to www.crazyhorsememorial.org or call 605-673-4681.

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Contact: Pat Dobbs | Crazy Horse Memorial | 605-673-4681, Ext. 256 | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PHOTO CAPTION: Fifth-graders from the Hermosa area pay their respects at the tomb of Crazy Horse Memorial sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski. Family representative Adam Ziolkowski, seated, greeted about 150 people during the third Korczak Remembrance Day, recalling his death on Oct. 20, 1982, at age 74. The students also were at Crazy Horse for science and technology classes at the mobile state National Guard classroom, STARBASE Project NOVA. (Photo credit: © Crazy Horse Memorial/Linda M. Uphoff)