Battleland

Bronze Star

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Courtesy Greg Marra

Sculptor Greg Marra and his statue of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.

Slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle has been dead for just over a month, but already there’s a plan afoot to honor the sniper forever in bronze.

Greg Marra from Sarasota, Fla., has created a life-size sculpture of the 6-foot-3 Kyle out of clay. Last Thursday, some 100 police and Patriot Guard motorcycle riders escorted the likeness to an Arlington, Tex., foundry, where it will be cast in bronze, like this.

Eddie Routh allegedly shot and killed Kyle and friend Chad Littlefield Feb. 2 after the pair brought Routh to a shooting range south of Fort Worth in a tragic attempt to ease his PTSD. Routh remains in the Erath County jail.

Kyle, 38, was the author of American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, in which he said he had killed at least 160 of the enemy.

The sculpture was the brainchild of the Bradenton, Fla.-based American Patriots in Art, and is expected to cost about $85,000. Donations can be made here; the statue will be given to Kyle’s family to place where it wishes. Kyle, who earned five Bronze Stars in combat, has become one himself.

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