LEWISBURG -- Two Vietnam veterans working in a nonprofit organization to honor U.S. military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan say they've gained the support of Marshall County's mayor and Lewisburg's city manager for a Memorial Day weekend ceremony in Lewisburg.

Lewisburg is seen as the boyhood hometown of Marine Staff Sgt. Marc Golczynski, who was killed on March 27 during combat in Iraq. It's where he joined the military and it's near where his funeral was held April 4 in Wheel. He had been on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

Ed Magee of Shelbyville and Dave Uselton of Tullahoma met Wednesday morning with Marshall County Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett and Lewisburg City Manager Eddie Fuller in Liggett's office where they outlined what they want to do to honor Golczynski.

"We're going to work toward helping them get everything lined up," Liggett said.

Later, Uselton said he will confer with Golczynski's mother, Elaine Huffines, and her husband, Bob, at their home south of Shelbyville.

Sgt. Golczynski's father, Henry Golczynski, on Thursday said he's aware of plans for a bust, believes his son should be honored for his sacrifice and that he will make arrangements to attend the ceremony contemplated by the former Marines.

Magee and Uselton have said they want an unveiling ceremony similar to one conducted in Winchester on Veterans Day when a bust of Marine Pfc. Nathan Bradley Clemons was first revealed in Franklin County to an audience of nearly 600 at the courthouse steps.

In a similar effort, a bust of Pfc. Daniel McClenney of Bedford County was dedicated during a ceremony in the county courthouse in Shelbyville on April 22, 2005 when the Marine's father, Randy, received the Silver Star awarded posthumously to his son who's buried in the Flat Creek Community.

Operation Never Forget is dedicated to creating bronze busts for all the families of U.S. Armed Forces servicemen and women who died in Afghanistan and Iraq fighting the war on terror. That could mean some 4,000 busts may be placed in the hometowns of those people. The busts are cast as a result of an application to the organization from survivors.

"Our job is to present the bust to the family at a public venue so the public can be involved," Uselton told Liggett and Fuller.

Magee and Uselton are veterans of the Vietnam war.

There are more than 58,250 of names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., and while there's a replica that's being taken from city to town across the country, Magee said, "A lot of families will never see it."

The life-size busts are to be placed where the survivors want them to be, the former Marines said.

"The final call is definitely up to the family," Magee said.

He and Uselton have indicated they believe the Walk of Heroes portion of Rock Creek Park in Lewisbug is a good location for the bust of Golczynski, in part, because, as Magee said, "There's room down there for all three."

David Hierholzer and Todd Nunes are the other two Marshall County men who've perished in combat during the nation's response to terror.

"The thing that strikes me is that kids someday will see it and ask who they were," Uselton said.

He and Magee said they will continue to work toward having a Memorial Day weekend ceremony for the unveiling of the bust of Golczynski.

The bronze bust is "to be ready in 4-5 weeks," Uselton said.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps League in Tullahoma has pledged $4,000 to Operation Never Forget for the bust of Golczynski.

More information is available at operationneverforget.org. Magee says fundraising for the busts is conducted by people like himself and his friends, Uselton, the family and civic coordinator for the organization, and Col. Ken Crowell, USMC (Ret.) of Shelbyville, as well as various other people and groups.

One other such group is the International Masonic Order, Delphi, in Athens, Greece, is providing $1,000 for each bust. Each bust costs $5,000.

To help deliver on the pledge from the Tullahoma-based Brig. Gen. Austin Shoffner Detachment No. 1128 of the Marine Corps League, Magee, Crowell and Uselton have organized a golf tournament planned on April 18, a Friday, at Willow Brook Country Club in Manchester. They want to have 30 foursomes, Magee said. The entry fee is $300 per foursome.

Col. Crowell may be reached at (931) 684-6305, or P.O. Box 2187, Shelbyville, TN 37160, an address he used for this program and the Marine Corps League's Toys for Tots program at Christmastime.

"The golf tournament will help the Marine Corps League which is doing this for Operation Never Forget," Crowell said. "Donations would go directly to his (Golczynski's) bust but a small portion will go toward Toys For Tots."

Uselton recently told The Herald-Chronicle in Winchester that Operation Never Forget and placement of these statues of servicemen "is a unique way to bring the faces of our fallen heroes to their hometowns so the community will never forget who they were and why they died."

Uselton may be reached at marine11@charter.net.