CUSTER STATE PARK, S.D. - Most visitors to this park near Rapid City, South Dakota will not know who Sgt. Denis D. Kisseloff was, but that doesn’t matter to the Missouri Soldiers who dedicated a park bridge in his honor.
While participating in annual training exercises in June, Soldiers of the 1141st Sapper Company, based in Kansas City, rebuilt a wooden bridge inside the park and named it in honor of Kisseloff, a Missouri Guardsman killed in Afghanistan on May 14. Kisseloff, 45, of St. Charles, had served with the 1141st.
As part of Operation Golden Coyote, the 1141st and the 294th Engineer Company, based in Carthage, were tasked with rebuilding several wooden bridges within the park. That got Staff Sgt. Russell Rawlings, of Jericho Springs, thinking.
“I was looking at the bridge and I was thinking how General Custer and Sgt. Kisseloff were both warriors,” Rawlings said. “So I thought that if they can name this park after General Custer we could name this bridge in honor of Sgt. Kisseloff.”
Rawlings went to the South Dakota Parks Department with his idea, and, with their blessing, ordered a sign to place near the bridge.
“One of our Soldiers, Spc. Michael Roberts, designed the sign and we took the drawing into Rapid City and had a metal sign made,” said Rawlings. “We wanted something that would last a long time.”
According to 1st Sgt. Matthew Stegmann, of Higginsville, about 18 Soldiers worked to replace the wooden decking and railings on the 60-foot bridge, which was built in 1953. A dedication ceremony and placement of the sign followed.
“It was about a week’s work,” Stegmann said. “The bridge spans French Creek, where gold was first discovered in the Black Hills. It’s not an architectural masterpiece, but it is beautiful. I was very proud of the young men who did the work. We had several junior non-commissioned officers who stepped up an acted as squad leaders and did a fantastic job.”
Stegmann said knowing that the bridge would be dedicated to Sgt. Kisseloff served as a motivating factor in its reconstruction.
“There is always a certain degree of pride in our work,” he said, “but when the opportunity came up to dedicate the bridge to Sgt. Kisseloff it just added to that – the project became more heartfelt, and the bridge looks excellent.”
Rawlings said Kisseloff’s family will be sent photos of the bridge and would be notified of its exact location in the event they would want to go see it.