A new military monument set to become one of the largest in the metro area will be dedicated on Veterans Day at the Hastings headquarters of a nonprofit called the United Heroes League.

The organization, begun by a soldier who wanted to help other military families buy sports equipment for their children, plans to unveil their "Heroes Monument" at noon on Thursday with a flyover and ribbon-cutting by a World War II veteran.

"We're really excited," said Shane Hudella, the 24-year Army veteran who founded the United Heroes League.

The monument's three walls each stand 6 feet tall and run 60 feet long. From the air it looks like a three-sided shield. It has room for 4,320 bricks, each of which eventually will bear the name of someone who served in the military.

Hudella said the organization already inscribed some of the bricks with the names of individuals, picking people they've worked with over the years while supplying sports gear to kids. The remainder of the bricks are available to be inscribed, and money raised from the sale of the bricks will help fund the organization's mission, he said.

World War II veteran Lou Chicquette, a B-29 tail gunner who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals, will cut the ribbon at Thursday's ceremony.

Hudella said he got the idea to help service members pay for sports gear when he was serving. As a father of four sons — all of them hockey goalies — he knew that sports fees could climb quickly but also felt it was important for kids to stay on their teams.

"It's absolutely critical if mom or dad go away and deploy," that kids get to stay in the sports they love, Hudella said. Keeping them connected to their teams, connected to coaches and playing sports will help them confront the challenges of being the son or daughter of a deployed member of the military.

"It's not just a hockey stick," Hudella said of his group's mission.

His early efforts to help military families pay for sports equipment caught the attention of the media and even the White House. Hudella traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2012 to accept an award from the Obama administration for his nonprofit work.

Since then, the Heroes League has expanded to all sports and all states, shipping gear to people's homes for free, or sometimes offering sports camps for children of service members.

Hudella said he got the idea to build the monument to preserve the stories of people who had served.

The memorial will stand on the 50-acre site that the United Heroes League purchased for its headquarters in 2016. Hudella said he wants to incorporate an app for visitors that would allow them to learn more about each of the service members listed on the wall.

"Meeting frequently with these military families and kids, it just struck me that we lose so much from generation to generation, the stories and legacies from our military veterans," he said.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329