SOLANA BEACH —— A full-scale model of a memorial to Solana Beach's fallen service members in two wars is on view on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

It's on the proposed site in Fletcher Cove Park until Sept. 26 so locals can take a look and form an opinion before the City Council takes up the matter.

If the council approves the project, its only remaining hurdle will be clearance by the California Coastal Commission, said Jim Nelson, past president of the Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society and co-chairman of the memorial committee.

The marble-and-stainless steel sculpture is an 86-inch-long curving arc that stands 16 inches high and 16 inches wide, and is entitled Angel of Freedom by its creator, San Diego sculptor Ante Marinovic. It will bear the names of 14 Solana Beach residents who died in World War II and the Vietnam War.

It will replace the present plaque at the foot of the plaza flagpole that commemorates the death of eight men in World War II.

The move to memorialize Vietnam fatalities was initiated by the 200-member Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5431.

"Solana Beach didn't exist as a city during World War I, and we didn't lose any people during the Korean War," Nelson said, to explain why the two wars cited were picked.

The plaque bearing the names of the eight World War II casualties was donated by the Dose family because their son, Richard, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was shot down over Holland in 1943.

When the design competition was announced, the memorial committee's budget was $13,000, and the response was disappointing. "We were lucky to be able to find him (Marinovic) and that he was interested in creating a memorial," Nelson said.

The artist, whose works include a downtown San Diego trolley station and a Denver Broncos stadium project, submitted four designs. The one displayed behind the Fletcher Cove Park Community Center was selected.

Nelson said the site has been approved by the Solana Beach Parks and Recreation Commission and the Public Arts Advisory Commission. If the City Council supports it, the committee will seek a concession from the Coastal Commission to dig an 18-inch-wide hole four feet deep to encase the support for the completed sculpture.

The commission requires a 40-foot clearance from the bluff edge, Nelson said, and the site selected and approved is 12 feet too close.

The Civic and Historical Society is discussing but has not defined plans for the existing plaque if the new memorial receives the necessary approvals.

Besides Richard H. Dose, the other names on the World War II plaque are Joseph A. Chiles, Jesus V. Covarrubias, F. Eugene Dawson, A Walter Hunt, S. Dick Lynde, Joseph B. Mettam, and Pedro C. Osorio.

Added to this list will be the Vietnam fallen: Harvey C. K. Aiau, Raphael Cruz, Charles D. Henricks, The new memorial will include their ranks, branch of military in which they served, and the years in which they were born and died.