During the spring of 1960, Lieutenant General Robert F. Sink, commander XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg sought a statue to honor the Airborne Soldier as Marines are honored by the Iwo Jima statue and infantry by the Follow Me statue at Fort Benning. General Sink wanted a heroic statue not less than eight feet tall, an oversize monument to instill pride among current Soldiers and recall the great airborne deeds of past.

In early May 1960, General Sink appointed Mrs. Leah Hiebert, a sculptress trained in Europe and New York to create for Fort Bragg a monument to the Airborne Soldier. She was here with her husband, Deputy Post Chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Hiebert. Mrs. Hiebert had taught art classes on post and did a bust of General Sink.

LTG Sink decided on the pose, uniform and gear that would be worn by the model. His original idea for the statue was to make it resemble the artwork from the cover of Ross Carter’s book, "Devil's in Baggy Pants." The statue was to represent a World War II paratrooper after jumping into battle. Upon seeing the painting and learning how LTG Sink wanted the statue to look, Colonel Edward Whelems, XVIII Airborne Corps G1, told the general he had just the man for the job and sent for 1SG Runyon.