Custer in Custer County, South Dakota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)

L. Cpl. Cody Glenn Engen

— Operation Creekside —

Photographed by Mark Parker, June 30, 2025

1. L. Cpl. Cody Glenn Engen Memorial Bench

Inscription.
L.Cpl. Cody Glenn Engen
1989-2017
2nd Light Armored Recon.
OIF-OEF 0311 USMC

"I have passed the mountain peak and my soul is soaring in the firmament of complete and unbounded freedom, I am in comfort, I am in peace."
Khalil Gibran

Erected by Operation Creekside 22 Too Many.

Topics. This memorial is listed in this topic list: War, 2nd Iraq.

Location. 43° 45.903′ N, 103° 35.989′ W. Memorial is in Custer, South Dakota, in Custer County. It is on Washington Street near South Fifth Street, on the right when traveling east. The memorial is at the Custer Veterans Memorial Park. Touch for map. Memorial is at or near this postal address: 434 Washington St, Custer SD 57730, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this memorial is in West River

and in Greater Rapid City.

It is also in the American Black Hills,

in the Lewis & Clark Corridor,

on the prairies,

and on the Northern Plains.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Way Park (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Dedicated to All Veterans (about 400 feet away); Horace N. Ross (about 400 feet away); First National Bank of Dakota Territory (about 600 feet away); Custer County Courthouse (about 600 feet away); Frontier Protection (approx. 0.2 miles away); Miners Meet 1875 (approx. half a mile away); Everything changes, or does it? (approx. 2.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Custer.

Also see . . .

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Cody Engen. Biography from 22 Too Many, a group that deals with the issue of suicides by veterans after their service and in support of their families. The number 22 is the VA estimate of the amount of veteran suicides on a daily basis.

“Cody declared he wanted to be a Marine at the age of five, he never wavered from this goal, he joined the Young Marines at the age of twelve after the Twin Towers fell and the day after his high school graduation, he left for MCRD San Diego.

Cody was honorably discharged from the Marine Corp after serving for four years with the 2nd Light Armored Recon. as a gunner. He was also the designated marksman for his company in O.I.F. He was diagnosed with TBI/PTS after his tour in Afghanistan after an IED explosion...

Three months after he returned home, he had a PTS episode where he felt like justice wasn’t being served about a complaint he had filed with the Sheriff’s Office, he went to take care of the complaint himself, in the early hours of Sept. 6th, 2011 Cody was gunned down in his hometown where he was born and raised.

(Submitted on July 2, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina.)

Additional keywords. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),

L. Cpl. Cody Glenn Engen Memorial Bench in front of Custer Veterans Memorial Park image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, June 30, 2025

2. L. Cpl. Cody Glenn Engen Memorial Bench in front of Custer Veterans Memorial Park

Suicide

Credits. This page was last revised on July 11, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 2, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 79 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 2, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.