DOUGHBOYS REMEMBERED
Drive on US 30 as the highway meets US 101 underneath the Oregon side of the Astoria-Megler bridge over the Columbia River and you pass a small statue of a World War I soldier. The monument is “the Doughboy” or Astoria’s Doughboy. Doughboy refers to the nickname given to American infantrymen during the Great War. The nickname continued to refer to American soldiers until the Second World War nickname “G.I.”.
World War 1 was a major event in the country’s history. The war pushed a somewhat unwilling nation onto the international stage. Not since the American Civil War had something like World War 1 transfixed the US. During that war, some 10% of the population of the Union served in the Federal Army. By 1918, with 4.8 million serving in the armed forces, 4.7% of the population had served.
World War I is though to not have been remembered in the US. The war was, in fact, well-remembered. At least until World War II came along. There are monuments to the war in small towns all over the US. The early Twentieth Century was a highpoint for monument erections whether on old battlefields or in hometowns. A plethora of monuments in the US remembered Civil War efforts. In Europe, a similar movement memorialized German efforts during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The Great War seemed a perfect time for more monuments.
MONUMENT WARS
During WWI, Secretary of War Newton Baker encouraged communities to erect memorials honoring American contributions to the war. Baker’s encouragement was a flag to action for sculptors and monument makers. Enter one Ernest Moore Viquesney, who created a score of monuments found across the country. There is an example to the north in Washington State at Zelasko Park, Aberdeen.
Astoria’s Doughboy was from a competing sculptor, John Paulding. His copyright predated Viquesney’s by five months. Some 55 of Paulding’s monuments survive around the country (compared to 144 Viquesney productions). The statues of Viquesney were created from 75 different die-stamped pieces. The pieces welded together over an internal frame. Paulding’s monuments were made of solid bronze. This made them both heavier and more expensive.
OREGON MONUMENTS
There are no Viquesney statues in Oregon, but there are three Pauldings. Each monument is slightly different. They represent three of the four models available. Model B stands in front of the Yamhill County Courthouse in McMinnville with a raised open right hand entitled – “Over the Top to Victory”.
One of only two model D’s completed sits in the Memorial Park of Oregon by the Department of Veteran Affairs in Salem. The statue used to be in front of the Marion County Courthouse. With a hand grenade in the raised right hand, this model is also entitled “Over the Top to Victory”.
One of the two model C’s completed is here in Astoria, “Over the Top at Cantigny”. Cantigny was the first large scale battle where American troops – of the US 1st Division – fought. Astoria’s Doughboy features a rifle with bayonet in the raised right hand.
ASTORIA’S DOUGHBOY
I have seen all three statues and the one in Astoria is by the most impressive. The base of the statue in Astoria is more dramatic than simple blocks used in the other two. The Astoria monument uses a base designed by a local architect, Charles Diamond. The base, finished in Spanish Revival style, is topped with a cupola. Originally, there were public restrooms in the base of the monument.
A local resident crashed his car – 2017 – into the base damaging the stairwell leading down to the rest rooms. Repairs finished since, though rest rooms are no longer open (possibly because of the pandemic).
UNIONTOWN
Uniontown is the area of Astoria where the monument sits. Formerly known as “Helsinki of the West”, Uniontown had the largest Finnish community in the western US. The Finns worked mostly in the fishing industry which dominated Astoria in the past. “The Doughboy” statue came about financed by monies from the canneries and citizens of Uniontown.
Finally, a last note on how the statue differs from the other Oregon versions. Monuments in McMinnville and Salem list by name all of their respective county soldiers by name who died. Here, the Soldiers Monument deicates to all men of Clatsop County fighting in the “World War”. Of 44,000 men mobilized for the war from Oregon, seventeen men from Astoria died while thirty died from the entire Clatsop County. “The Doughboy” dedication took place in front of 5,000 people in 1926,. World War II was only 15 years in the future.
We (or at least I) tend to think of our local monuments as unique, one-off creations. So it’s interesting to learn that there were different models to chose from, and that different towns could have monuments of the same design.
The particular model in Astoria had only one sibling and that is in Catskill, New York. With the widespread of the country and the inability to travel in those days, people would think theirs was a one of a kind. It would be interesting to see if German monuments to either World War were built in a similar manner. A lot of towns had their Great War monuments and simply added another base for the Second, something I have seen in Canada, as well. There was an big advertising war in trade publications between the builder of Paulding’s monuments and Viquesney regarding which one was ‘better’ – “Get the original!” “Don’t be fooled by copycats!” “We may have to resort to legal recourse if you buy the wrong one”. The two companies went to court over copyright infringement in the early 1920’s but I don’t know the outcome of the suit. Viquesney, from Americus, Georgia (think Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity which is headquartered there not far from Plains) went on to produce thousands of copies of “The Spirit of the Doughboy” in 12″ and 6″ pot metal fabrications. There were 12″ table lights made from the statuettes. You can still find them today on e-Bay.
Like Don I was interested to read that these monuments were produced to a set of standard models. My assumption is that ours in the UK are each unique but I could be wrong – I will have to do some research. Certainly this ‘Over the Top’ model, in all its variations, is very dramatic and seems to capture what we understand about action in WWI. Do you know why they called the soldiers ‘Doughboys’? To me it seems to imply that they overate and were unfit but that seems highly unlikely as an explanation!
LOL, the term “doughboy” predates the Great War but by how many years is lost in the mists of time. Some sources think the term came from interventions in Mexico either in the 1916 Pershing chase of Pancho Villa or in the earlier Mexican-American War 1846-1848. In both of those cases, the soldiers did a lot of walking on dusty roads. The dusty appearance of the men made people think of flour. I have also seen a further explanation regarding ‘adobes’ the homes of Mexicans. The soldiers shortened that to ‘dobies’ which led to the “doughboy”. I might lean to the earlier appearance of the term as I seem to have run across it reading on the late 19th century Indian Wars. Plus, the term “Doughface” was a popular expression before the Civil War which meant a politician from the Northern States who had Southern political tendencies – pro-slavery and State’s rights. Good examples of ‘doughfaces’ would be President Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.
From Viquesney and Paulding, there are almost 200 statues very similar spread across the country, usually in front of a courthouse. Such a mass production of monuments was not unheard of. “The Soldier” seems to stand in many town squares back in the eastern part of the country.
I guess I was rather naive to believe that monument statues such as these were all unique. Even though that wasn’t the case with the ones produced by Viquesney and Paulding, I still like them very much, and even more so when they have been placed on more elaborate bases. I wish everyone felt that monuments (and other monuments/statues as well) such as these deserve to be preserved — all of them represent a part of our history which shouldn’t be forgotten.
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