“Spirit of the American Doughboy” Statue

Circa 1925, the statue is 11 1/2 inches tall, 3 1/2 inches wide, and 3 1/2 inches deep. It is made of white metal with a dark bronze finish. The statue depicts an American soldier advancing through barbed wire, his rifle in his left hand and a grenade in his raised right hand. The barrel end of the rifle is broken. The figure of the soldier is wonderfully detailed, from his puttees to his ammunition belt with canteen, the gas mask bag on his chest, and the field pack on his back. The green felt which originally covered the base of the statue is now gone. The statue is quite dusty and there are some spots of wear to the finish but overall the piece remains quite impressive.

“The Spirit of the American Doughboy” was designed by American sculptor Ernest Moore Viquesney. He produced life size examples of the work in pressed copper and these were sold throughout the nation for use as municipal and local memorials to World War I service. There are approximately 150 of the statues around the United States at this point in time. The design proved so popular that in the 1920’s and 1930’s Viquesney marketed these smaller examples of the statue to veterans for home and office decoration.