The Spirit of the American Doughboy [Crooksville]

One of many copies of Viquesney's 1920 "The Spirit of the American Doughboy," the statue depicts a World War I infantry man, stepping amongst tree stumps and barbed wire in "No Man's Land." He holds a grenade in his upwardly-extended right hand and a rifle with a bayonet in his left. A 1921 American Legion competition declared the bronze soldier's uniform and gear to be 100% accurate to that of actual Doughboys. The statue rests on a brick pedestal, with a bronze plaque on the front. Crooksville's statue is reported to have been the first Viquesney Doughboy in the state of Ohio.

The plaque on the front of the base reads: OUR HONORED CITIZENS, THEY GAVE THEIR LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION, "BOYS OF '61," "BOYS OF '98," "BOYS OF '17," "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS." (This indicates the monument is in honor of the soldiers of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I.)

This piece is located next to the Village of Crooksville Administration Building.

For more information, visit the E.M. Viquesney Doughboy Database linked in the Sources, which gives a very thorough history of the statues, delves into the lookalikes and the legal battle that was tied to them, and provides further details on the genuine Visquesney "Doughboy" statues located around the United States.