The E. M. Viquesney "Spirit of the American Doughboy" Database
LIBERTY, KENTUCKY
N 37° 19.0737 / W 84° 56.418
1983 cast bronze replacement of original copyright 1934 version.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Numbers 47260045 (original), KY000200 (copy).
1983 cast bronze replacement of original copyright 1934 version.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Numbers 47260045 (original), KY000200 (copy).
Located on the lawn of 231 Courthouse Square at Casey County Courthouse, near the intersection of Campbellsville Street and Courthouse Square.
The inscription on the plaque on the front of the concrete base reads:
DEDICATED TO
THE MEMORY OF OUR COMRADES
WHO ENTERED THE SERVICE
OF THEIR COUNTRY
FROM CASEY COUNTY, KENTUCKY
AND WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE WORLD WAR.
ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF
CASEY CO. AND ELSEWHERE
UNDER AUSPICES OF
CASEY POST NO. 78, AMERICAN LEGION
NOVEMBER 11, 1935
An inscription on a plaque on the back of the base reads:
THOSE WHO MADE
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE
DURING THE WORLD WAR
1917-1918
CASEY COUNTY, KENTUCKY
(followed by list of 32 names in two columns)
DEDICATED TO
THE MEMORY OF OUR COMRADES
WHO ENTERED THE SERVICE
OF THEIR COUNTRY
FROM CASEY COUNTY, KENTUCKY
AND WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE WORLD WAR.
ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF
CASEY CO. AND ELSEWHERE
UNDER AUSPICES OF
CASEY POST NO. 78, AMERICAN LEGION
NOVEMBER 11, 1935
An inscription on a plaque on the back of the base reads:
THOSE WHO MADE
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE
DURING THE WORLD WAR
1917-1918
CASEY COUNTY, KENTUCKY
(followed by list of 32 names in two columns)
The plaque on the near side honors, by name, those who made the supreme sacrifice in Vietnam (7) and Korea (6), and a plaque on the far side honors those who made the supreme sacrifice in World War II (75).
The statue in the photograph is not the original sculpture dedicated in 1935. That Doughboy was accidentally shattered by a truck, July 4, 1982. The one in the photograph is a replica made by Eleftherios Karkadoulias at a cost of $12,400 paid by two utility companies. It was dedicated November 11, 1983.
Liberty is in Casey County, Kentucky, birth county of T. Perry Wesley, the Spencer, Indiana resident who, while he was living, was the most knowledgeable person about the sculptor, E. M. Viquesney, and of information about the “Spirit Of The American Doughboy” and the locations of its replicas across the nation. The Doughboy wasn’t placed in Liberty until many years after Mr. Wesley had left Casey County, though.
Liberty is in Casey County, Kentucky, birth county of T. Perry Wesley, the Spencer, Indiana resident who, while he was living, was the most knowledgeable person about the sculptor, E. M. Viquesney, and of information about the “Spirit Of The American Doughboy” and the locations of its replicas across the nation. The Doughboy wasn’t placed in Liberty until many years after Mr. Wesley had left Casey County, though.
* * *
Photo: Liberty Kentucky Mayor
Steve Sweeney.
Steve Sweeney.
Left: A detail of a Viquesney fundraising poster. It was found intact in an old barn and still bears the names of donors pasted to it. The poster is now on display in the Liberty, Kentucky City Hall. A similar poster was mounted on the office wall of original Viquesney Doughboy researcher T. Perry Wesley.
